ShiKai: four worlds
by yume girl 91
Summary: The remaining Shinigami band together with the Juppongatana, attempting to stay alive despite the overwhelming power of the awakened Earth Element. Does hope survive yet in the form of the ancient predecessors of the Gotei 13? Ichioc
1. ShiKai characters & glossary terms

Please note: Divergence from original Bleach canon is assured as are the outcome of certain battles. Some canon characters will not die as in canon and the mythos of this story are that the Zanpaku-to were created by the Elementals thousands of years before. They make 'contracts' or 'covenants' with the Shinigami before the Shinigami are even born; to serve them as weapons. These Zanpaku-to then change form from their original manner of katana to whichever form suits the Shinigami during shikai-bankai release.

-Also, this chapter is merely for reference and ISN'T required reading-

-ShiKai Characters and Glossary terms-

Chimahou: more commonly referred to as Blood magic operates under the principal, if the body forgets, the memory is within the blood. Its uses include viewing memories held by an opponent's blood- an ability only a Master of it like the Fire Elemental, can do with ease.

Tokimahou: Referred as Time magic. Orihime Inoue's Soten Kishun is a lesser manifestation of this ancient magic. However, unlike a true spatial reversal; the Soten Kishun is fatally flawed as to its use on an Elemental's body.

Terra Incognita: Latin for _Unknown Land_.

Terra Justitia: A phrase meant to mock the Living world. Latin for _Just Land_.

Soulless blades: Unlike Zanpaku-to whom have a material entity attached to them, the swords created by Kagami are without, so they can be wielded by anyone.

A list of them follows:

Hokuto Shichisei: North Seven stars. A sword of healing, transmuting ambient reishii through the Quincy cross embedded in its guard to the tang emitted a soft blue glow when recharged. Is most effective for healing almost all wounds.

Hakuya: White Night. This sword's tang is made of crushed down Seki-sekki ore and an infusion of Chimahou within its core. Originally forged for Aizen Sosuke. Properties: unknown..

Gekkouha: Moonlight. This sword is currently imperfect, lacking its final piece.

Tenma Mukurode: Given as _Demon Corpse-hand_. This fearsome sword corrupts living flesh by releasing a Neuro-toxin upon contact with an enemy. It is the only one of the soulless blades to have a consciousness linked to that of its wielder.

Shinteichou: Ancient name for the Generals of the Black Army: the translation is simply given as God-Captain.

Sursum Corda: Latin for _Lift up your hearts/ Take courage._

Provehito in Altum: Motto of the First Division. Latin for _Reach for the Heights_.

Multi sunt vocati, pauci vero Electi: Latin for _Many are called, but few are chosen_

(*~*)**OC character theme songs**~ More to be added at a later date

Kei: Disturbia-by Rihanna/and/ I'm so sick-by Flyleaf

Kagami: I shall believe-by Matt Brouwer/and/This is your life-by Switchfoot

Kazeatari: Karinui-by Mamiko Noto

Hana Retsu: Boulevard of Broken Dreams-by Green day

Kyou Retsu: Break your knees-by Flyleaf (on the deluxe edition CD)

Kanzaki: Sea of faces-by Kutless

Takara Shimizu: Shine-by Anna Nalick

Akashi Osore: Breakdown-by Breaking Benjamin

Touda (reflecting on Kei): Fully alive: by Flyleaf (the video version)

Reflecting on the Juppongatana as a whole (present day) Meant to Live-Switchfoot

Ren Mimasaka: I'm only happy when it rains: by Garbage

Kei to Ichigo: Again-by Flyleaf/or/ The world around you-by Papa Roach

Zangetsu and his Kouseitan'i *Kei*: Bitter Sweet- by Flyleaf and/or All I need- Within Temptation

Juppongatana main theme: Never too late- Three days Grace/and/ Attack-Thirty seconds to Mars/or/New Divide-Linkin Park

**ShiKai Prequel : Stand In The Rain themes**

Facing the betrayal of the First Shinigami and the subsequent others whom followed: No more sorrow-Linkin Park

Reflecting on the exiled Shinigami who later become the Juppongatana: Stand in the rain-by Superchick

During the early chapters: World so Cold-12 Stones

Toya Amakusa: Home-12 Stones

Kei: Nobody's Home-Avril Lavigne

Character facts:

-Kei-

Birthday- October 31st (Halloween)

Zodiacal sign: Scorpio

-Hana-

Birthday: August 6th

Zodiacal sign: Leo

-Kyou-

Birthday: August 7th (Kyou was born at midnight just seconds after Hana at 11:56 PM)

Zodiacal sign: Leo

-Kanzaki-

Birthday:

Zodiacal sign: Capricorn

(*~*)

Juppongatana Soul reapers

First Division: positions available, Defenders of the realm concerned mainly with defense.

Captain position, Raven Kanzaki

Lieutenant position: Hisrio Shihoin

Third seat: Akashi Osore

Fourth seat gender either

Vizard Fifth seat: Ren Mimasaka

Sixth seat: Mai Matsukaze

Seventh seat gender either

Second Division: known as the Scientific and observation district, positions available.

Captain position, Kagami Nanatsu

Lieutenant position, Kimiko Shimizu (no relation to Takara of third)

Third seat, Dani Snow

Fourth seat: Jinteki Eremiyasho

Fifth seat: Samuel Cain

Sixth seat gender either

Seventh seat gender either

Third Division: offense and defense warriors welcome, positions available.

Captain position: Toya Amakusa

Lieutenant position: Takara Shimizu

Third seat: gender either

Fourth seat: Keith Rolston

Fifth seat gender either

Sixth seat gender either

Seventh seat gender either

Fourth Division: Only offense warriors need apply, similar to Eleventh Division of S.S but Kido attacks may apply also.

Captain position: Keiko Yamamoto

Lieutenant position: Zoë Elbe

Arrancar Third seat: Aki Shikouten

Fourth seat: Atrix Crusellas

Fifth seat gender either

Sixth seat gender either

Seventh seat: Kazura Ichinomiya

Fifth Division: offense and defense warriors needed, similar to Third Division, positions available.

Captain position: Kazeatari Namaiki

Lieutenant position: Rizu Sakurai

Third seat: Seijin Maru

Fourth seat: Hana Retsu

Fifth seat: Kyou Retsu

Sixth seat gender either

Seventh seat gender either

~~~Facts about the filled positions and the four Captains of first, second, fourth and fifth:

First: Raven Kanzaki, former Quincy General. In Soul society was rising in the ranks of the Repentance Guards whose duty is to watch over the Senzaikyu. Saved Gin Ichimaru by shooting a Quincy arrow when Shoukyaku failed…then his secret was out. Personality: an amateur scientist, Kagami takes his strength into account, and then he is made leader of the rogue Shinigami group: Juppongatana.

Lieutenant of First: Hisrio Shihoin. A former Noble, his family was a distant relation to one of the four clans and as such enjoyed a distinction not afforded to others. Hisrio was taken into his cousin's service early on but never witnessed much combat do to his status not because of a lack of ability. Knew Kagami by name never face. Was involved in a certain incident of ill-repute and was cast aside as a disgrace. By proxy he fled during the same time as Kanzaki though wasn't a part of his group. In the decimated City of Apollonia near the Southern region, he was saved-by the very man whom he had blamed his fall from power-who was none other than Raven Kanzaki. Hisrio had been the very same Shinigami put in charge of the execution Squad dispatched to eliminate the Quincy from the Guard ranks. Hisrio's failure at the cost of a severe wound from an arrow nearly killed him outright. However it was his survival that insured his demotion and subsequent exile. The decision wasn't his cousin's to make...

Was eventually driven to accept Kanzaki's offer of a truce and joined him, though in the forming of the Juppongatana, was forced to accept a lesser position in terms of strength to the one who was once **his** subordinate.

Zanpaku-to: Houou-Hime. Personality: Arrogant, though highly intelligent, believes that everyone should drop what they're doing when he speaks and demands attentiveness at all meetings. Is very strict with his Division.

Third Seat of First: Akashi Osore-info pending.

Fifth Seat of First: Ren Mimasaka, became a Vizard during a training exercise with new recruits. It is thought she was a fifth-year student at the Academy, a time spent which she won't speak about. One of Aizen's early Hollows came across her and the students, Ren stayed behind to engage it while they ran to safety, it was then that she was overpowered by the sudden appearance of another and woke up changed.

She fled the living world in shame, knowing to return would be to face persecution. Leading some to believe she had fallen in battle.

In Assiah, she lived in one of the many caves dotting the eastern shoreline.

It was during one of the many torturous nights when the inner-Hollow would rise up that they found her.

Zanpaku-to: Kansatsu Tobi-Kunai. Personality: aloof but it's only habit. When in S.S Ren was often alone, considered an outcast and that stayed with her. She has somewhat of an inferiority complex, feeling inside that she doesn't belong, that's why consistently she pushes the group away when they try to include her, this eventually leads to near disastrous consequences one night outside of the sealed Castle of Tsukikage...

Captain of Second: Kagami Nanatsu, Commander of the water element in all its facets. Zanpaku-to: Sazanami. Personality: the easiest of the three to get along with. Former position as bodyguard to Yoruichi Shihoin.

Fifth Seat of Second: Samuel Winston Cain. The Last great American cowboy -or so he thinks. Likes twangy guitars and strumming beneath the light of the moon. A bit of an oddball; he came across-literally a bathing Dani to which she yelled pervert and no one came to her aid. A fact that still rankles her in regard to everyone else. _Sam_, carries two dueling pistols at his hips inlaid with mother-of-pearl and is truly the only seated officer whose Zanpaku-to isn't a Zanpaku-to at all! The appearance of these besides his dream of eventually going out west to be an famous gunslinger made childhood in the Northern city of Philadelphia very trying on his parents. It is unclear just how he received training in some levels of _Way of Binding_ spells, Five-pillar piercing iron is the highest and discarding incantation once shows his degree of skill-despite his outward appearance of goofiness.

Zanpaku-to weapon: Gunslinger. Personality: A goofball who claims to have a heart of gold and gentlemanly civility towards the Ladies. Speaks in a mish-mash of Southwestern slang and Japanese honorifics to a few of his superiors. Kagami is 'Capt' sir while Kanzaki has -san added to his address.

Former Captain of Third: Hasumi-last name unknown. Status: Deceased. Zanpaku-to: Aohien Ageha

Lieutenant of Third: Takara Shimizu. One of the many orphaned waifs wandering in the Rukongai, Takara was discovered by Gin Ichimaru, on route to traveling to the academy. Gin saved her-a fact that she hasn't forgotten-and took her along with him when he became a student. Time passed and Takara made remarkable progress, Gin graduated before her and was seated but not a Fukutaichou yet by the time she left the academy. His original plan was to make her an officer in his Company, eventually supplanting the Taichou of Third...however something happened to make him reconsider this course and instead place her far from Aizen.

Upon Kagami's flight to Assiah, Gin beseeched his former friend to take _her_ along and do everything in his power-which was a lot- to keep her safe until such a time came when Gin was in a suitable position to protect her himself. It isn't clear what Kagami's response was, however four Shinigami left by the Senkai mon. Meaning Takara was one of them.

Kagami later concedes he believed Gin to be heartless however admits his feelings for Takara are genuine.

Third Seat of Third Division: Toya Amakusa-info pending.

Fourth Seat of Third: Keith Rolston. An American by birth, Keith was discovered as a young child wandering alone in the Human world, it is unknown whether or not his parents were killed. The Shinigami who found him, however, took him back to Soul Society in the hopes that because of his unusual spirit pressure at such a young age might prove to be a great boon to the Court Guard Squads. He was enrolled in the Soul academy and graduated from the six-year course in four. High marks got him a position in Third company under Taichou-. He was well-liked despite once in a while getting a tad bit smart with his superiors. But overall his demotion was a shock to all. It was recommended by then Fukutaichou of Fifth, Sosuke Aizen.

It is assumed later, that he had learned of Aizen's early illegal experiments with the Hollows. Thereby becoming a threat to the devious man.

How he came to be in Assiah, is unknown as well.

Keith refuses to speak about it, a fact that doesn't seem to surprise anyone much. Save for that the man who was closest to him, had something to do with it.

Zanpaku-to: Nikoli. Overall best attribute: His intelligence and common sense (aka he's a bit of a smart **). He will do anything for his friends and the ones he loves. Is kind and very trustworthy, but you don't want to make him angry.

Asked to be made Fourth Seat of Third in some deference to his former seated rank in S.S as well as the assumption carried by some that he may have _a crush on his Lieutenant_.

Captain of Fourth: Keiko Kurai Yamamoto, only living relative of the Soutaichou of S.S. Wielder of the fire element in all its facets. Wields the Hell sword (Maouen) Zanpaku-to: Getsu-ten. Personality: Unknown. Her cool-headedness and talent for eliminating any pre-conceived hindrances to her plans have placed her at the forefront. Her intelligence is based on manipulation and the fulfillment of a design that was long ago set in motion. It is unclear her true feelings toward Shinigami sub Ichigo Kurosaki, however she has previously claimed that she could love him in her own way while yet in another sense denying that she has any sentiments toward him at all!

Former position as graduating Student in the Shinigami academy was the first to believe in Kagami's innocence when he was charged with murder.

Lieutenant of Fourth: Zoë Elbe, French Canadian background, parents were ex-slaves. Was made second in command of the small survey team dispatched to Assiah to keep watch over the growing Hollow population. Met Kanzaki and turned against S.S along with young current third seat of Second Division, Dani Snow. Zanpaku-to: Shirahime. Personality: calm, peace loving though merciless much like Kei in battle.

Third Seat of Fourth: Aki Shikouten, former Vasto Lordes. During a battle, he fought against Keiko and became an Arrancar due to the backfiring of one of her finishing moves. Afterwards, he was defeated and laid his life in her hands. _There is no shame in defeat_, he learned and grew to embrace their way of thinking. Zanpaku-to resurrección: Eisen-Iowe (Iron Lion-like.)

Fourth Seat of the Fourth Division: Atrix Crusellas, a modified soul who escaped the initial destruction of his fellow mods. Sometime later when Kagami and co. come across him in Assiah's FireThorn region, he inhabits the body of a Shinigami male. He attacks Kazeatari with the type of ability given to him, instead of with the Zanpaku-to strapped to his back. Kagami remarks on it and makes a deal with him to forge him a true sword as the spirit of the Zanpaku-to refuses to release for an imposter. After this has been accomplished, Atrix decides to join up with Kanzaki's group, then no longer feeling as though he didn't belong. Specially made Zanpaku-to: Tenma Mukurode. It is the only one of the soulless blades forged by Kagami, to have a consciousness linked to that of its wielder. It cannot be used by any other, making it a true Zanpaku-to.

Captain of Fifth: Kazeatari Namaiki and the most difficult of Captains to get along with. Controller of the Wind element in all its facets. Zanpaku-to: Kazekiri. Personality: self-centered except where Kagami is concerned, cares for her Lieutenant Rizu but doesn't show it, is cool and aloof much like her element. Former position as Graduating Student in the Shinigami academy; believes in Kagami and loves him yet despises Soul Society.

Lieutenant of Fifth: Rizu Sakurai, former seated officer under Eighth Company's Shunsui Kyoraku. Was known to be a friend of Kanzaki and helped him escape the Seireitei when his former comrades under the command of Hisrio Shihoin came to arrest him. In aiding him however, Rizu was left with no choice but to flee with him to the world of Assiah along with a few others.

They survived five months, losing only one Shinigami to the Hollows until the day came when they were surrounded in a field by hoards of the creatures. It was then that Kanzaki-foolishly decided to sacrifice himself by buying them some time to escape, this however was rendered null by the appearance of Kagami, Kei, Kazeatari and Takara.

While two of the Elementals made short work of the Hollows, Rizu engaged Kazeatari, recognizing the woman as being _marked with absolute power_. A fight ensued, eventually Kei did the same with Kanzaki, challenging him to a duel which she subsequently lost-even this is uncertain.

Whether she truly lost or feigned defeat is up for debate.

After that, Kagami was next in line-

Kazeatari following, however her defeat at Rizu's hands placed much doubt in her ability to handle another round if Kanzaki beat Kagami.

This was proved an unreasonable notion as Kazeatari did in fact rise after falling prey to Nekomata's psychological attack.

It is thought that if she had been truly serious during her short match with Kanzaki, she'd have won.

As it was, she dispersed the energy of his Bankai then sent him flying, claiming after a moment a scratch on her cheek as defeat. Kagami thought it might've come from her own attack but said nothing thereby advancing his plan.

( ^_^) Unknown Entities

Touda _dancing snake_: Black Phoenix whose tears bring instantaneous death to those they fall on.

Suzaku: Guardian of the South. One of the Four _Gods_, a single tear from this red Phoenix can heal the most grievous injury.

Soryu: Guardian of the East. Dragon God of the sea. Controls all water type and all that fall under that dominion.

Byakko: Guardian of the West.

Genbu: Guardian of the North. Once a mighty protector of man, this spirit was swayed by the concordat to serve the whims of the Earth Elemental and became twisted do to the nature of his want.

13th General of the Black army: Mara, ancient Vasto Lordes. Zanpaku-to release: Nanpa-sen. It is unlike the resurrección state of other Hollows. Her whereabouts are currently unknown though it is assumed by all that for the past 111 years, the keeper of the key to the castle of Tsukikage has resided in Cayo Hueso. However that has never been substantiated as fact.

6th General of the Black Army: Angelo, ancient Vasto Lordes. His appearance and even abilities aren't extensively known, save for Keiko Yamamoto's reference to him during **Stand in the Rain**. We do know however that one form of his Zanpaku-to release is to control rose thorns with vines capable of slicing through the hardest surfaces known to exist. A fitting power for one whose release is named: Aka Bara.

4th General of the Black army: Kotoko, ancient Vasto Lordes. The Fire elemental poured all her power and ability into his creation. Rather than combining the soul-giving power of Earth and her own fusion of the lifespark; Keiki made Kotoko on her own. His appearance is that of a Kannushi and indeed he and Keiki were very close, a time spent that Keiko reminisces with great joy. Zanpaku-to release: Mozu no Hayanie. Among Kotoko's abilities is the gift to read the minds of those whom he chooses. No one, thus far as proven immune to this most startling ability.

Called 'Lord' or 'Dono' by the Elemental of water once: Ukiyo, a mysterious being whose power is considered to be even with that of the King of Soul Society. His existence isn't acknowledged outside of the confines of Tsukikage and it is clear that he once had something to do with the binding of the elementals to corporeal flesh. It is thought he slumbers in Cayo Hueso. However, that as well, hasn't been confirmed as truth.

Earth Elemental-? The existence of the missing fourth element hasn't been officially acknowledged by Kagami. Nevertheless it is unspoken as of yet, but his powers match or even rival that of the Fire Elemental's.

Ether: The unstable fifth element. A fragment of this metal is contained within every Quincy cross. It is one of the few substances in existence known to cause severe damage to an Elemental; even unto causing death.

The Elements previous and current identities

Fire: Keiki-now Keiko Yamamoto

Water: Mizuna-now Kagami Nanatsu

Wind: Kazahaya: Kazeatari Namaiki

Earth-?

~~~The fourth world: Assiah~~~

Assiah is where in the olden days of Soul society, Reio used to rule from the Phantom city. Later on it was abandoned and only disgraced Shinigami were exiled there. Smaller than earth but more beautiful in its countries, Assiah however was overrun by Hollows whom went unchecked while devouring the humans who lived there.

Realm of the Soul reapers: Kinryou-ku Genei—Phantom Sanctuary also known as the Phantom City and within is the Castle of Tsukikage, base of Division one.

~~~The fabled Third World of Cayo Hueso, home of the God of the Hollows~~~

Unknown

~~~The Second world: Hueco Mundo~~~

Unknown

~~~The first world: Earth ~~~

Smaller world of the Shinigami: Soul society

A/N: and that concludes the first casting call for the Oc Juppongatana Soul reapers. Note: Names needed, powers and Zanpaku-to release commands, personality and profiles required. Captain position and Lieutenant positions must have Bankai, for seated members not a requirement, and exceptions for Fourth Division. Some may have been former members of Soul society, use your creativity people! So make sure to include everything important, your submitted characters may take a while to show up. Ciao and I look forward to your submissions.-)

Note: Juppongatana means ten swords in Japanese; this refers to the five Captains and their Lieutenants.


	2. We who are forgotten

ShiKai CH.1: We who are forgotten

The phantom city lay shrouded in mist, early morning had yet to fade the pulsing moon of four-points shedding pale lavender light into the narrow ways and light castle walls of Tsukikage. Beyond the highest window and wavy panes of ancient glasswork, life stirred, souls awoke, each greeting the dawn flushing in the east with mingled greetings.

"Such a lovely morn," whispered a slender girl, her eyes of clear mineral blue relished taking in the sight of glided rays falling onto her face from the thrown back curtains. Her name is: Takara Shimizu, as per custom in this land, names are called by first rather than the last as in the place where they were born.

"I wonder if anybody else is seeing this?" Takara wondered aloud as was habit.

In fact there were others watching the shy sun rising, a young girl lounging on the slanted rooftop of Tsukikage's highest tower, frowned slightly, "another day. Another step closer—"

"Oh, quit being so mysterious, Kei!"

Lilac eyes not so unlike the fading sky above, turned, narrowing, "Kagami. Even _you_ must _feel _it."

He ran his hand through ash blond locks that had grown longer in the last half year, his face turned up to the sky as if searching for the answer to her question, "the end to our isolation?"

Kei watched him steadily, "perhaps more than that."

They were a part of the Juppongatana: ten swords in the language native to almost all. _Rebels_ called by some in the other worlds; _protectors of a world abandoned_ said more, and yet still others proclaimed the four Captains ranked in order of strength to all surpass that of the Gotei 13.

No one knew where this had started up. Survey teams sent to review the area beyond the graylands reported nothing amiss except for that of a simple fact: no Hollows existed in that world. It was Terra incognita to most, an unknown land of large and small countries watched over by guardians nobody had ever seen.

But that was a lie. Two had been seen and by a curious member of the survey team gone off by himself to explore a patch of peculiar-looking flowers.

"Beautiful, aren't they?"

He was surprised by the gentle female voice, "yes," he agreed, breaking the stock of one and standing, offered it to the girl, "I've never seen anything quite like them before."

She brushed it against her lips, "that's because they only grow in the sunken garden below _Tsukikage_. I planted these here…" She watched him mouth the name of the fabled castle, his eyes widening, "the—then you are—"

"…for the children. Yes. I am one of _them_." Her smile became sweeter, "pity it was your fate to cross my path here. I so wished to not meet any of you Seireitei scum. My assumption for coming here simply that of enjoying the flowers…so please," her hand touched the hilt of sword at her waist, a large crescent moon perched atop the guard, "don't be upset with me for this."

A slight clack issued forth as an inch of blade slid out from the scabbard, "take him to hell for me. Shakuranentai." It was at this point where his story took on legendary proportions. Wind gusted in a tightly controlled funnel, scattering the red plumes before they reached him. His savior came forth as a narrow aesthetically featured woman, her straight brown/black hair bound in a severe knot atop her head.

"Kamikaze," the newcomer spoke, her hand snapping briskly out, between two long fingers a fan extended into pleats. _The wind came from there_. "Don't you think that's a bit of overkill? _Sending him to hell_, I mean?"

"Atari, oh Atari. You just don't get it do you?" the first girl sighed, a look of pure unadulterated innocence coming onto her face, "we were _created_ to destroy. Even now I _feel _ it. The call to burn everything to ashes to leave nothing _alive_."

"That's just your innate bloodlust acting up."

The survey team member, stared from one woman to other, his hands shaking on the bound hilt of dark blue above a tear-shaped guard, "R-R-Ryusui no Ugoki!"

"See? What'd I tell you?" the girl with lilac eyes, swiped the air neatly with her palm, "Hado…63, I'm feeling merciful. Raikoho."

The woman called Atari by the other, "you missed him by a foot," pointed out the obvious. To which the girl replied snappishly, "his fucking Zanpaku-to deflected the blast! I'll get—" "Let me," Atari moved swiftly, silently, vanishing in a puff of wind then appearing beside our narrator. "Do you know who we are? Tell me."

His eyes bulged, "r-r-rebels."

"I see. And?"

There was the soft click of her fan closing and he felt somewhat safer, "dissidents who disobeyed Seireitei's laws." No other threatening motions followed so he went on, "and deserved to be _cast out_." The woman's jaw tightened, her dark eyes flashed once then became glassy pools, "deserved to be _cast out_?"

He nodded dumbly to her rhetorical question.

"So then…nothing has changed," her smoky voice dropped an octave of two. Atari glanced sadly to the other's still form, "for now. You are right."

"Sui—"

"They _all_ deserve to die. Reppu Geki."

The tree behind him split in two, the trunk cleaving beneath the blinding force of the _gale strike_. He screamed and dove under the crashing branches, leaves snapping briskly like many flags in the wind. "So you think it's right what Soul society did?" Kazeatari advanced, her face a mask of deadly calm.

"Y-Yes—I mean—N-No! Ple—" his words became a torrent of screams, slashes crisscrossing his chest and back.

"You who live there, you who revile us. Remember."

"A-Anything!"

Atari's look suddenly became fierce, "remember the name _Juppongatana_. It is we who are forgotten, we who live here, we to whom this land belongs…finish him off, Keiko."

"With pleasure," the other smirked, "incinerate him, Maouen!"

The story had been changed so much that no one knew the exact truth. Only of the existence of a group of powerful Shinigami with greater strength than that of Seireitei's finest. The finest that even Ichigo Kurosaki had been able to defeat…so the question was: _is there anyone stronger than him? And if in combat could he himself taste bitter defeat at the hands of a member of the Juppongatana?_

AN: ;) I like this beginning better. Reviews are always appreciated.


	3. The Phantom city in the early dawn

Shikai CH.2: The phantom city in the early dawn

It was of consequence that the world of Assiah with its countries and population so recently being liberated from the scourge of the Hollows, had its own legends concerning the timeframe from roughly a hundred and eleven years before. A great battle had been fought and won, the stronghold of the victorious became oddly enough called: The phantom castle.

At certain settings of the sun, in the distance upon a plain, rising from the ground in mirage-like splendor rose the stone castle of light gray. For an hour hence this vision could be seen, the people of Assiah coming from miles away to lay eyes filled with wonder at this unexplainable occurrence.

"When will they stop staring at us?"

Kagami heard the note of annoyance in the girl's tone, and smiled faintly, "I suspect Tsukikage is much like an attraction to them." They were on the southern side, looking out over the crenellated ramparts to the far gathering of gawking humans. Kei scowled, "I'm getting rather tired of it. We're not here to be any sort of spectacle for _them_."

"Just grin and bear it." He leaned forward onto his crossed arms, seeing beyond the distance into another place, "maybe you should wave to them."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Incoming!" a third voice joined in from above. Kagami leapt back from the low wall as curved gusts of wind shuddered up the length, a woman breezily stepping onto the flagstones, her hair loose today and billowing around her familiar face.

"Kazeatari! How many—"

"Atari!" Kei cried, the hip length surcoat of jet-black swirling around her legs, "where were you?"

"—times do I have to tell you? Not to drop down suddenly like that?" Kagami grumbled. The woman snapped her fan briskly shut, spinning once on her heels to face the awestruck crowd. Her hand flew in the air once and she vigorously waved, blowing three kisses in an arc, "thank you; my adoring fans! I love you _too__!"_

A chorus of cheers erupted though surely they could not hear her words.

"They didn't gather for you," he was obliged to point out, to which Kazeatari grabbed his arm suddenly, "give them a show!"

"What?"

"Show them…" she bit her lip, thinking; "_Holy Dragon water_."

Kei had been silent, but now she stepped forward, lilac eyes alight, "how about it, Kagami? Dragons of water exploding from a wreath of flames, or is that too _showy_?" One eyebrow rose, his consternation rising, "you know you two as a team are supremely dangerous persuaders. Fine," he sighed, "I'll do it. If only so you two will quit bugging me."

Atari's dark eyes sparkled, "you're a darling," she kissed his cheek, having to only tilt her head at an angle to brush lightly tanned skin of a smooth face, "always."

"I can't believe I got railroaded into doing this."

(*)*)*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)*)*)

"Shut up, fool. What were you going to do—_refuse_?"

"Be quiet, Rukia. You know what I mean." Amber eyes glanced her way, narrowed in meaning. Their knock at the Shoten door was answered a moment later, "Why, Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-san, I didn't expect to see you here so early!" as usual Kisuke Urahara's attitude was chipper, he took in the their serious expressions, waving them in, sobering slightly.

"What can I do for you two?"

Rukia looked to Ichigo, giving him a not so light shove of impatience, "tell him." Kisuke seated himself down; glancing from one to the other, "tell _me_, what?"

"I—I—I've been having these dreams. Of the same girl; night after night, in different locations, different scenes, with different people. People I've never seen before."

"Oh? And this girl," shadowed eyes flickered to the petite raven-haired Shinigami sitting pensive against one wall, "do you know who she is?"

"No. That's the thing…I don't ever remember seeing her anywhere. I know she's a Shinigami; she carries a sword-one with a large sickle moon on top of another lying down. But I—we've asked around and no one so far matches that description."

"So, why come to me?"

"Because somebody suggested that you might know something," Rukia spoke up, tired of the hesitance in which Ichigo edged around the subject, "we think she's associated with the rebel Shinigami group Juppongatana."

Kisuke grew quiet then finally shrugged. "Describe her to me."

Here was where it was the hardest for him to speak, "tawny hair past her shoulders. Large purple eyes of a pale lavender shade rimmed by black around the edges, fine skin, luscious pink lips," his tone changed, "she…I…don't know. It feels as though I know her. I feel so strange sometimes, in the world of my dream, the girl looks past me as if I'm not there. I've never communicated with her, though I've tried. Her name…Kei—" Ichigo shook his head briskly, "I don't know the rest. So what do you think?"

A smirk stretched slowly across the Shoten owner's mouth, "it sounds like little Ichigo finally has a crush on somebody!"

"I DO NOT!"

"Doesn't it, Kuchiki-san?" Kisuke implored to Rukia, who nodded gamely, pronouncing her judgment, "It sure does."

"I said I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON ANYONE! PERIOD!"

"Well the way you described her…I've never heard _you_ speak about anyone like that. So what can I say?" Kisuke shrugged innocently, enjoying watching the mixed emotions passing over the deputy Shinigami's face. He spluttered indignantly then plopped down suddenly, glowering fiercely, "well?"

"Well, what?"

"Do you know her?"

Kisuke heard the secret hope faint in the teenager's voice, wondering at it, "maybe. I think I might have something—I'll go get it."

Relieved, Ichigo heard the scuffle in the hallway in the back and the sound of a door sliding shut faraway. _Was it in his room_? Soon enough he came back, waving away the offer of tea from Ururu. "Here we are," carefully Kisuke slid out a pane of glass from a square frame behind which a faded scroll drawing resided. Setting aside the seemingly ancient artifact, he took out something that had lain against it. A photo halfway singed at the edges by blackened powder like soot from a fire, he turned it over to reveal the image of a young girl in her teens.

It was a candid shot as one hand was raised holding back locks of darkish gold hair, her eyes were looking past the camera's focus, her lips parted as if near to saying something. Kisuke handed it to Ichigo hesitantly, seeming to be loath to let it leave his grasp.

"It—It's her," he said softly, staring into the tiny image, "Gods…she's so _beautiful_."

It was Rukia's turn to stare; _what was wrong with him?_

"Yamamoto Keiko. Niece to the Soutaichou of Soul society." Kisuke clarified before anyone could ask.

"W-When was this taken?" suddenly he had to know.

Over a hundred years ago. A hundred and eleven to be precise, she disappeared after a certain incident involving the execution of a man I knew. They say she ran away—"

"Where?"

Kisuke paused at the forcefulness present in Ichigo's tone, "I don't know. Assiah, it was assumed, the fourth world. She's probably long dead by now."

He seemed to deflate, "oh…hey, Urahara?"

"Hmm?"

"How much…do you want for this?" he meant the picture, knowing the ex Taichou too greedy to pass up a sale. "Ichigo—" Rukia began but he ignored her. _He had some spare cash at home, an allowance from goatface…since it wasn't in perfect condition he couldn't be expected to pay much for it_.

So he was surprised at the flatness Kisuke spoke to him with, "it's not for sale." He took it back quickly from Ichigo's lax fingers.

"Wha-What?"

"Exactly what I said, Kurosaki-kun."

"But—but you sell everything! What's one charred photograph of a person you're not related to—"

"Why do _you_ want it so _badly_?" Kisuke turned the tables on him. Unable to answer, he helplessly watched the photo be replaced behind the scroll and frame.

"I don't know," he said finally, not even able to understand it himself, "I just don't know why."

AN: :) reviews are appreciated.


	4. Borderlands

ShiKai CH.3: Borderlands

In Tsukikage castle, among the guardians of Assiah, charged with sacred oaths to uphold the laws the three other Captains together wrote, was a single man. The Captain of the first Division, _Raven_ Kanzaki; we shall be introduced to him next in the observation room in the third Division's district.

"What are you doing?!"

"Oh. Good morning Kanzaki-san, Takara-san." Atari and Kei chorused, much to the man's chagrin. "_Good morning _they say. Bah! Ignoring—ignore me will you?!" The two heads of tawny and brunette turned back to the screen and keypad; each tittering quietly beneath their hands, _he never changed_.

"What're you guys looking at? Can I see?" the slender blond approached them, curiosity alight in her features. Kei glanced over her shoulder, motioning the girl over. Kazeatari stepped back, allowing room for her to get in between them. "What am I looking at?" Takara bent closer to the monitor of the location graph. The readout being of several pressures of varying size and density gathering in one place. Kei ran her thumb down the corner of the screen.

"Hueco Mundo three weeks ago. It's rare for anything to be picked up by our scanners. But here's the world of the living a week and a half ago."

The screen fazed out into another, two spots on the graph joined by three much smaller others. Takara stared at it for a moment, brushing back a strand of hair that fell into her eyes; she glanced to each woman in turn. "But what does it mean?"

"Have I been forgotten here?" muttered a voice behind them.

Kei tapped the screen once more, "yes. You have."

The last image was frozen not a graph but a blurred picture of a group of six Hollows dressed in white.

"Arrancars…?"

"Uh huh. They entered the world of the living through a Garganta about an hour ago." Kazeatari answered, her gaze resting on the image, her forehead puckered. Kei scowled, taking up the narrative, "we've been compiling all recorded data from Hueco Mundo. It seems almost as if the Hollows might be amassing at its center."

"But why?"

"To invade the world." Kei said, a sardonic smile twisting her mouth, "they won't set foot here because of us. The stronger of them might, but it's nothing we can't handle. The Shinigami in the world of the living—" her smile widened, her eyes narrowing in mirth, "—I doubt stand a chance."

"But that's—" Takara felt strange speaking it aloud, quietly finished "…rather cruel to say so. Shouldn't we—"

"No. It's completely out of our hands."

"Kanzaki…" Kazeatari murmured.

"It's been over a hundred years since we've called that place home."

"I know that. But shouldn't we—"

"Takara." He silenced her with a look given by crimson eyes.

"I'm sorry." The girl looked contrite, "I spoke out of turn, sir."

"Look…" his gaze softened, "it may be hard for you to understand. But that just means that you're still young. You and Zoë-san and Michael," with a nod from Kei, he continued, "still have the undimmed vigor of youth in you. You see the world and try to embrace it despite its many imperfections. But I…_we_ know. We've experienced. We know what it's like to be _betrayed_. I'm sorry. I just…" Kanzaki sighed heavily, "I forbid any Division to advance relief to the Shinigami. That is an executive order that shall be enforced. Is that clear?"

Takara stared for a moment, then her head dropped and she bowed slightly, "yes, sir." A black badge slid lower on her right arm, the stylized symbol of the sun and stars embroidered in silver, a mark of the third Division. "Thank you, Lieutenant Shimizu." Kanzaki turned expectantly to the silent others, waiting.

"I couldn't care less about what happens over there." Kei shrugged her shoulders, the ripple of black fabric over a gray kimono and short Hakama rustling by her movements. On her back in the center was emblazoned a silver Oleander flower, the fourth Division's symbol, her surcoat of Captaincy. Kazeatari followed suit, flipping sheets of shiny dark waves over her shoulders wearing a similar sleeved over, a silver Japanese maple leaf as the fifth's crest. "Me either. Personally I'm more interested in the strength of the Hollows. That's all."

Kanzaki looked relieved, "we must look to our own borders. You are dismissed, Captain Yamamoto, Lieutenant Shimizu, Captain Namaiki."

~~*~~

"…Someone holds me safe and warm. Horses prance through a silver storm, figures dancing gracefully across my memory…" Kei hummed softly, the last knot tightening across the cloak dress, her hand raising the hood so that it fell over her face, hiding her features. A glance in the silver mirror revealed a small figure robed in black, elbow-length gloves lifted and wrapped around the crescent moon hilt extending the strap to hang over her shoulder.

"I'm ready!" she called to the pacing in the hallway.

The arched door opened, Kazeatari and Kagami entered; two similar figures in stature and litheness of body except for the fan kept closely in hand by her; a guard of seven black stars above a plain tang disappearing into a plain sheath in his, had Kei's eyebrow rising.

"The Hokuto Shichisei? Do you really think they're strong enough to inflict damage on us?"

He hesitated before answering, "no…it's only in case of others being injured that I'm bringing it along." Kagami's palm slid down along the long hilt of the sword at his waist, "with you two I might not even need to draw Sazanami. After all preliminary reports—and _Touda_," he gave her a pointed look, "came back reporting only six Arrancars in positional access-3,600 to 4,000 eastern Karakura Tokyo."

"Yeah. Who knows why they chose to appear there. New York City in the United States is much more populated."

"Perhaps they're not just looking for food." Atari commented wisely.

"Then what? Most places the veil can't be pierced and our borders are nearly secure. Tsukikage and the city are safe because of the barrier."

"I didn't say they were looking for us." Her reply was testy.

Kei rolled her eyes heavenward, "oh please. Spare me. I—"

"No."

"Huh? Kagami?"

"Their energy signature is unique. Different than a natural born like Aki." He had his eyes closed tightly in concentration, "I'm almost positive someone created them."

"Who?"

Kagami turned away from the girls' curious stare, "if it's _him_. Then sooner or later they'll be coming for us."

~~~*~~~

'…Someone holds me safe and warm. Horses prance through a silver storm, figures dancing gracefully across my memory…'

Ichigo woke up hearing the remnants of the girl's song in his head. _Not girl_, he reminded himself, _Keiko_. Yamamoto Keiko. The niece of the grim old man who was supreme leader of Seireitei now that the Central forty-six were gone. If she was really and truly gone, _why was he dreaming her at almost every waking moment?_

'_Faraway, long ago glowing dim as an ember,' _He pressed his palm against his left eye. The girl now ran ahead of the others, robed in black, she was a dark figure blending easily into the shadows and twilight of the forest they sped through.

He saw her lips moving.

'Things my heart used to know…'

"Things it yearns to remember," he whispered aloud.

"Did you say something?"

He started; the door to his room had opened without a sound and now Rukia walked in, eyeing him curiously. "No…I—"

"Did you see _her_ again?"

Surprised yet again, he had to wonder about her intuition, "yeah," he answered after a moment, "she and two others; a man carrying two swords and a woman holding a fan close to her body. The girl—Keiko spoke to them I think. I couldn't really hear what she said 'cause the scene—it faded and they were running through a forest, the sky was dark but not with normal darkness. It was more like…" he faltered.

"Like what?" Rukia prompted, approaching the side of his bed and dropping to a crouch. Ichigo ran his free hand through his hair, a gesture he did in times when a situation was confusing to him. "Almost as if the sky were purple and the light wasn't moonlight not normal anyway. It came from a large object high in the sky with four pulsing points—what?" he caught sight of her startled expression.

"N-Nothing." The petite Shinigami stood up, averting her face from him, "hurry up and get dressed. Or else you'll _make me_ late for school." He pushed aside the covers, "hah. As if you care. But don't you think it's strange if it's true that that girl is dead for me to keep dreaming her? What's the connection? And why was Urahara unwilling to sell me that picture…what do you think, Rukia?" he turned around to catch the door swinging shut.

"Rukia?"

~~~*~~~

"It's almost time."

"Yeah. Oh I do wish they'd hurry up…it'd be a pain to get caught by Kanzaki," Kazeatari complained. The branch where she sat creaked beneath her weight, she snapped her fan open and briskly flicked it back and forth through the air. On command a breeze gusted, whipping Kei's hood from her face, "cut it out, Atari! Any sign of reiatsu we show here so close to the two worlds will be picked up by the research division. That weird guy—"

"Kisuke Urahara." Kagami said quietly. The two girls glanced up at him, seated back against the third branch above them. His left ankle hung down, swinging slightly. "I wonder how he's doing? Hopefully Hiyori is getting along with him better now. I remember she was furious when he was appointed as Taichou of twelfth Company." He chuckled softly in reminiscence.

"Kagami…" Kei looked out toward the far stream of light in the distance, beyond that was the world of the living: Earth. She felt the rise in spiritual pressures past the regular point. She stood up, reaffixing her covering; Atari stiffened, also feeling the change faraway.

"What happened?" the pulse suddenly faded, snuffed out like a candle in a draft.

Kei reached behind her shoulder blade, her hand curving around a long guardless sword. "They've released Gentei Kaijyo…but it failed. As we expected, the Arrancars have overwhelmed them."

~~~*~~~

They split up before crossing the veil, Kei to the closest where dust arose from a crater in the ground, lying unconscious at the center a bald-headed Shinigami caked in his own blood. His opponent, an Arrancar of some strength, Kei beheld in its released state, begun gathering his scattered reiatsu to his large fist.

"Be proud you simply died an honorable death, Shinigami," he spoke gently as the other groaned, staring through one swollen eye to the Arrancar and then to Kei, a dark figure standing motionless behind it. Her gaze went from the Doom blast in his fist to his attention entirely consumed by the Shinigami below.

"You then…" she interrupted quietly, backing up a little as he started, his head pivoting around to stare at her, "be proud you shall see Heaven before _you_ die." Her wrist twisted, bringing her sword up from her side, she thrust it singularly and straight between his eyes, shattering the broken mask covering half his face, "Rekka Shin'en, Getsu-ten."

~~~*~~~

Ikkaku struggled up halfway, staring in disbelief as the Arrancar's body was swallowed up in a cage of pure light. The girl lowered her sword, looking on somewhat sadly, "rest in peace, Arrancar." She glanced down, perhaps realizing he hadn't been unconscious after all. Her hand encased in black rose up to her forehead in a mock salute then confused as to her reasons for doing it, he imitated her.

She nodded slightly, her head turning a quarter of an inch to watch as Yumichika ran to the edge of the crater. "Ikkaku! Who is—" the girl turned in the sky, vanishing without a trace as if she hadn't been there from the start, "—was that?"

"Somebody of immense strength. I don't know…"

~~~*~~~

"Weakling. Attack me—look I'm wide open."

The bull-like Arrancar snorted angrily, lowering his head for a charge at Kazeatari who stood motionless above him. Effortlessly she back-flipped, arching her body elegantly, inches above the air that whistled from the swiftness of his flight. "Huh. That the best you got?" she teased, straightening from her handstand against the solidified reishii.

"Bitch!" he snarled, "You'll regret that!"

"Yeah, yeah. You keep sayin' that but I have yet to—" she snapped her fan against the hilt at her waist, "regret it. Hmph. Kamikaze."

"What the—" her wind had wrapped around his arms and legs, suppressing his movements. "Sorry but I don't take so well to being called a bitch." Kazeatari crossed her left wrist over her right, drawing out the slender sword from her waist. The Arrancar struggled as she raised it above her head, slashing downward gracefully and completely, splitting his body in half.

There was a faint pulse from farther away, Kazeatari sheathed her sword, glancing to the north; "seems like we're doing fine so far, huh?" her comment was directed to Kagami slicing through the more human-formed Arrancar wordlessly. His Zanpaku-to glowed, as did the crisscrossed cuts he'd made along the white uniformed chest.

"Suisei-shou," he said, the body erupting in a geyser of frigid water. Only then did he glance down to the building below, the fourth Arrancar who stood on the back of a female Shinigami with loose honey-tresses, her Zanpaku-to lay inches away from her outstretched fingers.

"Shawlong…Ilforte…you guys," piggish eyes stared upward with malevolent hate, "how dare you, Shinigami!"

"Just die already," Kei appeared over his shoulder, her blade slashing cleanly across his throat. "Gross. Couldn't you at least have cauterized the wound before—ugh," Kazeatari averted her face in disgust. The Arrancar erupted into a shower of guts, Kei folding her wrists crossway on the edge of the rooftop. "Better?"

"Not really," the wind wielder muttered darkly. A brief bark of laughter followed and the clack of a sword being withdrawn; "huh? What're you—?" Kagami landed on the rooftop beside Kei, his fist tight around the slim hilt of the seven-star sword. "Who're you-oh," Kei glanced over her shoulder; the blond Shinigami woman had awoken. Her face pale beneath the blood betrayed her fright of them.

"Taichou…" carefully crawling backward, her eyes darting from the unsheathed blade to Kagami's face, she became within arms reach of another, smaller boy, lying face down as well on the cement. His body had been pierced and it was clear he was near to death.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou," the woman pulled him close, folding his broken body into her chest, her gaze rose up at Kagami's silent approach. "L-L-Leave us—we didn't do anything to you!"

"Is that a little Taichou?" Kazeatari asked of Kei as the other stepped back into the sky near her. "Yeah I think so. Tenth maybe." Kagami stared down her, seeing himself as a figure in black in her eyes, "don't move. I'm not going to harm you."

The woman gasped, unable to move farther with the burden of the boy lying expressly in her arms. The tip of the blade rose, gripped between his upraised hands, a thin fine line of blue edged down, spreading over his aura. Light flashed, filling the broad flat surface with a transparent sheet, Kagami brought it down in one neat sweeping motion, the blue coalescing, enveloping the injured Shinigami.

"As always. Nice one," Kei flipped a thumb up as he spun on his heel, the blue of the sword fading. The woman's eyes flickered open, her movements unhampered by wounds now.

"Taichou?"

A soft grunt came, dull turquoise eyes fluttered, "Ma-Matsumoto? Wha-what happened to the—"

"You're all right!!!" she crushed him into her bosom, suffocating his revived breath out of him.

"All's well that ends well, I suppose." Kagami muttered, looking back over his shoulder at the pair.

"We'll still be caught plucked and roasted—" Kazeatari grumbled.

"That's your stomach talking. He'd never roast us. Remember?" Kei tapped her fingers against the width of her blade; "I'm the only one around here allowed to roast anything and besides that, I'd never let anybody hurt you, _dear_."

"Bitch." the other muttered.

Kei sauntered a few paces in the air away, then struck a pose, cocking her hip at an angle, "only yours." She imitated flicking a kiss from the tip of her gloved finger in Atari's direction. They had caught the attention of the Shinigami below, the woman especially watched raptly at the deliberate baiting between the supposed _saviors_.

"Will you guys cut it out?" Kagami flash-stepped to them, "I'm ready to go. With any luck we won't even have missed breakfast…"

"Great, let's go. I don't know about you two, but I'm starved!"

"See how fast the brain switches tracks?" Kei shook her head slightly, "it's taken thousands of years to develop the carnivorous biped you see before you—"

"Oh shut up. Lesbo."

"Am not!"

"Possibly are."

"Definitely not!"

"BE QUIET ALREADY!!!" a third voice bellowed up at them.

The three Soul reapers looked toward the building rooftop saying simultaneously, "Oh it's just the little Taichou. Phew! I thought it was—"

"SHUT UP!"

"Oh…sorry."

"Look, I don't know who you are or what _side_ you're even on. But please…" the boy's eyes softened, he gestured to the street below, "…we have others injured. Could you," his gaze lingered on the scabbard in Kagami's hand, "heal them?"

"Taichou?!"

"Hush, Matsumoto."

Kagami surveyed the scene, a certain stiffened rigidity in his stance, then slowly he descended to the street level, walking to the base of a denuded tree where a battered redhead lay, breathing hard. "Alright. Okay. Just this once," he said, encircling the Shinigami in a bubble of his Zanpaku-to's water. "I'll do it. No questions asked."

"That's…" the young Taichou seemed hesitant about accepting the strange terms, but nodded slightly, "fine. Agreed."

"Okay, Hokuto, you and me have a lot of work ahead of us." Kagami rolled the sleeves of his cloak up past his elbows; bracers of thick leather covered his arms. Kazeatari went after him, dropping near where the Shinigami had come to rest. Kei glanced over the proceedings with an air of boredom, "you know…this will all fall on your head, you know that right?"

"Uh huh. But that's why I'm counting on you to keep me from being roasted by the flames of the enraged he-beast. Though still…" he began gathering the scattered reishii particles into the pale gleaming tang of the sword, light flowing through the slender metal wavering its shape into the finest edge of translucency then ghosting it through the wounded Shinigami's body.

"I—"

A burst of reiatsu halted their talk; another had come. The Arrancar's wild teal eyes rolled over the scene taking it in with a slow grin of pure bloodlust. His gaze alighted on Kei, standing apart in the sky above the building. In a blur he had lunged for her—

~~~To be continued~~~

AN: Alternate to fit the storyline. The Shinigamies extra release of power fails-hence it's the three elementals to the rescue-though no one in the living world knows that yet. The back-story has yet to be filled and with it other revelations and their feelings and past histories with the Vizards and Aizen haven't been written of yet. :) Reviews are appreciated and OCS are still needed.

Character profiles: Juppongatana leader

Name: Kanzaki Raven  
Soul reaper with Quincy powers  
age: looks 26. Whatever that is in shinigami years. Let's say 390 in reality.  
Height: 5-10  
weight: 147  
Gender: Male  
Hair: purple (semi spiky)  
Eyes: red  
Build: medium to light  
Clothes: rectangular glasses, a sleeveless black captain's haori, a dark gray Shihakusho, and a fingerless black glove (left hand).


	5. Show of force

ShiKai CH.4: Show of force

At the very same moment of the Arrancar's unexpected appearance, in the realm of the Phantom City, agitated unrest was disturbing the normally quiet office of Second Division.

"Where is he?!"

The door having promptly been flung open and in strode a man in gray robes and swishing black surcoat. "Captain Kanzaki…" murmured a girl attired similar but for the armband fastened high on her arm just above the edge of her tied sleeves. Silver formed a wreath of vines curling up the tang of a saber and ending in a large flower blossom in place of the round hand guard. This was the emblem of Second Division.

"Kimiko-san," Kanzaki interrupted, advancing further into the room, his gaze swept passed the empty desks and cleared off spaces where green stalks grew out of clay pots and razor leaves drooped passively onto the gleaming surface of the wood. "Where is your Captain?"

The girl absently brushed back a twist of coiled hair from her shoulder, the curls at the tips trailing ostensibly over the pot held between her hands. "Captain Nanatsu left quite suddenly this morning. He told me that I was under no circumstance barring his return to leave the office with him being away." A frown darkened her expression, her eyes of a royal Iris purple narrowed upon the leafy stems of the mint-like plant she was repotting. "The Tarantacula needed to go in the ground and I'd meant to do it today but he wouldn't let me!" she whined.

Distracted somewhat from his original purpose, Kanzaki eyed the innocent-yet-suspicious looking member of the botany warily. "May I ask what exactly is a Tarantacula?"

A gleam came into her eye. Something that he didn't like came into her manner. "Well! It's a cross between one of those seedlings Captain Yamamoto brought from The Gate. A red spider lily or something, anyway I took some of the roots from the Laurel Hagus that grows near the river and a germinating seedling from the poisonous orchid and voila!" she lifted the pot up proudly waving it in his direction.

"It'll bloom when it senses any high amount of spirit pressure."

"O-Okay." Wisely Kanzaki backed up.

"I was set on planting in the region of Fire Thorn, but I thought perhaps nearer home might be better."

"Like how _nearer home_ do you mean?"

"Outside Tsukikage. Maybe below your bedroom window."

She chuckled lowly, once the door had slammed shut hastily and the Division one Captain's footsteps had receded in panic. _That got him every time_. Absently Kimiko pinched a waxy leaf from the plant and raised it to her face, inhaling the musty scent of Cacao.

It was only a harmless Chocolate mint plant for Lieutenant Sakurai.

_Silly man_.

The real Tarantacula had been planted along the Fire Thorn valley wall last week.

~*~

Flash-stepping back to the grounds of Tsukikage, Kanzaki jogged around the side castle wall. An enclosure of a high gate made of tarnished ancient iron opened at his touch. It had been left unlocked. Inside was a flattened landing of stone that descended at a gentle decline from crumbling stone steps worn away by the centuries to low half-rise stonewalls and large planters of teardrop shapes. From these earthy smells rose up; Kimiko's hand had been here.

Overflowing Geraniums of blush pink and rose red grew on stocky arms. Profusions of clover surrounded the bases. Clingy vines of a purple grape variety hung heavy from the nearest wall, they had yet to ripen. Summer was almost upon Assiah. Kanzaki stopped, taking a moment to study the opening soft midnight blue color of a conical Morning glory blossom.

Footsteps approached.

The pair reached the top step, revealing themselves to be a girl with loose blond hair streaming down her shoulders, her face turned up to her companion's, smiling, into the man's worried expression. "I'm sure you'll do just fine! The test—"

"Oh! Toya, Takara-san, have you by any chance seen Captain Yamamoto around here?"

"Kanzaki-san…" blue eyes alighted upon him and she shifted the burden of binders in her arms, at once thoughtful, " um no. But I believe they might..." she hesitated. "What?" Kanzaki eyed her suspiciously. Toya watched the exchange with a straight face; only the quirking of the corner of his mouth could be seen as an attempt to contain his amusement.

Everyone knew the three Captains were not only difficult to control but also Kazeatari and Kei were most notorious for pulling things on Kanzaki, their supposed _esteemed_ leader. "What I mean is—" Takara faltered, her pale cheeks reddening in embarrassment, "—I um saw them all together. Kazeatari-san and Captain Yamamoto…they were headed toward the edge of the City…Kagami-san joined them, he was carrying the Shichisei." The sword of healing.

"When was this?"

"This morning, not two hours ago."

Comprehension dawned over Kanzaki's face. He punched his gloved hand against his right palm, "damn them! Do they not understand a simple order?!"

Takara sensed she had done something wrong, "sir, I—" Toya laid his hand on her shoulder, smoothly interceding, "let it go, Taka."

"But…" helplessly she watched Kanzaki bluster on about disobeying orders and promises not kept, while rampaging around the garden in circles throwing his hands in the air.

~The living world~

Meanwhile…

"Dammit."

"What?" Kazeatari's eyes lifted from Kei tackling the Arrancar in the sky to Kagami scratching at the hood of his cloak irritably, the blade of the Hokuto Shichisei slipped a little from his hand. "My ear is itching! Just started all of a sudden—"

"Someone's talking bad about you," she answered perfunctorily, turning back to the scene. She threw up a barrier of wind seconds before fire exploded in a blossom of orange flame from Kei's sword. "Sorry!" the fire wielder yelled, twisting to the side and avoiding the clumsy punch from the teal-eyed Arrancar.

"Stay still, Shinigami!!!" he snarled.

"As if," Kei snorted, haughtily vanishing and then reappearing above him, "I don't know where you popped up from but I've got places to be now—so just do me a favor and die already. Maouen." The tang of the Tachi split into a red shimmer that varied into a black hue. There was a screech like that of a blackbird; Kei let go of the tapered hilt, the sword fell through the air then in a whirlwind of intense heat flew in an arc transformed. A great bird with eyes of the purest blue flame burned in the head of black, a curved beak gleamed wickedly opening once to emit a piercing cry.

"Incinerate him, Maouen."

A firestorm of fiery hail rained from the flapping of the Demon bird's wings. The Arrancar dodged the first volley, shooting a cylinder of crackly blue light through it. Kei swiped her palm in a circle, "Bakudo 39 Enkosen." The reishi condensed at her command, forming an impenetrable shield. The Doom blast hit in a wide swath, breaking easily upon the wall surrounding her; the Arrancar saw and ground his teeth in anger.

A beam of red light shot down moments later, he threw his wrists up to block it. "Kido sans incantation." Kei pushed against his arms, tilting her weight with the force of gravity broke through the reishi he used to hover. Slowly they began a downward spiral to the ground. His eyes widened, "let go—you crazy bitch!"

"Such a mouth," Kei chided, the fire bird hovered far above them, awaiting further command. "As I was saying. To discard an incantation for a level—ooh say—40 is accomplishable by a Fukutaichou. Possibly. Depending on their knowledge and strengths. But now say…" her grin took on wicked glint, "…a level 90. Then you're getting into Taichou or near Kido corps material."

Her hand lifted and the bird spiraled into a perfect line, her fingers closed around the guardless blade, "scared?" Kei held the diamond-shaped tip inches above his face. Sweat broke out on his upper lip. Kei pulled back, kicking off from his abdomen with her heel, she watched him fall. Past the height of the rooftop, almost there…

"Hado 90 Kurohitsugi."

Black pillars shot down from her hand became implanted in the street below. As the Arrancar plummeted, his head turned. Kazeatari lounged on the rooftop's edge, glimpsed his fear, another faster movement darted from behind the alleyway, shooting upward and grasping him about the waist. "The hell…" the wind wielder muttered.

The Black Coffin closed upon air.

"Son of a bitch!" Kei touched down on the ground lightly, throwing her senses to the smatterings of reiatsu floating in the air. Searching for any trace of the Arrancar's spirit pressure. Nothing. "Asshole got away." She announced, leaping to the roof. Kazeatari leaned back, "I know. Somebody helped him."

"Who?"

"Not sure."

Kei hopped from the edge, twirling her sword like a baton.

"Low bridge," Atari muttered as the long Tachi whistled over her head. Kagami picked up the sheathe and slid the dull blade in it, "all done. He should wake up in a minute or two," he said to the two Shinigami. The white-haired Taichou glanced from the inert redhead's body lacking the deep wounds to Kagami crouching near him.

"Thank you."

"No prob."

"Taichou! I see Kurosaki-kun!" the female Shinigami woman cried, looking out over the streets from the eastern side. "It looks like he might be carrying Kuchiki-san…I think she's hurt—hey—huh?"

Kagami had frozen, his gloved hand pressed to his ear. He heard _something_.

~Tsukikage sunken gardens~

"Bakudo 77 Tenteikura," Kanzaki knelt over the drawn design on the stone landing. Takara and Toya stayed to the side, watching curiously as he began, "this is Captain Raven Kanzaki. I am addressing this to you-know-who-you-are pair of a threesome—and I don't mean that kind! You are to get back here on the double and I mean NOW. Bring your collective Asses back here this instant or…SUFFER THE WORKINGS OF MY WRATH. DIE!!!"

~The living world~

He blanched as the last word echoed in his eardrums. He looked over at the girls chatting away about bakeries and crullers and trembled in stark fear.

"We-we-we have to go…" he rose, crossing stiffly to them. Kei broke off about the virtues of chocolate crullers, glancing at him, "huh?"

"Wehavetogonow."

"What?" this time from Atari.

"I'M GOING TO POKE HOLES IN YOU WITH MY ARROWS! KAGAMI!"

If possible he became more affrighted.

"Now! We have to go now!" In his haste, Kagami grabbed a hold of Kei's cloak. Involuntarily she took half a step back where there was no ledge.

"Oh shit…"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

~*~

Ichigo was at the last street corner; ahead on a rooftop were the figures of three silhouettes. He turned his head slightly to address Rukia on his back, "almost there—"

Then there was a scream.

He snapped around, one of the figures, a girl it seemed, was plummeting to the sidewalk. _Was it one of his Shinigami comrades? Couldn't be_. Her arms flailed, she flipped her body forward, kicking neatly off the sheer brick wall, somersaulting through the air to land gracefully on the cement.

Her little show was witnessed by everyone above, he recognized the white, blond and red heads of his comrades and then…

The girl burst out laughing. Her form bent over as she wrapped her arms over her stomach. "You should have seen your faces," she leapt up into the darkening sky, a blot darker than the night. Black. She wore black. Could it be—

The two others on the rooftop vanished then reappeared in front of her, chastising her with harsh words. Ichigo heard her response, carried on the evening wind.

"Oh please, Atari, spare me. But don't you think it was a passable Amy Lee imitation?"

Her.

He started forward and then stopped. They were gone.

~*~

"What did Kanzaki say?"

Kagami grimaced, running alongside Kazeatari.

"Nothing much. Just that he's going to poke holes in somebody with his arrows."

"Oh. That's it?" the wind wielder frowned, "maybe he's mellowing out in his old age. You know most souls do that. They lose their tempers—"

"He also said we would face the workings of his wrath and die."

"Oh." Kazeatari grew quiet then added, "maybe not."

~To be continued~

AN: Shorter than what I'd have liked. Kei and Ichigo will meet next time in the Valley of Fire Thorn. Think: "You dare trespass on this land?"

Anyhoo, special thanks to Aoi-san and shadowgouf for Kimiko and Toya. Yeah…there is quite a few Ocs in here, but everyone will get their chance to make an appearance especially with reminisces of the great battle long ago…that said. Ocs are still needed! Reviews are also appreciated.

Character profiles: Captain of Second Division

Name: Kagami Nanatsu (Reflection and Seventh) so named for his Zanpaku-to of water and some of its Seven Dragon attacks.

Soul reaper of the Element Water

Age: 26 is how he appears however he has retained the same looks throughout the hundred years of residing in Assiah. He was eighteen when he arrived in Soul society…

Height: 5'10 like Kanzaki though maybe an inch or two taller.

Weight: unspecified

Gender: Male

Hair: longish. Covers his ears. Ash blond.

Eyes: Like the blue of the ocean

Build: Slight. Looks weak but is a master of Hakuda (Hand movements)

Clothes: Gray Kimono, black under. Black surcoat similar to the Shinigami white, emblazoned on the back with the symbol of the Second Division, silver vines twining up the blade of a saber and ending in a large flower blossom in place of the rounded guard.


	6. Fight for all the wrong reasons

AN: below the Omake is of course the real chapter. Enjoy.

Omake: Roundtable discussion

Tsukikage throne room

"Kanzaki…" Kei glanced around the large room and rectangular banquet table.

"Hmm?"

"Why is this called a roundtable discussion?"

"Creators of anime like directors and writers and stuff, gather together and discuss their work." The Division one Captain answered perfunctorily, pulling a chair out from the end of the table.

"Oh…no what I meant was, if it's _roundtable_, why isn't the table round?"

Kanzaki turned slowly to her, "it's not the table that matters. It's just a metaphor for a discussion of this kind."

Kei eyed him doubtfully, "well that's dumb." She plopped down in the seat he had pulled out. "If it's not round then it shouldn't be called a roundtable discussion!"

"I don't know why it is." He sighed tiredly, giving up his chair without a fight, "ask the authoress."

Kei tilted her head and swept the room with narrowed violet eyes, "she's not here right now."

"Well just wait and see if this new chapter answers your question."

"Probably not," Kei glanced over the sheets of written typescript beneath the glass paperweight. "Says uh…da da da…it's mostly about the Shinigami." She set it down, frowning, "who's Inoue? I wonder if she's prettier than me…"

"I doubt that."

"So you think I'm pretty?"

"More than that."

"How much _more_?" the papers were forgotten.

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"Uh-huh. Go on. Tell me more."

"Maybe we should cut to the reading of the thank yous?" Kagami interrupted dryly from the doorway. Kei instantly brightened, "okay." Snatching up the nearest paper on hand that bore the letterhead: messages, she read them silently.

"Wow…so my song was recognized! Cool! Thanks Alleyieh." She beamed happily then read the next paragraph the same way. "Toya-san _is_ quiet. Better than Kanzaki always ranting—"

"Kanzaki _is_ in the room!" the insulted Captain reminded.

"Well anyway…ahem. Thanks shadowgouf! And now…" the third and final was read and a grin split over Kei's face, "that was a very nice thing to say, randomchick818. I hope we don't disappoint you! I'm sure Sakuya-san from Behind the Mask feels the same."

"Was that it?" Kagami asked. Kei nodded.

"Okay, roll it."

ShiKai CH.5: Fight for all the wrong reasons

~Living world: Urahara Shoten, time: 9:38 pm

"I don't believe you! A man who could forge swords?!" Hitsugaya scoffed, crossing the legs of his Gigai and scowling darkly at the Shoten owner sitting across the low table. "Believe it or not. Hitsugaya-kun, but there was such a man, his name was Kagami and I knew him long ago. Now what you said about those three visitors from earlier was intriguing. You say they used no names?"

"No," the young Taichou leveled a cool gaze on the older man, "I didn't ask and they didn't offer."

"Hmm, I see." Urahara rested the folded fan against his chin lightly, "and they were cloaked in black? No identifying symbols?"

"Nothing." Hitsugaya confirmed, "Facial features were hidden completely. But…"

"But what?" Urahara prompted, catching the sound of approaching footsteps. The young Taichou hesitated; the door slid open noisily. "Rukia's asleep now. Inoue healed her." Ichigo glanced over the two somber-faced Shinigami, a scowl of his own crossing his face, "what's up? Is there something you're not telling me?"

On the mark for once.

"Urahara-san was telling me about someone he knew. Somebody who could forge blades that were soulless." Hitsugaya said. Ichigo dropped down beside the door, "interesting. Go on. Don't stop 'cause of me."

"Indeed no," Urahara breezily said, ignoring the warning look from Hitsugaya. "As I was saying. This man, Kagami, he used the elements to craft swords similar in shape and power of a normal Zanpaku-to. The one he had shown me…the Hokuto Shichisei…could heal any wound dealt to the body by _ghosting_ the blade as it were through the wound."

"Ghosting?"

"Yes. The tang glowed blue when it was powered up. I saw him heal a man under Yoruichi's command once that had been slashed from throat to abdomen. It was…amazing."

Hitsugaya's face registered disbelief, "but how is that possible? Did he live?"

"Of course! I just told you! Kagami healed him with the sword he had forged. There were others I think…let's see I haven't thought about this in a long time. Hokuto Shichisei was first and then there was…Hakuya? No I don't believe he ever finished that one at least not at the time. But what you told me—" too late the Shoten owner paused, then waved his fan to cover up. Hitsugaya mentally cursed the man.

"_What_ did you tell him…Toshiro?"

"Kurosaki…" Hitsugaya narrowly glanced from the corner of his eye. The deputy Shinigami had leaned a little forward, curiosity alight in his brown eyes. "It's about those…people…that sword he was talking about…" Hitsugaya shook his head briefly, "it glowed blue. The one that man carried did the same."

"So…" Ichigo thought about the figures in black. _Kei_. "What does that mean?"

"It means that most likely Kagami is alive or someone else is wielding his sword. Either way I think a little more story telling is required before we decide on anything." Urahara answered.

~Assiah, Tsukikage castle~

"Where in the Hell were you?!"

"You know where," Kei commented dryly. A vein bulged on Kanzaki's forehead. "What the—hey! Don't walk away FROM ME!" The division four Captain sauntered off to the south wing, ignoring the tirade going behind her.

"Quit shouting." A voice interrupted. Kanzaki spun around, furiously, "Kagami!" The blond man strolled in casually; beside him carrying the same pot from earlier was his Lieutenant Kimiko. "Good afternoon, sir," the girl called, then to her Captain, "Sakurai-san wanted it but I haven't been able to find her."

"Have you asked Kazeatari?"

"Am I being ignored by you?!"

Kagami held up his hand, silencing Kimiko, "hold on a sec." He turned slowly to Kanzaki, his eyebrow raised, "we're here now, what do you want?"

"_What do I want_, he says—I demand an explanation for your actions today! You deliberately disobeyed my orders. Crossed the borders of our world and helped the Shinigami—made spectacles of yourselves—"

"No. We didn't actually. They didn't know who we were. Kazeatari wanted to check out the Arrancars after the disturbances in Hueco Mundo. Even Kei agreed we should." Kagami folded his arms over his chest, looking thoughtful.

"And?"

"What?"

"Well what did you find out?"

"We killed four. One got away." Seeing the man grow quiet, Kagami began to creep toward the eastern wing, Kimiko at his heels.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going! Kagami!!!" Kanzaki sputtered.

~*~

"Dancing bears. Painted wings…things I almost remember and a song someone sings…once upon a December…" Kei stared absently up at the high domed ceiling, studying the fine veins of the old stone and running her eyes along the pillars on the opposite wall. She sighed, snuggling deeper into the plushy blanket like a cradle, she closed her eyes, "Someone holds me safe and warm…"

Soon she began to dream.

~Living world: Urahara Shoten~

"Have any of you ever heard the ancient tale about the Elements?"

Everyone looked blank.

"It sounds familiar," Ishida eventually admitted. No one had dared to question him as to his whereabouts during the battle. All but Ichigo wasn't surprised. "Where did you hear it?" the deputy Shinigami asked suspiciously.

"Contrary to a certain fool who shall not be named-I read a lot." The Quincy said simply, pushing his glasses back up his nose. Ichigo was quietly mouthing the words then, started up from the floor, "_what_ fool?!"

"You of course."

Ichigo was stopped from lunging furiously for the Quincy by Renji's hand on his shoulder, "hey calm down. Anyway…I've never heard of it before, this story. Where did you read it?" this was directed to Ishida.

"Actually my grandfather told it to me."

Swiftly Urahara intervened, "well at least somebody here knows the gist of it. Well—settle down, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo glaring daggers across the table; drew his legs up, crossing them more comfortably. Orihime shifted herself, more ostensibly closer to him though no one accounted it. "I'd like to hear it, Urahara-san," she said, earning her a glowing look from the ex Taichou.

"Certainly my dear Orihime-cha—"

"Get on with it," Ichigo effectively cut him off.

"Anyway! As you know-or should-the four elements are Earth, Fire, Water and Wind. They comprise the four primal energies that make up the worlds. Ice," with a glance to Hitsugaya and Rukia who had been awakened to hear the Shoten owner speak, nodded, "is of course familiar to all wielders of swords utilizing powers such as that. It would come under the dominion of water. Well a very long-long time ago when the worlds were young and you my good sirs not even conceived of…the four elements were in a state of chaos. Something had disrupted the precarious balance of nature and everything was sliding into oblivion. What happened next, Ishida-kun? Do you remember?"

The Quincy started, "well uh…The Spirit King who ruled over the lands from his castle high above the worlds made a decision. He chose to…chose to bind the spirits of the elements into living flesh. Fastening upon them a mark of oath to forever serve the humans or…"

"Or…" Urahara smiled, "be punished to a thousand years of damnation." His shadowed eyes passed over the quiet, intent group slowly, "and what do you think happened when they broke their oath?"

Ichigo made as if to speak then stopped.

"They were made to suffer lifetime after human lifetime of suffering. The four born into this world, died horrible, violent deaths and were reincarnated in Soul society-at least that's what a document once kept by the Central Forty-Six Council read."

"But then where are they?" Ichigo finally spoke.

"Ah. Yes…just where are they? I'm sure the Seireitei guards of old asked the same thing every cycle of two hundred or less years. You see, Kurosaki-kun, these four filled their dues even as Shinigami."

"What?" his voice was faint.

"They were persecuted. Imprisoned. Executed. Terrible things were done to them all in the name of a lie. In the same document kept that I mentioned there is also a certain rhyme of sorts that goes along with it. _Four bound there were and now three exist. Fire of the hated flame, water of the frigid winter, wind of terrible destruction wrought…only earth shall return and sustain men of the soil_."

"What does that mean?"

"It means our Shinigami of old took it to heart. But…" the Shoten owner finished quietly, "it was false. The Elements existed only to protect the humans…their damnation was to be paid in the next life with service. Eternally bound to watch over the lands for the ones who condemned them…"

"How…how awful," Matsumoto breathed.

Hitsugaya glanced at her, "it is. But I don't see how—"

"I'm getting there." Urahara seemingly recovered continued, "I said if you recall earlier that the man I knew, Kagami, could forge swords."

Two nods followed.

"He used the elements to craft them. He was—"

"Water."

Everyone swiveled around to the open doorway and statuesque woman lounging there.

"Yoruichi…" Urahara said softly.

"Nanatsu Kagami was of my own guards. He told me what he was, the elemental of water."

~Assiah, Tsukikage castle, time- 1:05 am

_Oni…_

_Okaasan…what is an oni?_

_A Demon._

_Stay away from that woman. She has an ill-favored look about her._

_I'm innocent._

_Oni. _

_I'm innocent I tell you!_

_Thiswomanisoneof__them__._

_Listen to me! _

_Oni! Oni! Oni! _

_No…please…please…_

_Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni!_

_STOPIT!!!_

Kei started awake. Her body jolting with the force of her dream state's consciousness. She stared around the familiar contours of the furniture cloaked in darkness. The spirit form of Maouen reclined on clawed feet on the bar near her bed. She glanced at the huddled feathers gleaming with an unnatural sheen and smiled sardonically.

Everyone and everything in the world was asleep at this moment dreaming sweet dreams. Everyone but her…

She slumped down against the amassed pillows, her hand rose and fell over her forehead, "why me?" she whispered, "I don't want to remember this."

Across the castle thinking nearly the same thing was Kazeatari. Her pillow was over her head, her eyes staring straight into the fine weaves of the cotton case. "Go to sleep, Keiko," she said aloud.

Kagami slipped the tiny ear buds of the so-called Ipod in, lying back against the top of the blue patchwork quilt atop his bed. He stared at the ceiling listening to the beginnings of a popular Japanese pop song. He hoped she would fall asleep fast.

~Living world: Kurosaki clinic, Karakura town, time: 4:20 am

Ichigo's eyes flickered open at once feeling his body wide-awake but his mind still in the effects of drowse. _What was going on_? He half-rose staring at the time registered on the digital alarm clock, _still a few hours until school_._ Damn_. He tried turning over, starting at the cool wetness of the fabric of his pillowcase.

_Tears_? He touched his face in the darkness. _I was…crying?_

_Oni! Oni! Oni!_

That girl. He thought about Urahara's words. _Persecuted_. His mouth went dry at the image that conjured up. _How could anyone be so cruel_? His eyes closed briefly but were unable to stay that way. _He was thoroughly awake. He couldn't sleep_. _Why_?

Unbidden he remembered her song, his lips moved almost silently, "someone holds me safe and warm…"

~Assiah, Tsukikage castle, time-1:07 am~

"…Horses prance through a silver storm…" Kei whispered, pausing to moisten her dry lips, "…figures dancing gracefully…across my memory…"

~ Living world: Kurosaki clinic, Karakura town, time: 4:21 am

He began to feel drowsy all of a sudden. Deeply. Warmly. _Was it the song_?

"Far away. Long ago…" he faltered on the words, settling further under the blankets. "Mmmm…things my heart used to know, things it yearns to remember…"

~Assiah, Tsukikage castle, time-1:08 am~

"…things it yearns to remember…" her sleeplessness passed. Kei's eyes closed heavily. She was asleep once again.

Kazeatari felt the onset of drowse before it hit her. _Finally_…the wind wielder flopped back into her original position and was fast asleep again.

Kagami switched off the dial of his player before turning over. Then he too returned to dreamland.

~Living world: Rooftop of Karakura High, time: next day~

"Is the itty bitty Taichou sad?" Matsumoto came up behind Hitsugaya and snuggled him into her large chest making him squirm and bark out irritably, "Cut it out, Matsumoto! Release me this instant!"

The blond Fukutaichou stepped back, her light eyes landed on the Soul pager in his hand and instantly she became serious. "What did they say? Have our orders changed?"

Hitsugaya vaguely waved his hand, the other loosening the striped tie from his collar, "I related everything that transpired yesterday…barring what Urahara-san told us." She nodded, "and?"

He sighed, "Soul society wishes us to attempt to make contact with the Juppongatana. They say we have enough reason to believe that is who we were dealing with."

"And do you agree?"

The young Taichou glanced away, "it's complicated." After a moment he began again, "Matsumoto if…"

"What?"

"If we do find them and they're…the elementals. What right do we have to ask them for anything?"

She couldn't answer.

~~Living world: Urahara Shoten, time: later that day

"You need to travel to Assiah…and you're asking my help for it?" Urahara looked amused as always. Hitsugaya scowled slightly, "yes. No one from Seireitei has been there in nearly fifty years. They stopped sending even the survey teams ages ago. I figured only you might know how to open a portal—"

"There's no portal."

"What?"

"There is no portal. No gateway that can be opened this side of earth to reach Assiah."

"Then how—?"

"Kurosaki-kun…you seem to be the only one who's less than somber about this entire thing…why is that?" The Shoten owner casually remarked. The deputy Shinigami's expression darkened, "drop it, Urahara." Hitsugaya heard the quiet anger present and wondered at it.

"If we can't open a portal…then how can we get there?" Orihime piped up. She was dressed in sweats and a tight long-sleeve shirt. Her hair clips flashed with a peculiar light. Urahara smiled a little, sidling closer to her, "that my dear I will whisper in your—"

"Pervert." Rukia sent him flying.

"So cruel…anyway," said the Shoten owner recovered, "you need a fusion of the elements to crack through the spiritual atmosphere. Now mind you…I don't know what you all will find once there." He surveyed them all in turn. Chad and Renji nearest to Ichigo, on the other side standing resolute was Orihime and Rukia. A little farther away were Hitsugaya and Matsumoto representing Soul society; Ikkaku and Yumichika had gone back early but would return to remain in case of another attack by the Arrancars. Ishida was by the door, frowning in consternation over the entire group.

"You've seen their power…all I can say is…take care. In three days I will have the device you need to enter the fourth world."

~Assiah, Tsukikage castle Throne room, time: three earth days later~

"Intruders?"

There was a rhythmic tap-tap of flat heels and a nod from the blond Lieutenant. Lacking a recognized Captain, Takara Shimizu was obliged to represent third Division during Captains meetings. Alongside her stepping with long strides in the knee-high black buckle boots was Kei.

The pair reached the doors of the Throne room and throwing them open proceeded to enter.

Kagami and Kazeatari were already there. Standing near the huge glass window whose view allowed them to see the entirety of the Phantom city without restriction from any of the directions. "In Fire Thorn Valley. In the south…" Takara clarified. Kei looked thoughtful, "when did they arrive?"

"Not half an hour ago. Kimiko-san's Tarantacula gave off warning signs so I scanned the area further and came up with this…" she held her wrist level, a large armband was strapped to a hand held computer. On the screen eight dots glowed in red on a green locator map

"Can we get visual?" Kazeatari spoke, her back to them.

Takara tapped a few keys and in the space of a second, another image this time of a grainy hologram appeared atop the laser reflector. "Looks like…four humans…and four Shinigami," Kei observed, looking closely at the tiny figures in black. "You're wrong," Kanzaki stepped to them, his crimson eyes mild behind their frames.

"What?"

"I said _you're wrong_. There's five Shinigami and three humans."

She counted the black robes, "one's a fleshie."

Kanzaki was taken aback, "which one?"

"The orange-haired kid. He's young…Kimiko-san's Tarantacula only awaken if they sense high levels of spirit pressure. None are planted that close in which means that—" Kei didn't finish.

"One of them is _powerful_." Kagami finished for her.

The room grew quiet.

"So what do you propose we do?" Kazeatari finally asked, her hand fell to her side, fingers loosely entwined around the purple cord of her fan. The steady light of the early afternoon sun filtered in through the window, casting tall shadows from their similarly cut gray robes. Takara's voice broke the silence, "we could still…" she hesitated.

Kanzaki looked at her, "what?"

"Well near the Tarantacula is the Suyetsumuhana…its primary awakening is by sound waves. If we blast some through the surveillance system…"

"But _what_ does it do?" The division one Captain asked carefully.

"The Suyetsumuhana releases a colorless poisonous gas from the opening of its petals. When inhaled the victim falls into a sleep that they will never awaken from." Kagami replied. Kanzaki looked a little ill, "you mean they'll die?"

"Yes." Dark blue eyes flickered over the man's paled face, "what? Does the thought of an indirect manner of killing disturb you so much?"

Kanzaki ran his fingers through the short spikes of his violet hair, "yeah…sort of. Shouldn't we at least offer them the chance to turn back? We swore we would defend life not end it without a proper reason."

"A fight for all the right reasons," Kei murmured, staring off out the window. Kazeatari tapped her chin thoughtfully with the folded edge of her fan, "I suppose you could call it that. I mean _they are trespassing_…but who'll go?"

"I will." Kei said quickly, "The South is _mine_ after all."

~Assiah, Fire Thorn Valley, time: 1:28 in the afternoon~

_This is…the fourth world_?

Hitsugaya shaded his eyes from the glare of the sun and looked out over the vast expanse of sky over the plateau of rock that they had landed upon. Far off to the east he glimpsed a vibrant blue body of water darker than any ocean he had ever seen, to the west civilization. North…emptiness.

Ahead of them, past the craggy rock was a low Valley shrouded in mist. The Graylands. Beyond that in the center was the Phantom City…at least that's what Urahara had told them. But everyone knew his information wasn't so accurate…

"Okay! Let's—Kurosaki!"

The deputy Shinigami had been at the edge of the plateau, looking down. Not even glancing back, he had jumped off, Shunpo-ing to the ground far below. Hitsugaya shook in silent fury then stared incredulously as Matsumoto carrying Orihime did the same. "Matsu—not you too!" Renji with an arm around his sparring partner, Chad, went also. Rukia was the last with Ishida.

Hitsugaya stamped his foot angrily, "damn you! I'm the leader of this mission! Wait for ME!"

~Assiah, Tsukikage castle Throne room~

"Do you think she's there yet?" Kazeatari sat in the wide window seat built deep into the wall. The screen schematic on Takara's computer changed to spirit pressures read outs, there was a slight flare up above the eight numbered. Kagami leaned over and saw, "I'd said say so. Looks like it'll be a tease before she comes out for the confrontation."

"Why does she do that?"

"Huh?" Kagami glanced over to Kanzaki leaning against the wall nearest the ancient throne chair opposite them. "Make it a game. All these years I've known her, witnessed her strengths been there when all became hopeless. I've never been able to understand her."

The water wielder looked away a little sadly, but a smile lifted up a corner of his mouth, "neither have we. Just as you can't fathom the deep depths of a body of water just so it is with fire. You cannot understand what makes it burn. Why it feels so warm and flares with such strength… no. No one can ever understand _us_. Fully. Unless they were one."

~Assiah, Fire Thorn Valley, time: 1:38 pm~

"I said _wait for me_!" Hitsugaya had finally caught up to them, panting from the speed of the Shunpo they had traveled.

"Shhh!"

"Wha—"

"Be quiet!" Ichigo hissed. In the valley they had entered it was ringed on three sides by sheer rock faces, however in the crevice of one, a shadow darted and a soft giggle floated to them.

"Someone's out there…quit hiding! Show yourself!" Hitsugaya barked. The shadow heard and paused for a second as a black spot on the edge of the cliff then leapt in a blur of almost unimaginable speed to a lower shelf. "I'm not hiding." Spoke the cloaked figure in an amused female's voice.

Ichigo's heart raced. _Familiar_.

"Who are you?!"

There was a tiny sniff and then the figure surveyed them all bemusedly, "you really believe you have the right to demand that of me? You who dare trespass on this land? I was given orders to go lenient on you…but it seems as though you wish to force my hand."

With a single violent movement the figure had ripped the cloak off, revealing she to indeed be a girl dressed in short Hakama that came to her knees, below that were tall black boots. She wore a gray kimono with black showing at the sleeves and neck, over everything was a black haori that came to her hips.

"I am Captain Keiko Yamamoto of the Juppongatana. Our laws state no Soul society Shinigami may enter our world; as it is I ask you now, leave at once. Go back to where you came from."

_They couldn't leave without_…_trying_.

"And if we don't?" it was hard to judge the girl's strength. Hitsugaya tried reading her reiatsu but found nothing._ As if she had no power at all_._ Or it was completely sealed_.

Her hand went to her waist, trailing along the large crescent moon at the base of the hilt. "I will fight you then." There was a flicker of something radiating from her in sharp pinpricks of light. Hitsugaya couldn't figure out what it was until Renji, startled, said, "that's Kenki!"

"What did you say?"

"Only the very best swordsmen possess it. A literal piercing energy given off by their bodies. I'd never witnessed it before until now…" the red-headed Fukutaichou of the sixth Company finished, awestruck.

"Well…who goes first?"

Ichigo stepped out from the circle of his friends, "I will."

~To be continued~

AN: long but yeah things need to get moving…isn't Takara-san's wrist computer uber cool? Sighs…I want one…maybe I'll have Kagami build me one. ;D Thanks for reading and reviews-not flames-are appreciated.

Character profiles: Lieutenant of Second Division

Name: Kimiko Shimizu

Age: Looks 14 but who knows?

Height: 1.6 meters tall

Weight: about 40kg (stays the same forever...)

Gender: female

Hair: Dark purple that curls at the ends and reaches her waist.

Eyes: The color of purple Iris flowers

Build: Slender but works a lot with her hands.

Clothes: Normal gray Kimono tucked into regular gray Hakama, black tied sash. Wears badge of the second Division etc.


	7. No shortage of enemies

AN: This is shorter than I'd have liked…below this is the real chapter, enjoy.

Omake: The _mini_ round side table discussion

Tsukikage castle sunken gardens

"There. Is that better?"

Kei eyed the round-topped table set out in the middle of the top landing. A child's stool half the height was beside it, turned out awaiting an occupant.

"It was in the authoresses' home." Kanzaki continued, nodding slightly, "Toya was told before he brought it that one of her aunts whom she despises, gave it to them. You should be thankful, she gracious—"

"It's a three-legged table." Kei bent over, peering along the under-side.

The Division one Captain's eye twitched, "so?"

"There was ghost story involving a three-legged table…wonder if this could be _it_."

It grew quiet then Kanzaki hurriedly laid a hand atop the Zanpaku-to strapped to his hip, "probably not! In any case perhaps we should get the messages read? Take a seat, Keiko."

Dubiously, Kei sat down, withdrawing from a pocket inside the lining of her surcoat, a sheaf of folded papers. "Hahaha! Thank you, randomchick 818!" she read the topmost one, "indeed. The question present in everyone's minds now regarding this chapter is how _Kei_ is going to pwn Ichigo?"

"She is?" Kanzaki expressed doubt.

Kei glared over the top of the printed sheets, "of course _I am_. But _how_…I'm not telling." A wicked grin flashed before she proceeded to the next one, "ah yes, Angel-chan1992…when exactly is Takara going to show off her skills? I don't know…a flashback might be in store. One of the first from our battle for the world of Assiah, it should be interesting." She nodded to herself, "and finally from shadowgouf…" she rested her elbow on the tabletop, smiling faintly, "thanks! Glad you're enjoying it so far. Well that's it. Roll it, Kanzaki!"

ShiKai CH.6: No shortage of enemies

_The kid_…Kei scrutinized him more, assuring herself that she was right. _He was a human in Shinigami form, alive but in the guise of death. This should be interesting_. "I accept," she called down to them, leaping from her spot. She descended to the ground, landing with a soft tmp on the hard rock.

"Kurosaki-kun…" said a human girl with long orange hair.

Kei stalked forward, reaching behind as he did, for her sword. Her eyes flickered over the taut grim-faced gathering and she couldn't help but let out a low chuckle. "Can't you have at least a little faith? Warriors who give up on the eve of battle are nothing but _cowards_. You don't know what the rest of the day will bring…"

The little Taichou's expression darkened.

Kei shrugged easily, swinging the diamond tip of the Tachi back and forth and then bringing it over her head. The kid did the same, both hands stationed above one another on the long hilt of his Zanpaku-to. _It looks…like a meat cleaver_, chagrined she thought. Her eyes darted along the plain silver edge of the Hell sword, a familiar tingle of the power held within the unreleased form and body of the bird, reassuring.

_I'm counting on you_. _Touda_.

She left herself deliberately open to attack.

_For the Taichou and Fukutaichous. Not this fool_.

He charged at her, possibly assuming his clumsy strike would hit home, that is, never expecting the wide edge to cleave the air. Kei sighed, _fool indeed_. Her foot connected with his jaw. _That must've hurt_. She let loose a barrage of well-placed punches to his chest, pushing him back. _He seems to be taking it…not the way I had hoped. Perhaps someone else beats him this way_?

Unaccountably her eyes slid to the chagrined gaze of the Shinigami watching a distance away.

Then it happened.

Her back hit the rock. Her feet had been knocked out from under her. Kei reacted almost immediately, her legs opening to avoid the stab aimed down. A dull _shunk_ was heard as his sword became embedded in the ground. Kei braced her foot against the wide blade and kicked off from it, lithely flipping her body in the air twice.

She landed sideways, rolling onto a craggy incline. The tip of his sword landed inches from her hand. _Too close_. The expression on his face was determined, focused. Her eyes roved over him from bottom to top, a slight smile forming on her lips. _When he braces his legs to pull out the sword…then…_

Kei couldn't be accused of tactlessness.

Kanzaki himself knew she was a brilliant tactician.

-Manipulator of an enemy's weaknesses-

There is of course another thing which must needs to be taken into consideration.

The one place on male anatomy that is…how shall we say…_very very delicate_.

Particularly if one notices well…

CRACK.

He was bent over double, breathless. Elegantly Kei folded her leg at the knee, the exact full force of her boot having accomplished its solitary mission. "Not enough?" innocently she asked, seeing him tottering but not collapsing. "How's this?" she rammed her foot upward into his waist-er-below his white sash.

He cried out in pain.

One of his friends, a dark-haired boy with glasses, shook his head sadly, "now that's gotta hurt."

"Kurosaki-kun!" the human girl cried, her hands flying to her mouth.

Again.

P_robably ruining his chances to ever have kids_.

CRACK.

And again.

_He's almost had enough_.

CRUNCH.

Kei felt something definitely crunch or maybe it was one of the buckles clinking on the side of her boot. She paused to admire the dull glint cast on the metal from the sun shining above. _I love my shoes. _"Had enough?"

He grunted unintelligibly, falling into a heap beside her.

She saw that he was clutching at something and was having a difficult time breathing. Kei extended her hand and ran it through the short spikes of his orange hair tenderly. _She was reminded somewhat of Kanzaki_. "Does it hurt _so_ badly?" _Poor baby_.

He roused himself slightly; she could _tell_ he was in pain.

~Tsukikage castle Throne room~

"Yowza! Now you _know_ that _hurt_." Kagami muttered, watching the visuals displayed on Takara's computer. Kazeatari also watching fixedly suddenly burst out in raucous laughter, her entire body shaking in unrestrained mirth.

Kanzaki grimaced, looking away from the screen. "That kid may be our enemy but any man can attest to sympathy…"

"You said it," Kagami added.

Kazeatari shared a look with Takara, "well us girls can't. Not having fellow dicks like yourselves. I'm sure it hurts all that much more if it's—"

"You're not saying-!" Kanzaki was horrified.

The wind wielder mildly finished, "stiff. No, I'm not saying it was. You can't really tell on this screen and his robes are pretty loose—"

"Do we really need to DISCUSS this now?" Kagami interrupted, seeing Takara lean forward fascinated with the knowledgeable tone in which Kazeatari spoke.

"FOCUS!" Kanzaki barked and then they all turned back to the screen; Kei was standing, striding to where the Tachi had been stuck in the ground.

It was now the Shinigamies turn.

~Assiah Fire Thorn Valley~

"Who's next?" she surveyed them with a practiced air. Sorting through their reiatsu levels until she had figured out who the next strongest was. The little white-haired Taichou was up there along with the scowling redhead. _The human boy with the glasses_…her eyes narrowed, _could he be a Quincy? _The giant, she had no fear of, he was another human and the orange-haired girl who was wringing her hands looking over at the inert body of the kid, seemed weak.

_'Oh ho! That one's in love, I'd say_.'

_No one asked you, Touda. _

The voice had echoed in her mind from the sword in her hand.

_'But I bet I'm right…_' was the last teasing before he became silent and waiting again for her command. The little Taichou bestirred himself and reached for his Zanpaku-to, "I'll go."

"But Hitsugaya-Taichou!"

"Hush, Matsumoto," he said to the worried look of the tall strawberry blond woman who had started out of line. _Those two…Kagami saved them_, thought Kei. She nodded briskly, "alright. Release your Zanpaku-to before we start and I'll show you mine."

She knew he'd go Shikai first.

Indeed she was right.

"Reign over the frosted Heavens, Hyourinmaru!"

_Ice. Interesting_.

"Maouen!" The sword thrown high swooped back transformed. The high noon day sun reflected a million shades of dancing green on the back and body of the Demon bird. Its beak opened and red flame poured out forming a wall around them.

"Let's begin." Kei said.

~To be continued~

~The fourth world of a hundred and eleven years ago: Tsukikage grounds~ Extra

"Shakuranentei!"

Takara threw herself against the high ramparts, a blur of red careened through the haze of flames a massive white horse tossed its mane, stamping the ground. The soundless command rippled through the air, reaching the mind of the God. _Take as many as possible_.

It leveled its head, charging through the ranks of the amassing Hollows. Takara breathlessly watched the spectacle above, longing to be beside Keiko and Kazeatari. _Dani was fighting near Kagami so why couldn't she be of use_?

Her hand lowered and briefly touched the yellow sheath lying on the flagstone by her hip, her fingers absently tracing over the tiny black stars.

_'Quit being an idiot and get down there and help them!'_

Takara glanced upward, the spirit of her Zanpaku-to materializing in the form of a white-haired little girl wearing large glasses. "Haretasora…" she murmured. The Zanpaku-to looked insulted, _'is that all you have to say to me? Not even good afternoon? Rudeness.'_ There was a haughty sniff and the spirit had turned her head away. _'Fine! Be weak and moping. It's NOT my fault anyway that my wielder is such a coward—'_

"You take that back!"

_'Nuh-uh.'_

"Hare—"

A snuffling sound came from the top of the castle wall. Takara turned slowly…she and the Zanpaku-to shrieked in unison. "HOLLOW!" The long snout sniffed the air greedily, cackling when scenting her, "hahaha! Shinigami!" it cried. Takara scooted back, her hand fumbling for her sword, "uh-uh-Sa—"

_'HURRY IT UP FOOL! WANT YOU FOR US BOTH TO BE HOLLOW FOOD?!!!'_

Takara started then understood.

"Sashikomu, Haretasora."

The Zanpaku-to spirit smiled faintly then folded into a beam of light. The sword in her wielder's hand, a Katana of normal size wavered into a tang of three star-shaped holes, from these pure light infused with her reiatsu filtered through onto the stone. Takara sliced cleanly through the Hollow's head, the imprint of the three stars outlined in a row shot of piercing light beams.

~*~

"Whoa…what is that?" Kazeatari flicked a glance questioningly to Kei who stood behind back-to-back as it were. The fire wielder smiled, "Takara."

~~~*~~~

AN: I'm tired. Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated.

Notes: Touda (Dancing snake)

Shakuranentei (Brilliantly burning flame God)

Maouen (Demon Star Blaze)

Kaho Enbu (Fiery explosion) or close to it.


	8. Scorching ecstasy

AN: below the omake is the real chapter. Enjoy.

Omake

"Wow. So many new recruits!" Kei eyed the venerable stack of submitted applicants.

"What're you talking about… new recruits? These are all our seated members," Kanzaki muttered, lifting the top sheet. He glanced at it and his eyebrow rose, "there's some mistake going on here…this should have been given to Aizen."

"What is it?" Kei peered over his shoulder.

"A fraccion for Halibel."

"Ah. Who's this? Hisrio Shihoin…hmm…perfect for Division one's Lieutenant position. Kagami especially will be happy about this. Imagine, a cousin of Yoruichi-san, _here_. And he's a fire wielder! Of course his Zanpaku-to is nothing compared to my Suzaku."

"When you _can_ summon Suzaku." Kanzaki added testily.

"Onto the next one." Kei said cheerfully, plotting revenge, "Hana Retsu. Um…third seat fifth division. With a Captain like Kazeatari, you need to be of strong stuff—"

"Maybe we should just finish this later? We're being pressed of time here!"

"Oh okay…well thanks to randomchick818…_poor little Strawberry baby_…"

"You know, he'd get mad if he heard you call him that," Kanzaki muttered dourly.

"Too bad. I'll call him whatever _I like_. And to Shadowgouf…maybe I was a little--nah! Berry-boy deserved it."

"I thought he was _little Strawberry baby_?"

"It's an expression of affection."

"Uh-huh."

"No really. It is! How would you like to be _baby Raven_?"

"No thanks! Get away, Keiko—agh! Roll it!"ShiKai CH.7: Scorching ecstasy

_A pulse in the air. Faraway_. Kei looked from the form of the white-haired Taichou panting heavily, melted ice glimmering from pools of steaming water to the north. Her eyes widened a fraction; _three immense spirit pressures and six lesser. Nine_. She glanced back to his impassive face; _does he not feel that? Can they all not feel it?!_

She felt the wind shift, dispersing the leaden air scented heavy with the scorched rock and earth. The large bird in the sky wheeled veered from its circular flight sending one lone cry to the far reaches of the wasteland of ice. _He can feel it too_.

_Easy, Touda. Not yet. _

Water struck her hard in curved swaths. Almost immediately it began freezing up to a pristine whiteness at the edges near her feet. _He means to restrict my movements_. Kei leapt up, the frigid water rising in an arc at her heels. _Return to my hand_. She swiped her fist out, her fingers sliding over the blade of the Tachi. Bending her body forward toward the wave of water, she slashed downward mightily with the shorter blade end. _Demon's breath_.

The soundless command evoked the searing heat to flow like a geyser from the diamond-shaped tip. The compressed air magnified to a degrees beyond comprehension met the rising tide, shockwaves rippled through the wall of water.

_Suima-bakuryusen._

_Huh? What's that mean? _

_Puffed up with pride, a younger Kagami had explained to then second year Academy student, Kei…The Water-Demon Exploding Dragon Vortex_.

_Two massive dragons twisted up into slashing, slicing vortexes of water_.

This was reminiscent. Finish this. "Maouen!"

_But wouldn't fire a hotter than a mere flame melt away all the water_?

Once again red flame twisted into the body and head of burnt black, no more cries rose only the incessant beating of massive wings rippling the air with dense vibration. A firestorm of black coalesced melding into a hellish wreath of fiery light. Kei knew what came next.

_He had chuckled and smiled knowingly, of course it would. That is if it came from a Demon's mouth. _

~*~

"No…" Hitsugaya stared as the remaining ice of Hyourinmaru's Shikai dissolved rapidly in the full blaze of Hell flame raining down. _He couldn't move_. He watched the tongues of fire lick at the edges of his sword, winking suggestively in the searing heat. Suddenly he gagged; the smell of burnt cloth scented the air. _He was burning_.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou!" Matsumoto cried nearby.

_Don't come_.

The billowing blackness blinded his vision. Hitsugaya stumbled once falling, his Zanpaku-to clattered soundlessly to the ground near his out-flung hand.

_I didn't know this was what it was like to face…an elemental_.

His eyes burned and tears poured down his face.

_None of us stand a chance._

"Hitsugaya!!" Arms lifted and half-carried, half dragged him from the enclosure of flame.

"Some no mai, Hakuren!"

_Kuchiki. _

"Don't worry, Taichou, we'll fight next." Said a confident voice above him, he heard the clank of a sword being withdrawn from its sheath.

"Roar, Zambimaru!"

_Abarai._

"It'll be okay…Hitsugaya-Tai—"

_Matsumoto. But where's Kurosaki? Probably still unconscious somewhere._

"Orihime-chan. Please…"

"Santen-Kesshun, I reject!"

Fire. The snicket of a sword folding back in itself and a triumphant cry. "I got it!"

_It's a Demon. You can't kill a Demon so easily. _

The girl's voice, "from ashes you became, from ashes you shall rise. Come forth, Shakuranentei!"

"What!!" Abarai's startled yell.

Ashes. Like a Phoenix. It makes sense sort of…

"Move."

_The Quincy. _

"Let me show you how it's done."

~*~

_That's a_—!

Kei evaded the hail of light seconds before it thundered through the sky.

A figure in white stalked forward from the midst of the Shinigami.

_A Quincy_.

His spirit bow was immense like a wheel; energy flowed and gathered into the focused points.

_Ginrei Konjaku. A Quincy's final form_.

She laid her hand atop the neglected Zanpaku-to stuck through her sash.

He fired again.

"Getsu-ten first phase, Mugetsu!"

The missiles of light evaporated into the stretch of darkness issuing forth from the crescent moon sword unsheathed. _The emptiness of a night without a moon_. She had a moment's satisfaction of glimpsing his shock at the dispelling of his attack.

_Stay out of this, Touda_.

He vanished. _Hiren Kyaku_. _He's young_.

She threw up a shield of Kido. _That's almost a thousand but_… "Touda!" Kei spun toward where the Demon bird hovered in the sky. A volley of arrows arced on a singular path. _He knows. He realized. No_! There was a fitful flash of light and…_blood_.

The Quincy lowered his bow, staring in disbelief.

Kei hovered before the bird; one shoulder of her surcoat and kimono had been sheared away. She brushed away the remnants of sizzling energy still eating away at her skin. The wound was a hole of melted and bloodied flesh. She grimaced and glanced over her shoulder, "it's time. Come." The bird became a sword again wielded in her shaking hand. Her gaze passed over the valley and them as tiny figures all intent on watching her.

_I'll scorch you all into oblivion_.

Her eyes landed on the orange-haired boy weakly getting to his knees.

_You'll die_.

He was looking as well.

The white-haired Taichou sat up, his sword had returned to being a normal Katana.

_That girl…healed him_?

The human girl was trying to get the kid's attention, gesturing to the fluttering creatures surrounding her. _What the—? _

He shook his head. Her animation faded.

_Kudos to the bird…I think you're right_.

She felt the sharpened pulse of another reiatsu join in with those in the North.

_Zoë. Use your Bankai. Don't be a fool_.

Kei reversed the Tachi, tip to palm in each hand. Those below started, they sensed something coming. The Quincy drew another arrow. _Soon they'll feel it_.

She ran her thumb pad down the full length of the blade, a single droplet of red rolled down.

_Now. Hell Crush_.

~Tsukikage castle Throne room~

"Hell Crush! I don't believe this!" Kanzaki swore. Kagami folded his arms over his chest, eyes rolling to the paled face of Division one Captain, he smiled, "remember? Do you remember the crush of Hell descending? A ball of amassed energy from the battlefield, regrets, anger, hate. All rolled into one single descent…they say emotions have no power…but they're wrong."

_It's the only thing that can wipe everything out_.

_And plunge the victims into a living eternal Hell_.

"Lieutenant Shimizu!"

Suddenly the doors burst open. Startled, everyone jerked up from the screen on Takara's wrist.

"Toya?" from Kagami

"Amakusa?" Kanzaki was slower in responding, his attention was still captivated by the black unfolding in the valley. "What is the meaning of this?"

The third seat dropped to one knee, panting hard, "so-sorry! Urgent—report from—the Northlands! Arrancars! A band of them have breached Assiah! Lieutenant Elbe has gone to confront them!" The normally calm man hung his head in shame; his longish black hair had escaped the confines of the tie and fell forward along the sides of his face. "Forgive me. I tried to stop her."

Kanzaki blinked and then looked ahead. A swath of light had sliced through the darkness on the screen. _Another Quincy_. He felt the serious gazes of the remaining Captains staring at him; waiting for orders.

"I…I'll…go. I want everyone to stay here, be on alert. Let nothing and no one in unless it is one of us. By Gods if it comes to that—I—"

"I myself will personally take up station at the gateway." Kazeatari stood, her hand falling to her side. Clasped between two fingers was the frame of the folded fan. Kagami followed, "and I will monitor the surveillance in the observation room. Takara, if you will accompany me?"

"Y-Yes!" the Lieutenant of third Division scrambled to her feet. "Oh! Toya, if Captain Kanzaki doesn't mind, could you please assist Captain Yamamoto? And send word for Aki of fourth to take command of the Division since both Captain and Lieutenant aren't present."

"Good idea," Kagami heard, he turned back at the door, "send a message for me to Kimiko. I believe she's in the gardens. Have my third seat, Dani join her and—oh yes—Kazeatari?"

The wind wielder looked confused for a moment the roused herself, "Sakurai. Tell her and Retsu to secure the western edge of the city, enforce the barrier if need be and start gathering up the souls living near the barracks, have them ready to evacuate the area."

Toya nodded slightly, nearly overwhelmed with the flurry of orders, "alright…um…Kanzaki-san, sir? Anything for Division one?"

"Uh—Yes! I nearly forgot! Tell Hisrio to run a systematic check over the Genei shield, tell him to have it ready to throw up at a moment's notice. You know…this almost feels like we're going to war?"

"Undoubtedly," the water wielder agreed, he paused again, his hand on the elongated handle of the door, "Kanzaki…take the Shichisei with you. Kei's been hurt," he said, his voice strained.

"Consider it done."

~Assiah, Northlands~

"Muhyo Getten!" the dark-skinned woman ran through them, the sword and scepter crossing over each shoulder. Ice erupted from the plain they stood on. Ulquiorra Schiffer Sonido'd, as did the two other Espadas. The Exequias were entrapped below.

_This woman is trash_.

_Only the Elementals whom Aizen-sama respects are worthy_…

"Damn woman!!"

"Hush your mewing, Grimmjow."

Teal eyes threw a furious glare over at the calm Cuatro Espada's face.

"That's it! I'm going to—"

"You'll do…_no such thing_. We are not to antagonize them."

_They're to be our allies. These Shinigami_.

The Sexta Espada growled.

_Find one. Find one of the elements. Bring them to our side_.

The woman leapt up, her sword of frosted diamond sheets glowing with pale light. Something moved. Ulquiorra turned his gaze to the left, beyond the Shinigami, on a distant drift of snow-covered rock. A girl in gray and black stood, in one hand a guard-less sword was held.

_Remind them. _

"Captain Yamamoto!?!" the Shinigami had half-turned, cried.

_Seireitei has always been their enemy; they want nothing more but the land of Assiah. _

The girl's eyes were violet; the Arrancar and Soul reaper looked at each other. _He knew_.

_Tell them._

_The enemy of my enemy is my friend_.

~Assiah, Fire Thorn Valley~

"Where did she go?!"

Ishida swept the sky searchingly looking for any trace of the gray clad girl.

"She's gone," he said slowly almost to reassure himself that the elemental had fled. He felt relief. _His arm was trembling. He couldn't have taken much more…if another attack of the same magnitude had been unleashed_…

Ishida took in the sight of the gouge marks in the rock, cleaving straight through to the thin stream of water far below.

But why had she…

He leapt back. An arrow of condensed energy sprung from the distance. Something clipped his cheek; raising his hand he brushed away a droplet of blood.

"Uryu!" Orihime cried; he waved at her to stay back.

_That was an arrow…could it be_?

"You caused much trouble for Keiko-san. I'd really hate to fight another like me—but from where you stand—I suppose I must." A man clothed in a gray Shinigami-type Shihakusho and sleeveless black haori appeared. Loosely strung and held downward was a normal form Quincy bow made of light. Ishida was shocked to see a Zanpaku-to at the man's waist.

"You—You're a Quincy?" _he thought none but he and his father still lived_…

The man wore glasses, behind the lenses keen crimson eyes observed him, "after a fashion, yes. I am a Soul reaper and a Quincy. I'm _Raven_ Kanzaki, Captain of the first Division. Please I have nothing against _you_ in particular…but I must protect our place here. In Keiko's stead, I will fight. Draw your bow, boy."

Ishida stared at the violet-haired man's calm face as his shoulders went back and the slender curved bow rose. At the tip, the ambient reishi gathered.

_That can't be…a compact form of Ginrei Konjaku?!_

"Don't just stand there, boy!" the rebel Captain yelled, "I _will_ shoot—."

"Why—why are you fighting for them!" the words involuntarily left Ishida's mouth.

"Because…_they_ saved my life." Kanzaki said simply.

~To be continued~

Note: Getsu-ten (Heavenly Moon)

Mugetsu (No Moon) termed as New moon

AN: Argh! Pressed for time! Anyhoo thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated.


	9. The Enemy of My Enemy

ShiKai CH.8: The enemy of my enemy

~Grounds of Tsukikage castle, western edge~

"Single file. No pushing." Rizu Sakurai instructed. The line of simply attired Konpaku-or-souls as they were called, wound their up the path to the gray stone building situated at the edge of the forest. The doors were thrown open and Hana Retsu, third seat beneath Rizu, was guiding them in.

Word had come from Tsukikage that two groups of hostile forces had broken through the veil and were advancing from the North and South to the Graylands. It was assumed that if their passage wasn't hindered before the area breached, the city could expect an assault. A wave of energy passed overhead and Rizu shaded her hand against her glasses; the _Gen-ei_ shield had been released. So named for its appearance. A perfect dome encapsulated the city, translucent from the outside so it seemed as though the gate was accessible. But on the inside a clear patchwork of rippling waves rolled constantly.

Once entry was attempted by force, the strength of the intruders attack would rebound on them. It was the pride of Division one, a perfect imitation of the water Element's _Ripples on the water_. Kanzaki himself had created it and utilized it during the great battle over a hundred years before. _Not that it had made much difference then_, Rizu thought wryly, lowering her hand from the scarred bark of the Beech tree's trunk. A Doom blast had gone awry there.

She glanced up at Hana's approach. The normally calm girl slid her gaze past her Lieutenant to the rise of the spiked gate; worry contorting her features. "I heard that Captain Yamamoto had been wounded. She's the one who had headed out to meet the Shinigami while Elbe-san left for the Northlands."

"Who told you that?" Rizu questioned, _she knew Zoe had taken off without permission. But to hear that Keiko Yamamoto had actually sustained injury_…

"Aki-san." Hana stuck her chin out, "he heard from Amakusa who in turn—"

"Received direct orders from the Captains." _Could it be true_? Rizu didn't like the sound of one who could hurt a person of Keiko's caliber. _She either slipped up or whoever it was_…a thought occurred to her. "Have Kyo scan the Northlands. I want to know the exact density of the spirit pressures there and in Fire Thorn where Kanzaki-san was headed."

The girl nodded and flash-stepped to the fifth Division barracks.

Rizu tilted her face to the sky and contemplated the undulating dome.

The Phantom city was now under complete lockdown.

~Fire Thorn Valley~

Kanzaki lowered his bow. The ground pockmarked with arrows that had missed their targets. _They had fled_. He laid his glove-covered palm against the hilt of the Zanpaku-to at his waist, the slim half-silver blade cleaving through the ice pillar. That Shinigami girl had interfered. Hurling her Shikai release as a distraction so the Quincy could dodge.

Shoukyaku chuckled.

_Shall we give chase, oh great master mine_?

He ignored the sneering crow spirit hopping on one leg then jumping around on two in his mindscape. "No we won't." he sighed, "It's not the Shinigami I'm worried about…it's that boy. Just the sheer amount of reiatsu leaking from his body…Gods! No wonder Keiko did what she did."

_She probably would've won if they had fought_. Shoukyaku persisted, blackish purple bill-beak cocking in attention.

"Yes I'm sure she would've. I don't doubt the woman's skill…"

_But?_

Kanzaki sighed heavily again, "she probably thought him beneath her in that_ respect_. It isn't a challenge unless it is a seasoned warrior with intensive combat knowledge not a young boy who despite being the obvious most powerful among them…is also the most immature and reckless."

_Sounds about right_. Shoukyaku nodded sagely.

_It takes cunning and plain dumb luck to overcome her_. He turned toward the North. _I should know. _

~Northlands~

"Why are they my enemy?" A chill wind gusted a cloudy mist from the top of the frozen ground. Kei lifted her hand brushing back strands of her loose hair. The Arrancar watched her emotionlessly, "the Shinigami persecuted you and your kind. Will they not do so again?"

"Perhaps." She replied calmly. "But what guarantee will we receive that Aizen won't emulate them once Seireitei is conquered?" He observed her quietly for a few minutes, measuring her intelligence. "You agree to ally yourselves with us?"

"I didn't say that. I'm only speaking hypothetically if we did so." She muttered testily. "I cannot speak for the rest of the Juppongatana. Our Head Captain Raven Kanzaki will make the final decision. I am only one of the four and can address only my concerns for our proposed alliance. Be it what it may," Kei smirked, "I would very much adore being able to see your beautiful face on friendly terms. You can be assured that I will place my support in your favor. Good day, Schiffer-san." She reached out and took a hold of his wrist, firmly sliding her hand into his much to the amusement of his fellow Arrancars.

Toya and Zoë who had stayed back all during the exchange, raised brows at this.

_Beautiful face? Him_?

_Well…I suppose he is kind of attractive_, she amended silently.

_What can she be thinking! Speaking thus to him_! Toya though not a part of fourth, was well versed in the peculiar ways of the Soul reaper Captain striding toward them, fighting the urge to grin. _He wondered what exactly she found so amusing_.

"Let's head back to the City. The others and I have much to discuss."

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.


	10. Remains of the day

Omake: Announcements.

~Tsukikage castle Throne room~

"Good afternoon everyone—"

"Whoa! What're you doing on MY LAP?!!"

Kei ignored Ichigo's yell and continued, "a truce is drawn up and alliances made. Espada are met and other deals made. Who will the Juppongatana side with? Who will be the victors in the Winter War? Maybe if you read—"

"Quit ignoring me!"

Unconcerned, she turned around so that her face was inches away from his own. "What? I'm trying to do the announcements here so quit interrupting me." He spluttered indignantly as she shifted to get more comfortable sitting between his legs.

"As I was saying—"

"Why do you have to do it while being on top of me?" he muttered in a quieter voice, his color rising. Kei huffed and twisted completely around, leaning in close, "you really want to know?" Deliberately she let her breast graze his arm when he tried to push her off. He started and she chuckled. "Because you're more _snuggly_ than a chair."

He fumed in silence after that.

"So anyways…" Kei leaned back against his chest, "enjoy." With a wink, she called out to Kanzaki, "roll it!" The last thing that was heard was, "must you always sexually harass that boy?"

"Mmm hmm."

ShiKai CH.9: Remains of the day

"Not a chance. Never with Hueco Mundo! I don't care who it is!"

"Kanzaki-san…" Kei muttered, her eyes narrowing as they followed his progress in the room. "What choice do we have? Seireitei is trying to force us—I'm assuming to side with them or take Assiah for themselves. Would you prefer that? Or the alternative?"

He stopped his agitated pacing and swung around, hands outspread beseechingly, "what alternative? From the way you were talking I thought we didn't have one."

"Neutrality," Kazeatari interposed from the doorway. Both Captains turned to her lounging figure, elegant in loose Gauchos and kimono blouse. Her heels tapped the stone floor as she slowly walked to them, "we choose no side and stand back, whoever is the victor is the one who will become our enemy. For surely," she paused thoughtfully, resting the sealed fan against her chin, looking at them each in turn, "the one who wins will be bound to turn their eye to Assiah?"

"I could believe that of the Hollows…but—"

"But what?" Kei prompted.

"I just don't know." Kanzaki sighed heavily, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "We were lucky to remain uncontested these many years. I guess I took it for granted…we fought the battles, won, have taken care of everything since then and still…to think that one day Soul society might swoop in and claim it as their territory…"

"I'd burn everything if it came to that," the fire wielder assured him. He let out a short bark of nervous laughter, "at least I can count on you for that." Kanzaki clapped her shoulder cheerfully. "Heh. I'd drown their world before I'd let them take control over Tsukikage." Intoned another voice.

"Kagami! Any news? Have you found them yet?" At the Division one Captain's words, the two girls turned expectant, anxious eyes to his faintly smiling countenance. "Yes. And no."

"No?" questioned Kazeatari, slightly puzzled.

"Takara's working on it as we speak. It seems they were getting pretty near Arcadia already by the time our western scanners touched on their location."

"That's far." Kei mused, folding her arms with a scowl, "Arcadia is the second largest city this side of the western hemisphere."

"I know, I know. That's what Takara wondered too. I figure some of those like the little Taichou might have really fast Shunpo or something in order to travel that great of length in such a short time. In what?" Kagami frowned, "two hours?"

"I'm beginning to think I should have just tailed them. You guys could have fallen in pace soon enough and then we wouldn't be having this problem still on our hands now." Kanzaki mourned. "Well why didn't you?" Kazeatari demanded, her brows drawing into a furrowed line as she stared hard at the man.

"I—"

"Don't bother. _What might have beens _aren't useful to us now. The thing I'm more concerned about is tracking them from here on out." Kagami favored them all with humored looks that nobody understood. "What do you mean…_tracking them from here on out_?" Kanzaki's voice started rising, "what the hell do we have the surveillance system in place for if not when—"

"It crashed." Kagami said quietly.

"Wha—"

"We had just locked onto them nearing Arcadia like I said before when suddenly…"

~*~

"A massive system blowout." Kanzaki repeated, staring off into the distance in a kind of numb stupor. Kei rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the line of arched windows lining the hallway. The spirit form of Maouen weighted down her arm, curved talons clinging to the gray sleeve of her kimono before cocking its head toward the casement inquiringly.

_Find them_.

The Demon bird locked gazes, staring into the violet irises of its wielder with its own of pure blue.

'_When they are found…may I…?'_

_No._ Kei shook her head slightly. _Touda_…she regarded it warningly. _Not a hair. Alert us at once_.

'_Such a cruel wielder,'_ the voice of the Demon bird cackled once before leaping from her arm into the night.

~Outskirts of Arcadia, large city on the western edge of Assiah~

The pain was easing little by little he found he didn't have to lean on Renji as much. "Hey, you okay?" he was asked repeatedly by the male members of their group, stopping once the rocky plateaus of Fire Thorn were no longer visible from a distance. Ichigo nodded, standing up straighter. He never would have expected her to pull something like that. No opponent he'd ever faced had done such a thing…

"Man! That girl owned you!" Renji muttered, ducking the punch Ichigo threw. "No offense, but even Hitsugaya-Taichou received more respect from an honest sword fight though he did nearly get incinerated." The redhead continued, his hands in the air defensively at Hitsugaya's grumble and glare, "let alone us."

It was true. Toshiro, Renji and Rukia and even Uryu. They had each fought against her and received proper cuts and in the hapless Quincy's case, _a charred cape_. But he…_why had his body reacted to her_? He thought of her face afire with a mischievous gleam, her eyes a deeper, darker shade then in his dreams. Reality was flesh and blood, fiery and powerful. _To have escaped almost unscathed from even Toshiro_…Ichigo glanced over to the young Taichou seeing him also lost in thought. The white Haori of Taichou rank was scorched from the bottom and parts of his Shihakusho too bore burn marks.

_Kei: fire_. It was one of the rare times when he would have enjoyed pitting his strength in a real battle. He couldn't deny it. _She was interesting_. Even if he had wanted to, he couldn't stop thinking about her.

~*~

"Okay…here are the ground rules." Hitsugaya looked at them each in turn, scowling fiercely at Ichigo's disinterested expression. Rukia soon fixed him by slugging him hard in the gut. The white-haired Taichou shook his head and refocused his attention on Matsumoto. "If you will?" he asked her politely. The busty blond nodded swiftly businesslike and procured from her bosom a hastily written notepaper of the rules.

"1. You will not wander off by yourself. 2. Never engage a member of the Juppongatana in solitary combat. 3. Obey your leader…huh? Everyone—?" Rangiku looked around. The others had all filtered off their separate ways except for Hitsugaya himself whose nerve was twitching something fierce above his eye. Only Orihime sent them an apologetic look before trotting after Ichigo.

~*~

"Um Kurosaki-kun…?"

He finally came to a stop, his back to her. "What is it, Orihime?"

The girl twisted her hands together, her eyes on him, "I was wondering…"

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel?"

His eyebrows rose and awkwardly he scratched the side of his short spiked hair. "Fine, I guess," he answered after a few minutes of quiet deliberation. "Really?" she moved closer to him, "I noticed after the fight with that weird girl—"

"Don't call her weird." He interrupted almost angrily, "she doesn't like that."

"Kurosaki-kun?"

Abruptly he realized what he had said and turned around, laughing it off mildly, "I'm sorry. That must've come out strange. I must be more tired than I thought."

Orihime managed a shaky smile, "yeah. You should get some rest, Kurosaki-kun. Because if Kurosaki-kun doesn't, he might—"

Ichigo observed her comical pout on his behalf and smiled, "you're a good kid, Orihime. Get some rest yourself!" he called as he strolled off into the trees. She blushed but he didn't see. "Oh! But what about—"

He was gone.

~*~

Once he was alone. He collapsed against the trunk of a thick Oak tree, leaning back; he closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander.

_Sounds. Rushing colors_. None of that was important. He only sought one face.

"Maouen. I sent Touda." It was as if she was speaking right beside him. The clink of cutlery followed and her face swam hazily into focus. The tines of a fork speared a chunk of grilled peach flesh. Another spoke, "how long do you think before he finds them?" it was an olivine-complexioned female who lifted a glass of dark swirling liquid to her lips.

"Not long." Kei said, popping the morsel into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed smoothly before leaning her elbows forward on the table, "with the amount of spirit pressure from that boy alone…I'd say within the night."

_That boy? Does she mean me_? Ichigo frowned as the dinner scene faded.

~*~

High above, beating its wings in massive flight, an eye keen on the lone figure of the orange-haired boy seated beneath the towering oak was the Demon bird. Touda wheeled around sharply, pivoting toward the South and beyond that the Graylands and Tsukikage Castle.

'Here. I've found them.'

The connection between wielder and spirit resonated through the space between them.

Kei grew rigid in her seat in the dining hall of Tsukikage. Kazeatari noted her preoccupation and waited patiently for the fire wielder's eyes to flicker open again.

"Where?" was all she prompted.

"Outside of Arcadia. In an old abandoned hunters cabin."

Kazeatari rose. Kei looked after her, "tell Kanzaki. We leave in the hour."

~Hunters cabin on the outskirts of Arcadia, time: 1:40 am~

"…_even if an eternity passes…it'll never change."_

_The figure was slim and drape, robes of fiery crimson over an orange more brilliant than he had ever seen. There was a sigh, softly exhaled from the person and then they half-turned to reveal a fine profile of delicate features, eyes somewhat narrow but expressive, one a single violet, the other the color of flame. Her mouth curved up in a semblance of a smile; his heart began beating faster._

"_An eternity?" she said carefully, "that is a quite a long time." _

"_I swear it is so." He started then observing her doubt, impassive to another but evident in every line of her beloved face, he cleared his throat, appealing more humbly, "The moment I first had sight you became everything to me. I lo—"_

"_It cannot be." She interrupted smoothly, "Reio-dono has forbidden it so."_

_He felt a flash of anger, "do you always heed the counsel of…" he trailed off, unable to continue. The room grew oppressively quieter, colder, as if a fire had been extinguished yet it still burned brightly in the grate across the room. The tall flames melting the slender white tapers in the ironwork stands threw flickering, fitful light onto them. She turned away from the narrow arched window set high in the wall as she moved, her hair loose and unbound swept her shoulders as a cloud of midnight black. Ichigo stared at her, his mouth soundlessly forming the name of the other. _

"_Keiki…" it was more of whisper filled with longing…_

He jolted awake.

Cold lips brushed against his.

_Someone was in the room!_ Framed by the darkness in the small room, her back to the door and kneeling before him on one knee was Kei. "Hello!" she said cheerfully. Seconds later she had brought the diamond-shaped tip of the Tachi downward, cleaving straight through the floor between his legs.

He dove to the side for Zangetsu, his hand barely closing around the hilt before swinging it clumsily upward to block her advance. The sound of fabric ripping rent the air and he hissed in pain. A slender cut crisscrossed the length of his stomach. _So fast…_

They crashed against the wall, the weathered boards giving way, spilling them out into the night. Kei leapt over the few shattered pieces of wood that tumbled into the grass; their gray and black clad forms colliding in a shower of sparks and clanging metal while farther off screams resounded and a rushing torrent of water burst apart the small hunters shack.

"Suiha-Nanahoryo!" a man yelled.

Ichigo indicated with a jerk of his head, "friends of yours?"

Kei pushed him back a few steps then evaded his lunge as they separated. Thrusting back only to parry once more. "You could say that," she said with a faint smile. The water that had splashed the ground rose up and reformed. Ice began licking the edges, solidifying the mass. _Toshiro_…Ichigo thought; Kei followed his gaze, watching a head of a Dragon rise up valiantly, frost clouding the long scaled neck. She wasn't bothered at all. He saw why, moments later.

"A water/ice Zanpaku-to, is it?" calmly asked the same man's voice from before. "Yeah. So what?" came Hitsugaya's muttered reply. "Oh nothing…I just wondered why your attack was freezing fast the ankles of your friends. After all I only sent it away with half the force you released it with."

Ichigo could imagine the look of shock when all his confidence melted away with the man's simple statement.

"Wa-Water! You're—"

"Water is under my command. Yes." The man sounded tired, "I thought you had realized it by now. Kei said you would afford me a decent fight. What with Kanzaki-san engaging the young Quincy…I took it upon myself to battle with a Taichou. You alone have yourself to blame for the others getting trapped like that."

Ichigo started. _Were the others in danger? Orihime, Chad_—

"Leave them! I'm your opponent!" Kei snapped; the grip on his sword had become lax and she easily knocked it aside, laying bare his shoulder. He stifled a scream, falling back under her continuous assault. All around them and beneath their feet the ground trembled and the air grew heavy with moisture. Droplets trickled down from his hairline to the collar of his Shihakusho, briefly he considered releasing Bankai but thought better of it. _His inner-Hollow had been quiet ever since arriving in the fourth world; he didn't need it acting up now_.

"Worried?" it seemed his preoccupation was evident to her.

"No…I was just thinking I should use my Bankai…but I don't think I'll need it against you." He pulled back and slashed the air yelling, "Getsuga Tenshou!"

"Is that all? Really, kid…you do seem like a fool with an overgrown Zanpaku-to." Kei shook her head, ignoring the slicing crest of white energy flowing toward her. With a flick of her wrist, she had split it in half. He watched in disbelief as the remains dissipated with the hiss of fire snaking along the edge of her sword, blackening the tang.

"This is just the beginning—" Kei began softly.

"Throw everything you've got at me—" Kagami told Hitsugaya.

"One shot more." Kanzaki lowered his bow, breathing hard.

~To be continued~

AN: Is there more to Ichigo's fascination with Kei beyond a connection heretofore never thought of before? Does it lie in the past? And what repercussions do the memories hold for the future? :) Thanks for reading—no flames or idiotic spammers—but reviews are always appreciated! :)

Juppongatana Profiles:

Rank: Captain of Fifth Division

Name: Kazeatari Namaiki—(Be windswept forward)

Unusual characteristics: Elemental of wind. Is cold and aloof much like her element. Can be surprisingly flighty. Known to be sharp-tongued. She speaks her mind whether or not what she says is hurtful.

Eye color: flashing black

Hair: long and straight, glossy dark brown; wears it twisted up in a knot sometimes.

Race: Italian. Olivine skin tone.

Voice: deep, smoky

Clothing: Doesn't usually wear Hakama. Loose flowy dancer pants and short kimonos worn outside the pants—not tucked in, all in gray. Black haori with Maple leaf embroidered in ornate silver thread.


	11. Uneasy Truce

ShiKai CH.10: Uneasy Truce

_The ice_...Hitsugaya watched as the imprisoning walls of Sennen Hyoro broke apart in cascading sheets, _won't touch him_. _How_? The blond man stepped forward, his sandal breaking the last layer with a decisive crunch. "Done? My turn."

_How is this man so powerful?_

Hitsugaya leapt back; water spiraled up in a point at the man's fingertips. "Shinryu-Sui." Eyes the color and depth of the ocean glared like two pinpoints in the darkness. "Ensnare." The column divided, flowing in two separate streams after him. Hitsugaya tightened his hold on Hyourin-Maru, swiping the blade back and then forward, his own wave of frigid water clashing head-on. He grimaced. _Everything he had_? This man seemed to be making little effort, expressionless even when his attack was diverted. _He wasn't worried? _Everything about him was unreadable. To the gray-black of the mixed Shihakusho uniform he wore to the lax hold he maintained on the slender-hilted Zanpaku-to. _Yes...Nanatsu Kagami certainly was everything and more Yoruichi-san had said._

A flash of red that faded into black in the distance caught his eye. "Seems like Keiko's having fun," wryly he commented, a slight reminiscent smile curving his mouth. Hitsugaya eyed him warily, landing a few paces away. "Fun, you say? Is that what you call basic debauchery?"

"Yowch. Guilty as charged." The man winced and his smile disappeared. "I'm sure our ways may seem strange to you and your fellow Shinigami. But all things considered and aside, this really is our world and you've invaded--"

"This was once Soul Society's charge as well." Hitsugaya testily reminded, his white brows drawing together in a scowl. "Not anymore it is," the man rejoined lightly. He flexed his sword arm and then poised the tip of his Zanpaku-to above the sheath.

"What're you doing?! This battle is far from over!"

The man--Kagami, cocked an eyebrow at Hitsugaya. "Oh? So do you have more little water tricks up your sleeve then?"

_He's taking me as a joke?! _ Hitsugaya chanced a look to the far side where the others were trapped. Their black clad figures starkly stood out against the white wall of frozen water. Inoue and Yasutora...as humans wouldn't survive long if left that way. _Everyone...hold on_. His eyes closed briefly, "you may think we're in the wrong, but you're--"

"Let me ask you something," Kagami smoothly interrupted, without receiving an answer he continued, "long ago in olden days, Assiah was the place where exiled Shinigami were sent to. Now be it crimes of anarchy--_murder_--whatever. If the deed wasn't fit to be execution by the Sokyoku; what better way to dispose of undesirables in the land where there are-excuse me-were a thousand Hollows per capita?"

"What're you saying?" Hitsugaya's voice was faint, he was less sure of himself.

"What I'm saying is:" here Kagami's look became sardonic, "don't go on about how great and justified Soul Society is. Now...we finish this. Devour. Shinryu-Saisui."

It was the same attack. Hitsugaya leapt upward at the onset of the first flow as one rose beneath his heels, the second shot out from behind, twining about his arms and chest. Hitsugaya struggled, twisting in the bands of water. Down below, Kagami watched. "Interesting. The Fukutaichou breaks free to help her Taichou...I can honor that type of spirit." He turned to the tall woman in soaking robes, her loose hair clung damply to her shoulders.

"What say in three minutes--"

Hitsugaya screamed above them. Matsumoto gasped, "Taichou! You bastard! What did you do to him?!" her eyes flickered to Kagami's impassive, unmarked face. Not a scratch had been laid on his countenance or body. Seething, Matsumoto was about to repeat herself when he held up a hand.

"Must I explain everything? He was snared from the very first moment my Dragon water splashed him. Just one touch, one droplet lands on you and it's all over." He surveyed her expression with another smile. "They've entered him on the second release. They're hungry. In three minutes his entire body will be consumed from the inside out. You have that long to convince me to reverse the process. Got it?"

"Convince you?" Matsumoto flashed a smile of her own, her hand sliding across her Zanpaku-to's hilt and the cat-shaped guard. "Who said convince? Why not _defeat you_? Roar, Haineko!" The tang became a wreath of gray smoke. Kagami withdrew his own sword in a single motion from the scabbard at his hip. A ripple in the water at his feet spoke the name of the Zanpaku-to: _Sazanami_.

Ash and water soon collided.

~*~

_Shinryu-Sui...that brings back memories_. Kei glanced askance toward the break in the trees that barely afforded her a glimpse of her fellow Captain's battle. _And_...her eyes widened. "Yo! Forget me?!" Ichigo angrily yelled. A little regretfully, she refocused back to him. "No. Not likely." Her smile was rueful, but her gaze slid back to Kagami. _Genei_. She parried aside Ichigo's thrust. _A shield of compressed water much like the wielder of wind's guard. Except_...

There was a change in the spirit pressures.

Ichigo turned startled eyes to the north. "Rangiku..." he whispered.

_Like a mirror, it reflects all that breaks upon it._

~*~

"Genei," Kanzaki muttered. He scowled and spat as a drop of sweat rolled down the corner of his mouth. "What did you say?" Ishida demanded. The Division one Captain wiped the back of his hand across his face. "Nothing. Let's continue."

_Kagami_...

~*~

_What the hell was that...?!_ Matsumoto had narrowly avoided the backlash of Haineko's attack while behind the crystalline confines of the shield, Kagami tapped his wrist to indicate the lack of time. She scowled and gathered the smoky remains back into the form of a blade.

"A Zanpaku-to that becomes a mist of ash..." he mused, his eyes lowered and passed over the circumference of the shield. Nothing could break it, only rebound upon the perpetrator. He could tell she didn't understand._ Most likely she had come across various other barrier types and been able to shatter them using only a slicing motion of her ash blade. Hmm_... he observed her position. She would strike first and then above. Maybe even...

"Growl, Haineko!"

Behind. His eyes closed in exasperation. "Don't you know already that won't work? This is exhausting--Suiha--"

"W--wait!"

"Taichou!?" Matsumoto cried.

"Eh?" Kagami looked up, "still conscious?"

"Don't--please sto-stop." breathing hard, Hitsugaya gasped out. The water geyser that wrapped about his arms and legs trembled with a gleaming shudder of energy. Kagami frowned, "two minutes have passed. I'm surprised you're even able to still speak."

"Shi--Shihoin asks..."

"What...?" the water wielder's voice became sharp.

"Stand down for me." Hitsugaya finished above a whisper. His body slumped back into the vise of water. Matsumoto's hands flew to her mouth, "Taichou!"

A flicker passed over Kagami's face. With a swipe of his free hand, the Genei shield melted back into the tang of his Zanpaku-to. "Recede, Shinryu," he commanded dispiritedly. To Matsumoto's amazement; Hitsugaya was lowered slowly on a plateau of water. Concerned only with his well-being, she disregarded Kagami and ran to the unconscious boy's side.

"Hitsugaya! Hitsugaya-Taichou!" she cried desperately, her hand brushing aside the damp bangs from his face.

"He'll awake in a moment," the water wielder said over his shoulder. The splintering and cracking of the ice sheet that had imprisoned the others followed.

~*~

"What _can_ he be thinking-?" Kei muttered, her feet leaving the ground in an instant. Earth flew upward in a spray with the impact of a black Getsuga-Tenshou. Ichigo panted, feeling the weight of the white mask that covered his face. He hadn't seen any of the emotion he had come to expect whenever his chosen opponent caught first glimpse of it. Nothing. Not even a flicker of shock had disturbed her countenance. He wondered why.

"Maouen!" angrily she tossed the sword high, the long lean blade rippled into that of the great bird who flew in an arc back. Kei raised her arm and it alighted upon her. Its feathers blacker than the night. The bird inclined its head toward her as if hearing something only meant for it. Then looked inquiringly toward the east, screeching once.

Something answered. A roar like that of a Dragon's from a campy sci-fi movie, came in return. Ichigo started and stared wildly off in the same direction. _What the hell was_--

"Soryu..." Kei murmured. He turned to her sharply, "what's that?"

"Nothing." with a flick of her wrist, the bird had pitched itself into the sky, winding its way to the South. "It just means," her eyes caught his and held them, "our fight is over. A truce has been called."

~Las Noches~

"My Lord...we have returned."

"Ah, Ulquiorra..." Aizen looked over the group with an indulgent smile, "I assume things have gone according to plan?"

The green-eyed Arrancar recalled the last thing the elemental had spoken to him and ducked his head briefly, "I have every reason to believe so."

_In five days_...she had whispered, leaning close so that no one else could catch her words, her hand sliding into his; _come where the sun rests in the south, there, we will be awaiting you_.

The sun rose in the west and set in the south...only before Tsukikage castle.

~To be continued~

AN: I really am exhausted. :P sleepy as well.

Thanks for reading--no flames or idiotic spammers! Reviews are always appreciated! Ocs still needed as well.


	12. Player Pawn

Omake: Battlefield Take.1

"Are you surprised?" Embers gusted in the smoke and ash surrounding her.

"Fire...you've healed yourself," the Hollow remarked, then paused to admire the extra exposure of skin, he grinned a toothy smile, "nice legs."

"I second that!" Kanzaki yelled.

Kei nearly fell over.

Kazeatari shook her head sadly, "dirty old man."

"Yeah." Kagami muttered.

~Battlefield Take.2:

"Are you surprised?" Kei asked softly, embers scattered in the wind, from the scorched earth fire still burned, smoke and ash billowed up around her. The Hollow didn't answer, only stared--in a way she thought at first could be taken for awe then quickly realized it was something else entirely.

The field as well had gone quiet until one of the smaller Adjuchas called out, "great legs!"

One of the ones fighting Kagami said to his companion, "wow. This is better than that July Maxim cover." The water wielder sweat-dropped behind the rippling dome of the Genei shield, completely forgotten. _Pervs_.

"Hey! Which one did you see?" Kanzaki yelled to them.

"The blond chick cosplaying as Princess Ai!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember that one!" He said enthusiastically.

Kazeatari dropped her head in her hands, "what a perv."

Kagami nodded, "yup."

"Incinerate, Maouen." Kei said tightly, "and include Kanzaki as well."

'With pleasure, wielder,' answered Touda grimly.

~ShiKai CH.11: Player. Pawn.

'You seem disappointed somehow. Why?'

The land was new to her eyes, off in the distance far beyond the reaches of the forest was the astral line, the veil between the worlds. _Past there. Faraway_. _A walled city of white_. Her fist clenched at her side, 'you're mistaken. I could not be more pleased with the delay. I would wait an eternity until the moment is right.'

He smiled reminiscently, 'I thought you didn't believe in eternity. Forever?'

'I don't. But that was then, this is _now_.'

~*

'I trust your judgment.'

_Choose._

'Find someone.'

_I will_.

'Count on it.' she said, swiftly turning on her heel.

~*~

'Shouldn't we...' Takara trailed off hesitantly, 'help them?!'

They stood above on a steep hill, watching the scene below.

'No,' she said, warningly holding her hand back as the girl began reaching for her sword when the Menos ringed the group of Shinigami in. 'Wait.'

_One of them_...

A man stepped forward. The others ran.

_Self-sacrificing. Perfect._

Kei flicked her wrist, Maouen came to her hand. 'Let's go.'

~Present day~

"Keiko?"

She snapped out of it.

"That's fine," she assented, closing her eyes briefly.

Kanzaki looked relieved, Kagami and Kazeatari dubious, though they said nothing. The reactions of the Soul Society Shinigami were mixed, however only the orange-haired boy noticed the fire wielder's preoccupation.

It was soon decided that the entire party would move to Tsukikage rather than pull into Arcadia for further peace talks.

~*~

"Hitsugaya-Taichou," Kei said after a time of silence. She lessened her general speed to fall in pace with the group consisting of the Taichou, Ichigo and Ishida. "Do you know what the words, 'Dies Irae' translate to?"

Kagami heard a fragment of her voice on the wind and half-glanced askance to the side.

"No. Sorry, I don't." Hitsugaya frowned, "it's Latin isn't it?"

"Day of wrath," Ichigo interposed before Kei could respond. "Right?"

She looked a little surprised, "yes." Then she turned her attention to him, "how do you know?"

He scowled slightly, something from school."

"If you weren't such a-but ah, I will not say the word. You would also recall, that the 'Day of wrath' is part of the Requiem mass in the Catholic Church as well as having been written in Medieval times." Ishida said, pushing up his glasses with authority. Ichigo opened and closed his mouth several times, "I'm a WHAT!? Finish your sentence, Uryu!"

"That is correct," Kei remarked, amused.

"A fool," Ishida said simply, then nodded to her, "I try to be well versed on a variety of different subjects."

"Excellent. It proves you are highly intellectual." she complimented.

"URYU! Quit ignoring me!" Ichigo yelled to which the Quincy rolled his eyes to the lightening sky, "I cannot tell a lie."

"You--"

"Kurosaki, shut up."

"Not you too! Toshiro?!"

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's HITSUGAYA-TAICHOU!!!"

~*~

"Beware a snake in the grass with its deceptively sweet--" Kanzaki was cut off from his dour under breath mutters by Kagami. "Huh? What're you talking about?"

"Nothing." Then continued in quieter tones, "she will bring the downfall of men like Helen of Troy. Her name is--!!!!!!!!!!"

The reason for his sudden scream that drew everyone's curious stares was that a near gust of wind on an otherwise nearly breezeless night had almost knocked him out of the sky. When he had righted himself and got his wits back, his glare landed on Kazeatari. However, the wind wielder was mildly fanning her face with an innocence that he--no one else--found most suspicious.

~*~

_'To lose in battle is no disgrace.'_

_'That is different. Is that how you all believe?'_

_'Of course.' She looked highly affronted, 'for isn't it better to rise and live to fight another day?'_

_Piercing blue eyes framed by long russet colored lashes fluttered shut. The Arrancar ran his hand gauntleted by bone ridges adorning his knuckles through his ragged hair. 'I suppose your way may possibly be the best course then..." he said carefully. Kei marveled at his clear pronunciation of every word. "Then you will--?"_

_"I have no name." he said solemnly._

_Just then Kagami called out from healing Kanzaki, the Hokuto Shichisei slipped a little in his hand and came perilously close to slicing the other's knee. "Hey! Watch what you're doing!" he cried. Kagami ignored him, "Aki!"_

_"Aki?" The Arrancar questioned._

_"Aki..." Kei smiled, "Autumn. It's perfect." _

~*~

"Aki."

A tall man turned. He wore the gray variation of the black Shihakusho with the exception of heavy work gloves on his hands and a scarf around his throat. "Captain Yamamoto," he responded, acknowledging the others with a slight nod. On his arm was the badge for Third seat of fourth.

Intense blue eyes widened taking in the sight of the entire party. "Your orders-?"

"Please escort these Shinigami up to Tsukikage. The others and I will join you later." Kei said, lightly patting his arm as she passed. Aki Shikouten bowed slightly, "it shall be done."

~*~

_It was getting hard to breathe. Kei felt the drip of sweat trickle down the collar of the once-white kimono. Blood had splashed it countless of times during the day and now it retained a faint grating stiffness against her skin. She frowned, twitching her shoulders uncomfortably, the summer heat wasn't helping either._

_Soon, she flicked her tongue over her lips, wetting them slightly. Dehydration would set in. Mirage after that. She would've have to end it fast. Bearing that in mind, she allowed a smirk to play on her mouth, 'well? Are you going to just stand and stare or actually fight me?' a tone of malicious taunting that she didn't feel, colored her words. The masked face tilted upward, a hand that retained vague human shape lifted and swiped the air tinting it an ashen color. _

_'Erschienen, Eisen Iowe.' His form rippled into that of a crouching animal with a mane of reddish gold hair framing a face of gaping eye holes and snarling jaws. Immense paws with curved talons scratched at the earth. His roar made the ground shake yet she kept her stance, never once showing fear. It was hideous yet breathtaking at the same time. Kei smiled faintly. She was definitely having a difficult time of drawing sufficient air into her lungs. His reiatsu was currently overpowering her at the Shikai level. Amazing. _

_Her eyes landed on the strange tattoo-like marking that all the Hollows of Assiah, it seemed, carried. That of a black half moon. She raised her sword, whispering to the tang, "Sixth phase, Kagennotsuki." White and black waves coalesced, twining along the hilt and large crescent moon. Kei closed her eyes against the brightness, the whisper-hiss of links curled and fell to the ground only to spiral up in a chain of half-moons encasing her in a semi-circle. _

_'You've showed me the extent of your strength. Now let me show you mine." She said, flipping it sideways, "Bankai.'_

~Later the same day~

"What're you thinking about?"

"Hmm?" Kei was taken out of her thoughts by the orange-haired boy's voice. _What's his name again-_? Chagrined, she realized she didn't recall though she had heard them say it nearly every few minutes. She decided to look slightly blank for a moment then to smile slightly, "the past."

"If you don't mind me asking, was it something good? Judging by your smile, I would assume so."

_Won't he leave it alone_? her smile didn't quite freeze in place. "I don't mind." She had to carefully control her tone to not sound biting. "But no. I somehow don't think what I was remembering fits into the 'happy' category. Now if you'll excuse me." Kei flash-stepped to Kazeatari's side and at once began chattering animatedly to the older woman.

Telling him precisely nothing.

Kei risked a slight half-glance back, catching his sigh. _Disappointment. Excellent_. _The game is just beginning..._

~*~

_Tsukisasu failed. _

_Kei barely repressed her emotions. Biting hard on the inside of her mouth until the trembling stopped. No one had been immune to the piercing moon before. This was a first. Even...__he__...his name wouldn't be spoken ever again nor thought of, had fallen once to this attack. Genbu...impossible. _

_A flash of violet light revolved into a perfect cylinder within the Hollow's maw. _

_Kei felt a flicker of tart fear rise. A doom blast! _

_There was no way to avoid it. "Mugetsu." she ordered quietly. _

_The wave of black void was soon consumed by the much larger sphere. _

_Unable to evade, she shut her eyes against it as it swallowed her up._

_Across the field..._

_Kazeatari started. Another's screams filled her head._

_"Kei..." _

_Kagami gritted his teeth behind the concealing black Shinobi mask. "Looks like you've bitten off more than you can chew, Kei." He winced as the screams intensified. His Genei shield flickered for a moment with the force of the Balas slamming into it. "Unfortunately, " a sardonic smile curled his mouth, "I'm in no position to help anyone right now." Sazanami rose, "Shiryu-Reppasho!" _

***~***

_Bleeding. _

_I'm bleeding. _

_Splotch. _

_Her hand lifted from her side, coming away painted red._

_Plip._

_The ground was an angry red color pooled around her feet. Her Zanpaku-to was pointed downward limply in a hand that she lacked feeling in. Half my body is numb. Not good._

_Plop._

_That sound is really starting to annoy me. "Demon's breath," she breathed inward, the scent of ash thickening the air. Fire erupted from the ground. She vanished in a wreath of burning flame moments later._

~*~

"...Glowing dim as an ember, things my heart used to know..." Kei hummed quietly under her breath catching Ichigo's attention once again.

"Once upon a December." he finished behind her.

Startled, she inhaled sharply, "you know it?"

He shrugged, "I've heard it."

_'He's lying,'_ whispered a voice in her consciousness, _'don't trust him. There's something about his presence that fills me with great abhorrence.'_

'Little wonder.' Kei dryly responded, 'bird of hell indeed.'

Touda ruffled his gleaming feathers, preening, _'well, I take pride in my abilities.'_

'Yeah, yeah.' She managed to keep from rolling her eyes, saying aloud instead, "I bet you're starved. Follow me, the Kitchens are this way."

~Battlefield~

_'Surprised?' Kei asked softly. _

_Black heat rolled from her skin, burning the atmosphere itself. _

_She had healed completely._

_'Fire. Only the Elemental can regenerate themselves by burning their bodies alive.' The Hollow said._ _Kei smirked, 'yes...so you know. Good. Then that means you understand now __what __you are fighting. Shall we continue-?'_

The Lion roared in response, sound waves thundering forth.

~Battlefield Take.3 Omake ~

_"Are you..." Kei focused in on the tiny trail if blood leaking out of the Hollow's nose as well most of the others in the vicinity. Kanzaki included._

_"I didn't know Hollows could get nosebleeds." She wondered aloud._

_Kagami sighed heavily, "only if they're pervs. _

_Kazeatari muttered deprecatingly, "dirty old men Hollows and old man..."_

~Mindscape within the Elements subconscious~

'That boy...he follows her around,' Touda said thoughtfully then turned bright blue eyes of the purest flame up to the golden yellow of the white tiger, 'has Kazeatari-san noticed anything?'

Large paws stretched and the guardian of the West, yawned, 'my Kaze? No. Sorry, nothing.'

'That is because the wielder of wind is much too absorbed within herself to notice anything above that.' Spoke a deep rumbling voice. Byakko's eyes narrowed, black pupils slitted, 'Soryu...'

Scales shone a thousand different colors of the sea, shimmering in the darkness, 'or am I mistaken?'

'You dare insult my Kaze to my face, brother?' Byakko growled dangerously.

'Insult?' the Dragon curled his lip, 'how can it be when it is the truth?'

The Tiger snarled and the Dragon smirked. Touda quickly intercepted, saying tightly, 'I did not call you here to discuss which of our Masters is superior.' Heat flowed from skeletal wings and Soryu withdrew, the mists of water surrounding him becoming steam in the dense air.

Byakko sniffed, licking lazily at the curved tip of a powerful claw. 'At least my wielder speaks with me.' He couldn't resist one last jibe. Ripples erupted from the Dragon's aura. 'What are you implying, boy?'

The lid of one eye flicked shut in the unmistakable gesture of a wink. 'We all know how Kagami-san despises you.'

'Are you...looking for a fight?'

'Perhaps I am,' the white tiger calmly said.

'Suiha-Nanahoryo!' Soryu snarled.

~Tsukikage Castle~

Water erupted in a geyser in Kazeatari's face. Hitsugaya started back. A few feet away, a sudden powerful gust of wind roared in the open window catching Kagami at unawares. "What the hell, Atari!?" he yelled, wincing when the newly formed cut along his jaw was stretched. "What the hell yourself, Kagami! Look at me!" she gestured violently to sopping hair drizzling water onto her kimono.

"What...was that?" Orihime asked quietly. The two elementals locked furious gazes for a moment then Kazeatari turned to her, "this is what happens when Gods fight."

A far off scream echoed from a floor below.

Kagami gasped, "Keiko!"

~ Mindscape within the Elements subconscious~

'Enough!' Touda shrieked.

Black and red coalesced.

~Tsukikage Castle~

He sensed something. His hand shot out, yanking the fire wielder against him, "watch out!"

A moment later, blue fire erupted from the burners.

"Kei!"

They both turned to the doorway. Kagami stood there and behind him everyone else. "Are you alri--"

"Look!" Orihime had peered under the water wielder's arm and into the Kitchen, knowing Ichigo to be there. Seeing his arms around the Soul reaper, however had brought a pang to her heart one that she endeavored desperately to hide.

"Touda..." Kazeatari breathed softly. The flames had formed into the shape of the hell bird which emitted a faint cry in the crackle of fire. Kei scowled, "Touda!" she pushed against his arms and stepped forward, feeling his palm land slide down to her elbow. "Careful," he said warningly. The keen eyes of the bird observed them both for a moment before vanishing in a burst of red light leaving not a trace behind.

"_It_ would never harm me." She all but spat, thrusting him aside. Kei stalked past the rest of them, ignoring their stunned looks. Kagami made as if to call her back but Kazeatari stopped him. "Let her be." Then dark eyes alighted on the Shinigami sub, she smiled faintly, "don't worry about it, kid. Keiko isn't upset with _you_. It's another's anger that's influencing her right now."

He looked slightly doubtful but said nothing.

_He wouldn't admit, at least not aloud that there was some comfort in that._

_He had assumed she had become angry when he had held her longer than necessary._

Even without him saying anything, Kazeatari did exchange one worried look with Kagami. _They had finally noticed something. _

~To be continued~

AN: It was long. But, really I enjoyed the part with Touda, Byakko-kun and S_eiryu_ (hears distant roar in the background) ^^; I mean, _Soryu_.

Flashbacks were in italic.

Thanks for reading.

No flames, stupid comments (you know what I mean!) Or idiotic spammers!

Other than that, please review. :)


	13. Yesterday is still so far gone

Omake: Chapter.6: No shortage of enemies

She saw that he was clutching at something and was having a difficult time breathing. Kei extended her hand and ran it through the short spikes of his orange hair tenderly. _She was reminded somewhat of Kanzaki_. "Does it hurt _so_ badly?" Kei asked softly, turning at an angle to better stroke his hair. _Poor baby_.

He roused himself slightly and was greeted by...

_'Wow.'_ Ichigo thought, _'lacy French-cut. Sexy.'_

The view made it all worth it.

ShiKai CH.12: Yesterday is still so far gone

_Tsukisasu. _

_The attack had failed once, she was sure it would again._

_The beam of light shot out, shattering against the iron platelet girding his thigh. _

_Not there either. Kei slashed downward releasing another of the same only to be disappointed as it lanced the ground. He had avoided it narrowly. Why? Her palm slid along the hilt. Again. "Hado 63 Raikoho!" she feinted, her eyes focused on the mane of the Lion. _

_Distracted. _

_"Third Phase, Tsukisasu." _

_The piercing light shot through the Lion's mane. He howled, blind rage a sheen over his eyes as he charged at her. Kei barely had enough time to dodge, rolling into a fast crouch, her hand pressed to the ground, "Bakudo 75 Gochu Tekken!" Five pillars rose high yet he leapt through them while they still rose. No. She raised her sword. They collided. Teeth gnashing against the slender tang of silver, suddenly she wished she had wielded Maouen instead. _

_He was pushing her back._

_"Ngh..." her hands began shaking, the massive body of the creature rearing up as it stood on its hind legs. She felt its jaws snap near her hand, claws rake an ounce of flesh from her arm, red seeping out. No. Her eyes screwed shut, biting down on her lip so hard the skin tore. No..._

_'Let me protect you.'_

_I don't need it._

_'...you've been hurt.' Eyes the color of earth flashed through her mind. Concern reflected within them. _

_Stay away. I can do this. Just stay away._

_'I will protect you, Kei--' _

_Bodies filled her vision. A man in the shadows wore a slight smile. She screamed--_

~Present day~

The sound of the book falling to the floor awoke her.

Kei started up, her eyes darting around the large room, a cheerful blaze in the fireplace grate. Black flames inched forward, two fiery eyes looked out inquiringly at her.

'Another dream again, wielder?' questioned the bird in her mind.

Ascertaining they were indeed alone, she dropped her face in her hands and rubbed at her eyelids, sliding her palms up into her scalp, strands of tawny hair fell over them. "Yeah," not bothering to converse telepathically, she said aloud, "it was more of a nightmare than anything--"

"Nightmare?"

She started violently, nearly falling out of the low divan's curved seat. She turned to the doorway, Touda melted into the flames, leaving only the impression of two flickering eyes remaining in the fire. "You..." she still couldn't recall his name. Ichigo shifted his weight slightly guiltily, "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?"

_'He doesn't look or sound the least bit repentant,'_ Touda remarked caustically.

"No," she answered, covertly glancing askance toward the fireplace. _Hush you._ From the flames came the unmistakable sound of a crackling chortle that caught his attention as well momentarily. "Black?" he advanced farther in the room, looking curiously at the wreath of dancing tongues of fire. It was of course, the Demon bird's tongue poking out tauntingly and not just a mirage within the blaze.

To avoid answering right away, Kei smoothed the pillows she had been leaning against, a smile twitching on her lips, "so, how did you know I was in here? There are over fifty rooms within Tsukikage Castle, not including the outside, how precisely did you discern my location?"

He watched her from the corner of his eye, "just a hunch."

_'A hunch? Oh, do elaborate, Sherlock!' _Touda cried_. _

_He probably doesn't even know who Sherlock Holmes is, birdbrain_. _Besides that. He can't hear you. Only__ I__ can_. Kei reminded scathingly within her mind. An eye in the flames winked once. _'Well ask him f__or __me then...ask him exactly how he knew where you were...'_

Kei managed not to sigh. "How can it be a hunch?" She teased, leaning back. Ichigo scowled, "it just was."

"A place you've never been to before in a world you never knew existed until-oh say-three or four days ago? Come now! Please elaborate further!"

He eyed her warily. Any traces of former anger or irritation had vanished and she seemed genuinely curious, so he began, "well...the south is supposedly the fire God Suzaku's domain and I heard Kagami-san mention the eastern wing as being his. The east belonging to the Dragon Seiryu..."

Kei winced at hearing the eminent Dragon's name mispronounced. But didn't correct him. "Go on," she said encouragingly. Ichigo looked her full in the face for a moment, seeing not the slightest hint of mistrust or doubt. He went on, "I figured if the Castle was divided according to the Elements and their domains, then you would most likely be in the Southern wing and..." he hesitated, unsure of how plausible it would sound next. _He couldn't say he had dreamed her in these very rooms, or that he knew she specifically favored this one above the others to seek respite_ _when her mind was in turmoil_.

"I heard the crackle of the fire and came into this one. By the way, I heard voices as well." His eyes narrowed on her, "were you talking to someone else?"

_'Is that a note of possessiveness, I hear?' _

_Be quiet_, you fool. _He __heard __you._

"Voices?" she kept her expression blank, "no. I--I must've been talking in my sleep. You woke me up, you know?" _No one has been able to hear you before_. Touda grew silent, contemplating her words. "You said something about a 'nightmare'," Ichigo persisted, almost certain she was lying or holding back. "Will you tell me what it was about?"

Arrested at once by the evident sincerity in his simple request and...his eyes resting warmly on her. Kei was instantly chilled. _It was much too..._She realized a moment later that some of her distress must've shown in her expression for he came toward her suddenly, concerned. "Are you okay?" he asked, hesitantly laying his hand on her shoulder. Kei swallowed hard, ridding her mind of the memory of another. "Yeah...sorry. I--I must seem strange to you..." she murmured, dipping her head low, allowing her hair to fall forward, ghosting along the back of his hand.

_'Charmer.' _

_Well, you are a snake after all. And I do wield you. _

"Of course not! You're normal compared to some of the people I know back in my world!"

Kei smiled faintly, a touch of sadness softening her eyes in the corners when she tilted her gaze up to look at him briefly. _It's working..._she thought, glimpsing the faintest hint of color blossoming on his cheeks. "You really think so..." _what is his name?!_ _'Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo,'_ Touda supplied.

"Ichigo...?" she finished, dropping her voice an octave or two lower so that when she spoke it sounded almost breathless and he had to lean slightly to catch it. Fortunately or unfortunately the door chose to open at this moment and Kanzaki poked his head in.

"Keiko," brows knitted together, "oh...Kurosaki-?"

Ichigo realized the sort of impression their positions must be making on the other and he quickly straightened, though he could think of nothing to say to dispel the suspicion in the way he was being watched.

"I was speaking with Hitsugaya-Taichou and I wanted you to be present when I announced the joint decision. Kagami and Kazeatari are waiting," Kanzaki said, still eyeing the guileless smile on Kei's face. _She seemed to be enjoying herself_. The fire wielder rose elegantly, brushing quite closely against the orange-haired boy's side. He started slightly at the contact. Kei appeared not to notice even though Kanzaki didn't know how she couldn't have.

"Alright." Kei stepped to the doorway, only pausing deliberately in mid-step to turn slightly toward the Shinigami sub. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For making me feel better." And she departed with that, falling in with Kanzaki as they walked back up the hall, smiling faintly.

~Throne room~

"We should play along with helping them at least until we better ascertain what their true motives toward us are explained. Agreed?" Kanzaki waited for the unison of the three.

_Where one went the others followed._

"Sounds good to me," Kagami said, nodding slightly.

Kazeatari folded her fan beneath her chin, eyes on the water wielder, "fine."

Kei shrugged, "well if they are in agreement so am I. One little thing however..."

They grew silent, turning to her curiously.

"That boy..." she looked steadily at each of them, "is _mine_."

Kagami instantly became alert, "you mean-?!"

"I'm not sure yet." Kei admitted thoughtfully, "he was one of the main ones involved during that time in Seireitei..."

_We all felt it then._ Him. Something unspoken passed between them and Kanzaki felt left out. "What are you all going on about?! Don't tell me--"

"I believe he is the most likely candidate. At his current level he's a match for Aki and maybe even Zoe at her worst. Remember Aki himself very nearly beat you during that time long ago..." Kazeatari trailed off. Kei took up her thread of thought, "in shikai release, Aki did. Of course then he was still a Vasto Lordes. But this kid...at Bankai--"

"Neither of you did release at that level. Who's to say the playing field would be so evenly matched?" Kagami interposed, smiling.

"Are you saying he'd be stronger than me?" There was a slight tone of doubt in her voice and the water wielder's smile widened and he ran his hand through his hair, tousling it more than it already was. "I'm not saying that. Watching the kid during that first time on Takara's computer made me think he wasn't the type to bother discovering anything about the enemy. Attack until they don't move anymore is I think more his mind-set."

"Which is ridiculous." Kazeatari sniffed.

"And is similar to your style as well," Kei said dryly, causing the wind wielder to eye her narrowly. "Your point being? What?"

"_Slice him apart_. Sound familiar, anyone?"

"That's called_ slicing_. Not hacking, dear." Kazeatari said haughtily, "learn the difference."

"There_ is _a difference?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact there _is_."

"Girls," Kagami interrupted hastily, seeing Kei on the verge of retorting. "As_ I _was saying, sheer brawn and no plan don't give victory. No matter the difference in strength..."

_Find the weakness._

_Break them down from there_.

_No matter what it is_.

"But even if it were the case that you were terribly overwhelmed, there is still Kazeatari and I to step in. Let alone the rest of the seated officers. Hisrio," he continued, "wields a fire Zanpaku-to like yourself. The two combined could exact a goodly amount of damage...so I for my part see no major cons toward this course."

"Thank you." Kei looked relieved.

"However..." he hesitated, his eyes on her face, "can you do it if it is him?"

"_Do_ what?!" Kanzaki faintly cried. Kei's gaze lowered, her lashes fluttering closed over her lavender orbs, "yes."

"You're sure?"

Kei was quiet for a long moment, absolute stillness and the mirror in her own consciousness reflected the smile of another. Scarlet life blood pooled beneath his feet. _You...killed them...'yet why do you still smile...?'_

"Yes."

Satisfied, Kagami smiled, "then, I will leave it in your hands."

"Leave what?! I demand some answers!" Kanzaki cried again, seeing as they turned as a group to go out together. Only Kazeatari paused, her fan held lax at her side, her dark eyes glittering in anticipation, though her expression revealed nothing, "I doubt you would understand this even if we explained it."

"Try me."

Kei and Kagami hesitated in the doorway, looking back. The wind wielder made a quick shooing motion with her fan, air currents responded, lightly pushing them out.

~Omake: Understanding!?~

"I doubt you would understand this even if we explained it."

Kanzaki _hmmed_ for a moment then looked confused again, "so, what? You guys are excited about Keiko scoring with Kurosaki?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

~Intermission~

Atari: "Who's writing this stuff?!"

Kei: "The author. Really..."

Kanzaki: "I saw all those _come-whither_ looks you were giving him, Keiko. Don't try to deny it!"

Kagami: "...dude. Come-whither looks? Don't you mean, _come-hither_ looks?"

Atari scoffing: "I doubt he'd even know what a come-hither look was--"

Kanzaki indignant: "I would!"

Kei ignoring them: "I don't know...I just don't know."

Kagami also ignoring them: "about what, Kei?"

Kei looking thoughtful: "about Kurosaki--"

Ichigo joins them, looking suddenly suspicious: "what about '_Kurosaki'_?"

Kei: "..."

Kagami: "..."

Touda starts singing from the fireplace: 'She doesn't love youuuu-'

Kei suddenly hurls a glass of water into the fire, effectively putting it out.

Ichigo: "did you guys hear somebody singing horribly right now?"

Kagami wisely says: "no."

Kei glowering at the fireplace: "..."

~Tsukikage Castle~

He was disturbed.

_Imagine_.

Kei was smiling-laughing softly at something the young Quincy said.

_Something you were waiting for..._

Kagami was refilling the Kuchiki girl's cup from a fine aubergine tinted glass ewer.

_Finally came to pass. _

In the great fireplace at the opposite end of the large dining hall, a low fire burned with flames of icy blue. Eyes occasionally formed and looked out upon the _guests_ and the Captains. They had yet to speak on their assumed stance. Dinner was supposed to be merry not filled with talk of impending war. Kanzaki looked down at his own glass, his hand trembling.

_But your life..._

He lifted his gaze and momentarily locked eyes with Kazeatari.

_Would also be..._

She and Kurosaki were the only silent ones.

_Forfeit_.

Kurosaki because he was watching Kei. The wind wielder simply because it wasn't in her to make anyone else feel welcome. _No...it's not that_, he realized with sudden clarity. She's thinking. Remembering all those yesterdays gone by, maybe wondering is this all too will fade into memory. _With everyone gone_.

_How would you feel?_

~To be continued~

AN: Took me all evening to get it done.

Thanks for reading.

No flames, stupid comments (you know what I mean!) Or idiotic spammers!

Please review. :)


	14. The fire down below

ShiKai CH.13: The fire down below

_'What is your name_?'

_'Kanzaki Raven.'_

_'Raven? That's a strange name_,' she chuckled, '_but I guess not half as peculiar as Be-windswept-forward!'_

_'Are you insinuating something, Keiko?'_ queried a dark-eyed woman who had alighted in a gust of wind, fan cocked open in her long elegant fingers.

_'Not at all--oh be careful--Hollow!_ 'So saying this, Keiko had effectually maneuvered the volatile woman's attention away from herself to the horned Adjuchas bearing down on her. Still smiling, Keiko suddenly extended her gloved hand, he took it, feeling her grip tighten and as he straightened, she flung him back, ripping her sword from the ground with one violent move, plunging it then into the snarling jaws of a large winged Hollow.

_'Kaho-Enbu,' _she said expressionlessly. Her words releasing a roiling wave of heat that flashed crimson against the hapless creature's white mask then vanished in a searing bolt inside its gaping maw. Fire consumed it from the inside out. Keiko, satisfied, pulled him gently forward, as she had never let go of his hand. '_You don't have to be afraid anymore, you're safe with us_...'

~Present day~

_Safe with us_.

His eyes opened to the darkness of the room, his hand released the grip he had maintained on the top sheet, the air, warm already in the coming Spring necessitated a change in seasonal bedding. He fumbled for a moment on the tiny side table and finally lifted what his searching fingers had been looking for. Glasses. He squinted up at the high-arched ceiling that sloped in the center and ran narrower to the row of thick paned glass windows. It was a nice room, he had to admit, much finer than anything he had ever been allotted in Seireitei.

_She had promised and he had_...

The elements weren't evil. He rose and went to the window, bending slightly, his hands against the casement, face turned to the cool night air. They were just...souls like everyone else. It was Seireitei who said they were just because of some stupid scroll that said so. Everything based on a lie...he wondered how Keiko felt about it. Of course she knew she wasn't going to destroy everyone. So how would it feel to be accused and...know you're innocent?

_Always felt safe with them. _

It wasn't fair. Kanzaki clenched his fists. How could Seireitei dare to ask for help when they had caused so much suffering? To assist would be a travesty of all that had passed before, to refuse would be...to become their enemy. Hueco Mundo. Be the ally of the Arrancar and Hollows. How would that be?

He had no clear answer to either question and soon returned to his bed to endure the rest of the night in sleeplessness.

~Tsukikage Castle Southern wing~

_Three days_.

Her eyes opened, tilting up to stare at the canopy above her.

_Until the Arrancars expected a response_.

A slow smile curved her lips.

_Ulquiorra._

_Nothing had filled her with such excitement or anticipation in centuries. The only difficulty she could heretofore conceive of would be how to take the Shinigami away from Tsukikage on that day_...Kei frowned thoughtfully. They hadn't set a departure date of when they could be expected to leave, the little Taichou had seemed stoically inclined when given their response however Kagami had hinted that his aura read differently. Disappointed. So it wouldn't be amiss to assume they would attempt to reconcile whatever disagreement they thought the Juppongatana had until a deal was reached. Which didn't fare well with any talks concerning Hueco Mundo. How to get them away...

_Three days until she saw him again_.

Kei drew in a long shuddering breath, resting her hand against her forehead. _They couldn't be seen consorting with the Arrancars unless they were prepared to be seen as traitors. Kanzaki had given no word on who he wished to side with, neither it seemed appealed to him and frustratingly neither had Kagami. Moreover_...she sighed,

_'Someone just doesn't want to lift their blade against the green-eyes.'_

Kei glowered. _Touda_...

_'I'm right, am I not?'_ There was a soft raspy chuckle, _'I sensed your increased heart-rate in that one's presence._ _Even thinking of that one now, you are awash in feeling. Maybe you are in--_

Her hand fisted and pummeled once into her chest area.

The bird instantly became silent, ruffling its gleaming feathers darker than the night once, amused. _'Angry are you, that I have read your mind?'_

_Don't speak. _Kei traced the line of her breast and then laid her palm against her heart. faintly she could feel it beating; _a thousand years and the beat of your heart_. "Bastard," she muttered. On the nightstand a flame flickered to life on the tip of an ivory-colored wick. Her face turned toward it, the brilliant flame of orange straight and tall. She was reminded of the Shinigami boy reluctantly. She closed her eyes displeased, the candle flame dipped low, burning from the inside into that of irradiant green.

_Green_.

...like his eyes.

~*~

"Go easy on him, Kaze!"

The wind wielder sniffed as she was wont to do when reprimanded by Kagami. The arcs of curving wind meant to perform the deadly Kamikaze ceased from coiling around the red-haired Shinigami at Kazeatari's command. Her fan snapped deftly closed, annoyance at being disrupted evident on her face.

Renji, judging safe to attempt to stand once again, had his feet knocked out from under him. Kazeatari stared down at him, "your defense is weak. It needs improvement." She left without the traditional bow between partners to close the match. Renji breathed easier the moment she had stepped from the improvised ring. "Man, oh man. Thought I was a goner there for a while." He looked up, saying to Kagami, "thanks, dude."

"Don't mention it." The water wielder said crisply, fighting off a smile at the red-head's tattered approach. His black Shihakusho had numerous slices and gashes across it baring strips of the tanned muscular physique that lay beneath it. _Pity_, Takara wasn't around to play nursemaid. Kagami sighed and went after him, the Hokuto Shichisei strapped to his back, leaving only Kei and Ichigo hanging around the center ring located behind the Second Division.

"So, hey...will you spar with me?"

He was favored by a scornful look. "You?" A light breeze gusted through the trees surrounding them, strands of her hair flittered across her face, she didn't bother brushing them aside.

"Yeah," his mouth suddenly went dry under her cold lilac gaze. She appraised him fully then her eyes wandered back up to the afternoon sky. "Why should I?" Kei asked aloud, her mood imminently soured by Kanzaki's earlier morning refusal to even speak about the Arrancars. Her lip curled, sensing his reiatsu with that of the young Quincy. Most likely the little Taichou was with them...

"...or are you afraid?"

Coming out of her ill-tempered musings, she realized he was waiting to get a rise out of her.

_'Take my word for it, kid. It'll take more than cheap talk to get a rise out of this wielder.' _

_What're you implying...Touda_? Her eyes narrowed at the cackle from within. _'Not a thing, wielder mine, however this could be an excellent chance to view the kid's Bankai without seeming too curious-or-ending up in battle never having experiencing it before_.'

She grew silent and he thought maybe she was reconsidering.

"Okay," Kei said brusquely, straightening from the lounging position she had maintained against the tree. Her hand went behind her shoulder then hesitated, closing on empty air. her jaw tightened and she went instead for the hilt at her waist. "One round," she informed him, sliding the scabbard out from the black sash. Ichigo followed her, stepping onto the platform, instantly sensing the drop in atmosphere. A barrier, his eyes traced the invisible line of ancient power radiating from the worn rough cut stone blocks. _This place was old_...a feeling of nostalgia washed over him even though he didn't halfway understand its source.

Kei's voice brought him back to reality. "Well, are you going to draw your Zanpaku-to or not?"

~*~

"Um, wait...can I ask you something?" reactionary he had reached for his sword but hesitated noticing the absence of the second blade from her shoulder. Kei tilted her head at a slight questioning angle, "go on." she assented. "Well...I've seen you fight with a different sword and then carry that one. But I guess..." he scowled out of habit, "what I want to know is, is why do you have two swords?"

_Maouen and Getsu-ten. Two distinctly different blades_...

"It's none of your concern," she answered shortly, her eyes hardening. Her sword hand flexed, her body easily sliding into a practiced position. "You go first."

~*~

CLANG.

Kagami glanced up from sheathing the Shichisei.

CLACK.

Renji looked as well, his fiery eyebrows shooting up high into his tattoos. "He's just lookin' for a beating, the idiot!"

GA-SHAK.

"Oh?" Kagami cautiously said, disguising his intense interest in the matter. "I mean it's only too obvious_ that _Strawberry doesn't use his head--if he did, he'd know that she's just playing with him!" Renji finished with a satisfied frown. The water wielder stayed silent, analyzing the imparted mindset of one of many from the group. _This one knew she was stronger than appearances let on. Very much so. Just how much however, had yet to be understood. But the boy_...

Kei struck back particularly viciously, ripping the shoulder of his black Shihakusho. By inches did the silver tip miss a direct hit. _Kosokuken_. Kagami smiled reminiscently. He himself recalled teaching her the move.

~*~

"Cold and disobedient." Kanzaki said flatly to Uryu's carefully posed questioning. "She's vindictive and pitiless with a streak of cruelty. All in all a not very nice person. Why..." a dark violet brow rose halfway suspiciously, "do you ask?" They were outside the Third Division offices, looking down through a break in the trees to where Kei and Ichigo's match was visible to them.

Uryu sighed and hid his irritation at Ichigo's former request to ask about the Soul reaper's personality. _Why did he want to know so badly_? "She--um certainly seems that way," the Quincy said, wincing slightly at the clashing sounds that echoed back. Hitsugaya watched with interest and therefore didn't bother partaking of their conversation.

"Uh huh. Although..." Kanzaki hesitated, some of his old anger awakened and he continued more bitterly, "Keiko has a good heart...I have no doubt that it would show more if she hadn't suffered the way she_ did_." He finished loyally.

"Is that right...?" Uryu encouraged.

The Captain's gaze saddened as he once more laid crimson eyes on the distant fight taking place within the confines of the stone circle. She had swung out and missed-no-feinted. The boy had taken the false initiative, emboldened by her awry strike and laid the edge of his wide blade close to her neck. Kanzaki knew she wouldn't take such an end to a battle she had obviously staged.

He fell a moment later.

Kanzaki looked to Uryu and Hitsugaya, "shall we?"

~*~

Zangetsu was knocked from his hand.

Kei side-swiped his ankles and he fell heavily with a searing jolt of pain up his spine as he hit the stone, but she wasn't finished yet. Catching the crescent moon guard expertly between her fingers, she spun it point downward only to let it rest above his face.

"Forfeit?" Her whisper was soft. She was straddling his chest, leaning slightly to the side, her equilibrium carefully held as one hand was braced firmly against his bicep, the other around the hilt of the moon sword. He shifted uneasily only to have the gleaming tip lowered. A tiny sting followed and he knew he had been cut. Something wet dotted his cheek and Kei smiled, "do you give?"

"Do I have to answer that?"

"Of course."

He hated how she looked at that moment. _Full of arrogance like she was above him_.

Then she did something he never expected. Her knees tightened around his sides, sliding down to maintain a slight grip at his waist, her sword she laid aside, leaning forward onto her bare palm pressed down onto the cool stone.

He stared.

Their faces were inches apart.

Her hair fell forward, trailing along his cheek.

She dipped her head, lightly tracing her tongue along the bleeding cut.

_He wanted to tell her to stop, that she was contaminating it._

_He wanted to gather enough air into his lungs so that his heart would stop pounding and..._

A tiny sound escaped his throat.

_Why did everyone have to be suddenly present to hear his moan?_

~To be continued~

:) Thanks for reading.

N:o flame:s or stu:pid: comments:

Please review. :)


	15. Confluence

ShiKai CH.14

_'What an interesting sound, Ichigo-kun! Please, make more delightful noises of the same!'_

He instantly reddened.

_How cute_.

Beneath her, his heart beat fast.

Pounding even. Kei lightly trailed the back of her hand in a caressing motion down the side of his face. Smiling softly as she did so. He had never been more endearing to her eyes than at that moment. Except maybe the first time they had _played_ together, she never had, Kei realized with a slight pucker of her brow, apologized albeit a pretense that she was sorry. Perhaps she should now...

_'For what? Busting his--'_

_That's enough, Touda_.

"Ichigo..." she whispered, dropping her voice an octave or two lower, "I'm sorry..."

"What?" he sounded faint.

"For hurting your manhood," purposely, Kei slid her sandaled foot inward, stroking his inner-thigh before gracefully rising.

~*~

_"I hate my sword."_

_"Don't say that," brows furrowed over kindly blue eyes, "everyone admires it saying it's the most beautiful in all of Seireitei." His hand lifted her unhappy face up, "now why would you despise something so wonderful?"_

_"I just do," she looked down_.

_Kagami smiled slightly behind his Shinobi mask, "explain to me, why then." _

_"Because... it's made to defend. Everyone looks at it with envious eyes but they don't understand! It's useless--it's of no worth to me!" she cried, desperate for him to empathize. _

_"Kei..." he knelt to her eye level, his hands on her shoulders, "the Getsu-ten represents the moon in all its stages."_

_"Stages?" she thought of the seven releases and said nothing more, waiting for him to continue._

_"Three," he said, sensing her confusion. "In her first phase, she is the young maiden, unsullied and pure. In her fullness she is the mother, experienced and maternal to all her children. And in her waning, she is the crone. Wizened by all she has gone through. And in the end..."_

_"In the end?" Kei demanded breathlessly. _

_"She is...reborn." Kagami finished, ruffling her unbound tawny hair. "To shine again in the night sky."_

_He was called by another and left soon after, saying only, "protecting something is the first step to true honor, remember that, little moon."_

_"But what if...you don't have anything to protect...Kagami?" she said quietly to the wind. _

~*~

_'This sword is useless,' she intoned softly._

_Silver flashed along the tang, repelling the Arrancar back. _

_Her eyes ran along the gleaming moon above her hand. What a joke, the moon in all its phases. I need only one._

_"Maouen." She said, casting aside the moon in favor of hell. _

~*~

_Getsu-ten and Maouen. Two distinctly different swords_, Kagami watched from afar as Kei sheathed the unreleased Zanpaku-to. _One protects while the other destroys_. He smiled. "Sharp swordsmanship as always, Keiko."

There was a the hint of a swagger-no-swinging of her hips as she sauntered out of the ring, leaving the orange-haired Shinigami sub still floored. "Well, what do you expect? I've _always_ had excellent teachers." she murmured, sharing a slight wink with Kagami.

_She had something-learned something-during the match. _

_He wondered what it could be_. Glancing around, he quickly discerned there were too many of the Shinigami loitering about-not to mention Kanzaki and no Kazeatari in sight. He sighed softly, _where was that woman when he needed her_?

~*~

ENTER AUTHORIZATION CODE: Dies Irae.

The sound of the key strokes being made by deft fingers broke the quiet of the dimmed room. The glow of the screen illuminated the girl's intent expression of concentration.

"How is it coming along?"

She stifled a scream. "Captain Namaiki...goodness! You startled me!"

The wind wielder ducked her head, "sorry. And please, we've known each other far too long for such formalities to exist, Shimizu-san. Call me, Kazeatari."

Takara's smile was tremulous at first then widened into a good-natured grin, "alright, Namaiki-san." Kazeatari pretended to pout and Takara quickly held her hands up in surrender, "old habits die hard." The two shared soft laughter then dark eyes were drawn to the blue computer screen, "day of wrath?"

Takara sobered, "_Dies Irae_. It's very nearly complete except for a few minor program errors that with a little more time I can have resolved straight away." Kazeatari nodded, "good. Keiko will be glad to hear of that." Takara looked troubled for a moment, "...Atari?"

"Yes?"

"Can you..." the girl began in a small voice, "will you make sure he doesn't--"

The wind wielder's expression softened, "of course." She turned on her heel to leave then paused, thoughtful in the doorway, "Ichimaru Gin isn't a part of Soul Society anymore. He's defected to Hueco Mundo--we will most likely come into contact with him soon, is there anything you would like for me to pass on?"

Takara sighed, half-turning away from the wind wielder's probing gaze. "No. Nothing, as long as he's alive."

~*~

She slipped her thumb in her mouth, probing the area beneath her tongue, withdrawing with minimal effort a tiny globule of red.

_Blood._

_His blood_.

Kei spat onto the ground to rid herself of any lingering traces that hadn't been formed into the chikewa. Red tinged her saliva. Wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, she raised the hard-earned bead to the light, a slight smile curving her lips already.

_'I'm impressed. There truly was an ulterior motive to that little stunt back there.'_ remarked Touda.

_Of course_, she condescendingly thought in reply, _my mind isn't as __in the gutter__ as yours. _

_'And to think you're using_** my** _magic.'_ The bird sniffed.

_Get over it already_.

Touda fell silent immediately, saying nothing even when the Shinigami boy caught up to her, red-faced but muttering a hastily conceived of _thanks_. Kei received it with a slight smile, the blood bead safely in hand. _Lunch was being served in the sunken gardens and Kagami had wanted to know if she would be along to join them_? The boy added, failing to disguise his own hope that she would.

The bird chuckled softly at this. Subtlety wasn't the boy's forte, clearly.

Gauging his reaction to either course, Kei wisely acquiesced, asking only the whereabouts of Kazeatari to which he didn't know. She became pensive hearing that.

~Mindscape within the Elements subconscious~

_'Kagami...'_

The water wielder hesitated before sipping the peach mint tea from the thermos.

_'Kagami...'_

_Sazanami?_ he questioned. Ripples broke out over the surface of the golden liquid in his cup, the face of a blue-scaled Dragon appeared in there.

_'Come, boy!'_ sharp now.

He flinched, and then the Dragon softened the command, remembering Byakko's taunt.

_'...please. It is urgent. I must see you.'_

Kagami's brows rose, he looked away to the semi-circled gathering of Shinigami and humans, a few of the Juppongatana as well had joined them and were chattering easily to the Shinigami.

_Now_?

The distant boom of thunder and sudden cloud burst above was his answer. Kei glanced up and then looked to him questioningly. He shook his head, indicating there were too many present to speak comfortably. _There were eventual downsides to storms controllers...he remembered a certain incident all too clearly_...

_~Assiah, over a hundred years ago~_

_"I wish I could control the weather! What with it raining all the time and being so cold! Brrr!"_

_Few if any listened to Kanzaki's rant. _

_Kei tilted the umbrella top forward and cast a curious eye to the gray sky. "I'd say it'll rain some more within the hour."_

_"Smart deduction, Keiko!" Kanzaki snapped, shivering beside the tiny blaze Kazeatari was slowly fanning with air. "Kagami! Can't you manipulate the water element?!"_

_Blue eyes widened slightly in alarm and he crossed his arms, observing the worsening weather mildly, "manipulate is a harsh word. More like influence," he quickly disclaimed. Kanzaki eyed him suspiciously, "isn't that the same thing?"_

_"Not exactly," Kazeatari interrupted, "take myself for instance--"_

_A gust of wind just happened to breeze through the forest clearing and dampen the fire she had worked over. "See?" she sat back primly, "we can't control the elements to be the way __**we**__ want them." _

_Kanzaki looked stricken for a moment, seeing the last embers flickering red to black on the verge of dying. "b-but, Keiko, isn't fire--?"_

_"Not really." Kei said, reinforcing the circle of heat around herself. _

_He snatched Kazeatari's fan from her lax grip leading her to cry, "hey!" And vigorously tried to revive the dying flames. Only giving up when a tiny poof of smoke heralded the demise of the ill-fated fire. To make matters worse, droplets began falling. _

_"If I could control the forces of rain and heat and wind, I would say, __I command you to stop__! And for it to be warm and sunny again!" Kanzaki wailed. _

_Kagami had frozen at the beginning of his innocent proclamation, slowly an incredulous smile crept onto his mouth, "you..." his palm burned with a mark that was invisible, his fist clenched, "you must really hate us, don't you?"_

_Kanzaki looked confused, "huh? Did you say something?"_

_"No," Kagami laid his hand atop his Zanpaku-to, "not at all. Dissipate, Ame no Murakumo." _

_Sazanami flashed once and Kazeatari heaved an exaggerated sigh, folding her fan against the ground. _

_"Call them from the south. I've heard there are lovely Santa-Anas at this time of evening there." Kei suggested._

_"From the south?" Kazeatari glowered, "I don't see you bringing them, __Kei__-ko." she said, placing specific emphasis on the other's name. Kei's smile widened, replying sweetly, "that's because you're the one with the fan and I the sword, dear."_

_"Bitch." _

_"Most of the time." The fire wielder admitted seriously, "I take pride in my indifference to the passing situation."_

_Kagami looked over to her, frowning, "help, Keiko. I won't say it again."_

_Her smile stiffened, but she shrugged, "as you wish." She flicked the umbrella closed, summoning Touda from the branch above her head to her hand as the sword. Still smiling faintly, she walked to the circle of scorched twigs and stabbed the center with one violent thrust, "burn, Shakuranentei." _

_Brilliant blue burst out then flickered into crimson, brighter and hotter than anything Kanzaki had ever seen or felt. Instantly warmth washed over him, drying the dew and scattered droplets from his clothes. Looking up then, he was stunned to see the massive cloud bank dispersing to reveal a clear dark sky shining with starlight._

_A warm wind even came whistling softly through the trees._

_"It's at times like these, that I'm glad to be alive." Kanzaki said contentedly a while later, earning him two glowers and one hasty undertone reminder._

_He doesn't know what he did._

~Present day~

_Still doesn't_. Kagami thought sadly of the first Division Captain living in ignorance.

_Guess it can't be helped_.

His hand closed and he let himself relax, dropping almost instantly into the watery inner-realm where the Dragon awaited.

~*~

_Kagami's drifted off_. Kei thought with a sigh. _Why'd he have to leave me with this crowd_?

_'What? Uncomfortable because that boy cannot keep his eyes off of you?' _

_Didn't I tell you to be quiet?_ Kei locked eyes with Ichigo for a moment, her face expressionless.

Touda ignored her, _'you've always seemed to inspire a certain type of obsessive affection, whether by consequence or by no fault of your own.'_

Her breath caught; Hitsugaya turned to her.

"Hey, are you..."

_'Remember?'_

"...right?"

Her head began pounding.

Her gaze rose from the shifting ground to brown eyes.

_Don't touch me_.

Ichigo leaned forward.

_Don't look at me._

He touched her arm.

-_Get away from me-_

She screamed in his face and twisted away only to have him grab her, shaking her slightly.

"What's wrong with--"

_Smile, __he__ always smiled. _

_'What's wrong, Kei--'_

She crumpled into his arms, gripping at his back with clawing hands.

"Keiko! Get a hold--" Kanzaki's voice faded in and out of her hearing, "--yourself!"

_Red. Always red. Her sight was awash in the vibrant hue of defeat._

_Red meant death. _

_'Why did you kill them?'_

_His smile widened, 'it was for you--'_

"Kei!"

_'Kei--'_

_'No...' she breathed._

_'__Everything __I've done has been for --'_

"Let me understand, Kei..."

Her face was buried in someone's chest.

Someone was holding her.

_No one had ever held her like that before_.

Slowly her hands relaxed and slid from around his back, his hold slackened but didn't entirely release her. She tilted her head back to encounter Ichigo's worried scowl. "Feeling better now?" he asked seriously. Detachedly, Kei observed her position on his lap, her legs around his waist. _It was pleasant_, she had to admit, sensing his care, attention focused solely on her.

Kanzaki was dancing around in anxiety, scolding her--she ignored him.

Kagami was there as well, having been forced to emerge from his inner-world. Kei could feel the others' stares on her, but pretended not to. She looked into his eyes again, drawing him in. _Focus on me_. "I'm sorry, I must've worried you so." she said softly, his gaze dropping to her lips as she spoke. The blush was returning. _Excellent_.

"O-of course," he stuttered slightly, feeling her legs tighten around him.

"You mean, _I did_?" Her quiet voice sending a shiver down his spine that had nothing to do with the cool temperature. _Nearly there. Almost have him right where I_--

"Kurosaki-kun," interrupted one of his friends. "Is Kei-san okay?"

His attention went then to the concerned expression of the orange-haired human girl.

Kei felt forgotten.

Outside, she responded to everyone's comments, by claiming it all a _fear of thunder_.

Inside she was boiling.

_Mine._ She watched the girl--Inoue--she thought might be the name, giggling whenever Ichigo spoke to her. _He __will__ be mine_...

~Hueco Mundo, Las Noches Palace~

"Ulquiorra..."

"Yes, Aizen-sama?" The stoic Arrancar waited.

"Instead of simply receiving their answer, I wish to meet with Ms. Yamamoto herself. Bring her here...oh and if possible, alone. No others."

Ulquiorra was silent then bowed slightly to the white back of the God-like man.

"It shall be done."

~To be continued~

AN: long. Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated. :)


	16. The workings of Fate

ShiKai CH.15:The workings of fate

'Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence'--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Would you mind telling us what that was all about?"

Kanzaki made as if to go in, Kagami looked at him, "not you."

"But!"

"What was _what_ about?" Kei queried innocently. Kazeatari rolled her eyes to the ceiling at the fire wielder's feigned guilelessness. "It's useless to pretend, Keiko, we know--"

"_Suspect_," Kagami interrupted.

"Suspect," she amended, "what you're trying to do. And I must say for my own part, why him? how come not the little Taichou--he's awfully cute."

"Cradle robber!" Kei cried, scandalized.

"I wouldn't be. He's older than me--" Kazeatari sniffed, "I'm a baby compared to** you**. Since that body you're inhabiting is what--two hundred years old?"

"Four." Her lip curled. "My soul is ancient and my appearance is that of an eighteen or nineteen year old."

"Really? I assumed more like fourteen, since that's the way you act most of the time."

"Well, then there isn't much of a difference between fourteen and--how old did they say he was?"

_'Fifteen.'_ Touda chimed in.

"Fifteen," Kei affirmed. Kazeatari's brows rose; Kagami wisely intercepted. "It doesn't matter if the difference is fifteen to a hundred. All that matters is how you --could you give us a little privacy!?" he demanded of Kanzaki. The man looked insulted, "what? Can't I give my two cents in this discussion?"

"No!"

"I see..." he glared at Kagami's obvious agitation. "I know when--"

"Come on!" Kagami hustled the girls in and slammed the door shut before Kanzaki had even a chance to finish.

~*~

"Now as I was saying..." Kagami began, turning from the sealed door, a spell of silence laid upon it, "how do you feel about him?"

Kei said nothing, her eyes shifting away from his intent gaze. "I--I don't know. How can I tell you when I don't even know myself?" she finally said hesitantly, a smile in her voice. Kazeatari exchanged looks with Kagami. _She was hiding something_.

"Look, Kei." The water wielder clasped his forehead, rubbing at the headache forming there, "if you_ like_ him then that's fine. It doesn't make a difference to me if he's human, Shinigami or Arrancar."

"Even if _there_ was an Arrancar, it truly wouldn't bother you?" she asked.

Kagami looked tiredly around the room, his wandering gaze alighting on the cracked marble fireplace. "Of course not. But the kid isn't an--wait--" suspiciously he took in her sweet smile. "--You--can't--but that's--"

"Heartless?" Kei finished softly, her hands interlocked behind her back. "Perhaps."

"It's all an--?"

"Not exactly." She looked away, her smile fading, "altruism is something I don't believe in. But even then...he doesn't deserve some _thing_ as twisted as me."

~*~

"Ichigo..."

"The moon is larger here, isn't it?" he stood with his hands in his pockets, on the balcony overlooking the eastern side of Assiah. The waxing moon was nearly full, suspended over the far sea, the ring of light around it tinted a faint blue. Rukia sighed, "Ichigo, can we talk?"

"Of course."

"About that girl--Yamamoto Keiko. Do you like her?"

He was quiet then finally he turned, half his face bathed in shadow, "and if I do, what's it to you?"

"N-nothing!" irritatingly she felt her cheeks heat up, "I-I'm just worried for you _as a friend_. I..." she folded one arm around her middle, leaving the other to hang at her side, "it seems that ever since you heard about this world and we've come here...you won't talk to me anymore. It's like we aren't even friends."

"I'm talking to you now, aren't I?"

"Well, yes...but I just don't want to see you get hurt." she finished quietly. He came toward her, passing near enough for her to feel the brush of his reiatsu against her own. "I can take care of myself, Rukia." She heard the note of finality in his tone and sighed softly, "you idiot. I know you can."

His steps were quiet through the open French door into the Common room. Her hand rose and rested on the spot on her shoulder where he had briefly touched her. "Don't let yourself fall for her, Ichigo. It can only end in sorrow."

~*~

"Now how did you know where I was?!" Kei sat up straighter, tucking her legs beneath her on the stone bench. Ichigo leaned in from the lattice work that framed a canopy above her head. Trumpet vines wound their way up along such a surface, shielding her from any prying eyes-or-interlopers like Captains hunting her down for skiving out on paperwork.

"It wasn't that hard."

She eyed him doubtfully until he pointed upward to the trailing mass of sprouting creepers above. A distinct chortle floated down. "Touda," she muttered, glowering.

"May I sit?"

"Oh--yeah, go ahead," distracted from the mental battle she was having with the bird, Kei shifted even more so that he could comfortably sit at an angle, facing her. "Voltaire?" he asked after a moment of quiet, glimpsing the book cracked open on her lap. "Candide," she said crisply, "ever read?"

"No. Never," he paused as if trying to think of something more to say, "is it good?"

Kei shrugged, "it's alright. I don't get why it had caused such a fire storm then."

She caught his look of confusion. Smiling slightly, she explained, "it was quite a controversial play when it was first in print in France. I remember ma' mere--" she stopped.

_'Age doesn't seem so great when unspoken, does it?'_

She had paled.

"What is it?"

"N-nothing, I--"

"Like hell _nothing_! Tell me!"

She heard the forcefulness in his tone and sighed, "are you always so demanding when questioning someone on something that they perhaps find distressing?"

He became sheepish, "sorry."

She peered at him through one eye, her other closed, "apology accepted."

"Does that mean you'll tell me then?" He sounded hopeful.

"Uh-uh." she observed him for a moment longer then spread her hands out, "why do you want to know?"

"Can't you just tell me without knowing my reasons?"

"I didn't know you had _reasons_." Kei teased, taking pleasure in the slow blush that spread over his face. She thought she knew what his next response would be, "I don't!" _Denial_. She smiled, _sweet denial_. "then if you don't then I see no--"

He looked so frantic that she relented somewhat. "It was something from my last human lifetime."

"Was it..." he was unsure of how to go on, "a long time ago?"

"Yes. It was." Her expression became closed off.

"I see...but I always thought Shinigami didn't retain memories of their former lives." He scratched at the side his head then ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up more than usual.

"They don't." Kei said shortly.

~Slanted side of Tsukikage Castle, overlooking sunken gardens~

"Is this really necessary?"

"Shh!" Kagami hissed, lowering the binoculars to the ground far below.

Kazeatari huffed, fanning herself briskly with her fan. "This is called _spying_, you know?" she continued in a mutter. The water wielder, paused in adjusting the field range of the goggles, scowling at his partner-in-crime, "well, I call it--observation. I merely wanted to see how Keiko interacts with the kid. That's it, now could you please _keep it_ _down_?"

"Learn anything?" Kazeatari questioned, ignoring his previous sentence.

Kagami sighed, "not a lot. So far she hasn't made any serious moves on him--not that there hasn't been innuendo--I don't know. It's hard since I can't hear their conversation. I wonder...maybe if I tried Bakudo..."

"They seem to be getting along well." the wind wielder mused, observing with the gift of keen sight, Kei's smile. Kagami grew silent, "do you think so?" He shifted down onto his elbows again, peering through the lenses, "you know...it's strange."

"Hmm?"

"Kurosaki...he reminds me of..."

~*~

"Since I've answered your query, may I ask one of my own?"

"Um... go ahead."

"Do you believe in fate?"

He scowled faintly, "what kind of question is that?"

"Just answer to the best of your ability, please. I only wish to know your thoughts on it." Kei said gently, crossing one knee over the other, leaning back against the trellis wall. "Well I..." he thought of the many times he'd wielded his sword. _To save the innocents_. _Those meant to die...Rukia_.

"There is no such thing as a fate that can't be altered." He answered firmly.

Her brow rose slightly, "_altered_? So, you think that anybody-anywhere can change the course set out before them?"

"I do."

"Hmm...then what do you think of this theory? 'Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence'."

He looked thoughtful before questioning, "you mean fate is more like payback for something done in the past?"

"Think of it as karmic retribution. If one person does something in a former life then it may carry on to the present as their fate whether for good or ill." Kei said, clasping her hands on her knees.

"But that--that still doesn't make sense!" he struggled.

Her smile widened, "how so?"

"Because that person--what if they didn't know what they had done and still were suffering for it?"

"Doesn't matter," she shrugged, "what's done is done."

_An eye for an eye_.

He left soon after, greatly disconcerted.

Kei watched him go, her smile fading.

_It couldn't be changed_, she knew.

No matter how one desired or prayed for forgiveness, their eventual doom couldn't be avoided.

_It was foolish to wish it weren't so_.

~Two days later~

_Today_.

She dressed carefully, winding the wide black obi over her middle, the sleeves and bodice of the crimson kimono pressed to perfection, her hair she left unbound, only parting it in the middle to let the two halves sweep her face and brush her shoulders. The Getsu-ten she wore on her back, strapped cross-back wise.

She stared into the mirror.

_'Preening? Hoping he'll see what others see?'_ teased a voice.

_Not a word out of you_. Absently before leaving, she clasped a pendant of an inversed butterfly around her neck--a gift from Kazeatari. _Our little inverse butterfly_, the wind wielder used to say, smirking. Kei touched it now, listening for any sound in the castle. Nothing. It seemed as if Kagami had been successful in convincing the commune of Tsukikage that a trip to Arcadia to experience all the wonders that the second-largest city in the western continent had to offer was a must. Or something to that extent.

With her staying behind, pleading a nonexistent headache.

_Have to thank him later_, she thought, walking down the main staircase, her hand sliding along the banister rail. She had nearly reached the bottom step when the creak from a higher stair before the center landing made her pause.

"Is your head better?"

She froze. _How could he--damn-damn-damn_. Playing at nonchalance, Kei turned toward Ichigo, "I thought you'd gone with the rest." He stood several steps above her, wearing borrowed robes of gray. He was scowling--she suspected it was a normal facial expression for him, however there was a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he looked her over from top to bottom then back to her face.

"Going somewhere?"

~To be continued~

Omake: towels

"There is..." a tick appeared on the side of the water wielder's mouth, "only one towel."

"So there is." Kei said, one hand over her breast, clutching modestly at the pink bath towel wrapped around her torso. Kagami sighed, shifting slightly from foot-to-foot behind the lower shower stall wall that came to his waist.

"Keiko, you have one already."

Her eyes slid to the object in dispute, gauging the distance between herself and he.

_She was closer_.

"Yes." she agreed then favored him with a cold look, "I always use two.

A moment later a shriek came from the showers.

"What are they doing in there?" Kanzaki asked tiredly.

"No idea," Kazeatari said, toweling her hair dry with the second-to-the-last towel.

~Omake: Towels Take 2~

"Hey, wait!"

Her hand paused in reaching for the last blue towel hanging from the rack.

Ichigo glared at her, red-faced, "you already have one!"

"Yes." she agreed, glancing once to her breast and pink toga-tied towel, her hair hung to her shoulders, dripping streamlets down her back. "Your point being-?"

"I don't!" he cried.

Her eyes slid from the object in dispute to herself and he.

_Closer_.

"Am I supposed to care?" Kei asked, her hand on the towel.

Infuriated, he lunged for it, forgetting momentarily a lack of coverage and the incredibly slippery tile floor.

SPLAT.

Kei looked him over, casually running the pilfered towel through her wet hair, "who'd have guessed it? Your natural hair-color **really** is orange."

~*~

AN: Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Please review. :)


	17. Divergence

ShiKai CH.16

"Yes, in fact I felt well enough to join the others." She lied, finding it hard to withhold the frustration from her voice. _So close_. He came toward her. _I'm not going to be able to get rid of him_.

_'Indeed no.' _

_I thought I told you to be quiet? _To her intense aggravation, he stopped at the same step as her, clearly waiting for her to continue. _I wonder if I could_...speculatively, Kei eyed the slice of skin just below the fringe of his hair and framed by the gray and black collar of the under. _Lay a chop...? I'm fast. He wouldn't see it coming_--

_'Then what are you going to do when he comes to or is found by the others? How does 'Kei knocked me out and disappeared' sound, hmm? Use that wily mind of yours, wielder. Devise a way to divert attention __away__ from yourself.'_

_I suppose you're right, _she conceded_, _going down the remaining steps. Ichigo followed closely, blissfully-or not so aware of the fire wielder's growing curse as she began to consider him _the bane of her existence_.

_'At least you have until the end of the day to figure out a way to escape,'_ consoled Touda, in a rare moment of compassion.

~City of Arcadia, fifth avenue~

_Sorry, Kei_. Kagami thought remorsefully, looking once to the direction in which the Graylands and Tsukikage lay. _I tried_. _But_--

"It's not your fault," Kazeatari laid her hand on his arm. He looked at her questioningly, then her dark eyes slid meaningfully to the group of Shinigami. Only Kanzaki and Ishida seemed to be getting along well. The small Kuchiki and the redhead Abarai were arguing over something trivial and the little Taichou and his Fukutaichou were disagreeing about the tiny specialty liquor store a block or two down.

Matsumoto, noticing Kagami's gaze, decided to plead her case to him, "Nanatsu-san, Hitsugaya-Taichou is adamant that we don't need liquor for tonight! Please, tell him he's wrong!"

_Me_?! Kazeatari ushered him forward, with the point end of her fan. _And why tonight_? His eyes were then drawn to the paper flyer clutched in the blond Fukutaichou's hand. Night of a million stars viewing. _Ah so that's what_...

Two spirit pressures entered the outskirts of the city. Kei and Ichigo landed seconds later one disgruntled, the other winded from her fast pace. "Hey, you came!?" the two elementals exchanged looks. She looked away first, her lashes fluttering over her eyes, "yeah. I feel better being up and around."

_She got caught_. Kazeatari and Kagami thought.

Kanzaki oblivious like usual, exclaimed cheerfully, "that's great, Keiko! The Star viewing is tonight, didn't you say you wanted to go since last time we missed it?"

Kei favored him with a slight, crooked smile. "Of course, how could I have forgotten?" she asked no one in particular.

_She's pissed_.

"Whoa! Is it me or did it suddenly get hotter out here?!" Matsumoto cried, plucking at the front of her gray kimono. "My girls are sweating!" Hitsugaya rolled his eyes at her outburst while the other male members of the group politely looked elsewhere. "Perhaps we should get some refreshments for everyone," Kei suggested, an icy smile on her lips, "Kagami, will you assist me?"

The water wielder froze, "s-sure." All the while crying internally; _why me again?!_

~*~

"Two iced pink lemonades, one _Strawberry_ soda--"

"Why strawberry?"

Kei paused, the man at the corner refreshment stand bustled off to fulfill one part of the order. She stared at him meaningfully, waggling her brows until the first of the drinks arrived on the stainless steel counter slightly greasy from the previous crowd of lunchers. Kagami eyed the pink, fizzing soda with dubious speculation.

"You don't get it." she said after a long pause.

He shook his head, "no, I don't."

"Strawberry..." she dropped her tone, as the others drew near. Clearly it had been Kanzaki's idea to move toward the shade of the trees, the temperature having risen several degrees in just a couple of minutes. Kagami was still blank.

Kei sighed, folding her hand around the sweating foam cup of the first lemonade, "oh and can you please add nine others to that? One watermelon spritzer, one Pina Colada, one Jamaica, one Sangria, one Ramune Soda, one cherry limeade and two iced green teas with mint and um better make that extra-large for the first three of them and oh yeah, for the last, a bottle of Spring water, please?"

The man nodded and withdrew from an ice chest a dripping bottle of AQUAPURA, which he set down beside the growing group of drinks. Kei beamed as she held it out to Kagami. He took it with a hasty thanks, hearing Ishida comment to Kanzaki, "water?"

_When did they become such best buds? _

"That's all he ever drinks. Something to do with fluid intake and being able to control the element better with it. I don't know...although I think he did say that once, Seiryu threatened him--"

"He is right here," muttered the water wielder, irked, turning slightly to the interlopers, "and it's _Soryu_-not-Seiryu. Get it right." Kanzaki held his hands up in a gesture of total surrender, "sheesh. Why get mad at me? I'm not the one making it sweltering ."

The temperature rose another six degrees.

However, the fire wielder's smile was just as radiant as before, while she handed out drinks, the transaction completed in the exchange of twelve bronze Ducats.

"You owe me," she muttered to Kazeatari.

The wind wielder tossed her head sassily. "If it wasn't so hot right now, we wouldn't have needed these drinks, _Kei_ko."

"What are you implying, Namaiki? That I had something to do with the prodigious heat of the day suddenly becoming oh-too much to handle..." Kei trailed off, her eyes baitingly resting on the curling ends of the other's dark hair, "for your unnaturally curly hair?"

"Oh Gods, not again." Kagami sighed, wisely taking up the duty of passing out the rest of the group's drinks while the two women eyed each other with thinly disguised dislike.

"Maybe." Kazeatari licked her lips, two fingers slowly sliding along the body of the sealed Oriental fan. Kei watched with growing anticipation, her own drink long downed in quiet sips between the cart and street. Silently she summoned Maouen, her hand folding around the tang seconds before a powerful curving gust of wind thundered forth from the slice of fan revealed by Kazeatari's slow drop-dance.

"Kamikaze!"

"Guren-Kaina!" Simultaneously Kei's attack darted forward in a blur of red light.

"Move!" Kagami yanked Hitsugaya back, the whip of flame lashing the ground where he had stood only seconds before. Steam arose from the scorched asphalt. "Are they insane?!" he cried; Kagami threw up Sazanami's barrier, another wave of fire breaking out over the surface of the bubble. "No," the water wielder's jaw clenched. Kei and Kazeatari had vanished from sight, in a speed unrivaled by Shunpo or Sonido.

Yes. It belonged to them, their own forms of movement.

_For Wind: Shindou. The movement of pure vibration_.

_And for Fire: Shin-Soku. The swiftness of a God_.

_Kei..._Kagami sensed them moving farther and farther away, alternately exchanging blows for show. _That way_...blue eyes flickered to the faces of the Shinigami and humans. None seemed much interested--Kanzaki was doing an admiral job of keeping the Quincy boy occupied--_Ishida Uryu might have been the only one_--

"Is it really alright to let them go off like that?"

_Perhaps_...Kagami met the slightly concerned stare of brown eyes.

"Eh, don't worry about them. Those two are always doing stuff like this..." he managed to chuckle softly, convincingly he hoped; "it seems peace and quiet is another moniker for assured boredom to Kaze and Kei."

Ichigo only looked halfway reassured; Kagami could tell he was tracking the rise and distance of their spirit pressures like a hawk. For his part, the water wielder could only sigh once again.

_This one is more perceptive then I thought_.

_Hurry up...Kei_.

~Edge of the West, near Fire Thorn~

"...Thanks." Kei tossed Maouen into the air, the gleaming tang melded into the midnight black body of the bird who swooped above them, flying in circles.

"I must admit..." Kazeatari closed her fan, tilting the edge beneath her chin thoughtfully, "I had my reservations on whether or not this ruse of yours would actually work."

"Meaning?"

"Distrust might be born, however I do not think that will be the case."

" Kanzaki, though he knows it or not, is a very valuable pawn in this game of mine. More so than anyone else. He and Kagami will do best in allaying apprehension that maybe felt; while you yourself are excellent for diversionary tactics. _Kei and Kaze always fight like this_. How does that sound? Perfect, I'm sure, since Kagami will most likely say something similar. And you are going to back up that claim by staying here--" Kei paused, "ooh let's say another twenty minutes. Touda will as well. In fact...Kaho-Enbu."

A firestorm flowed from the Demon bird's mouth into the valley below them. Kazeatari watched then assented slightly, "Reppu-Geki." Two slicing gusts cut into the rock wall, sending a cascade of broken stone crashing down.

Kei smiled, "this way, it'll feel like a true battle if anyone happens to read us at this distance."

"You think of everything, don't you?" the wind wielder murmured, her expression a mingling relief of amusement and pride at the other's foresight.

Kei said nothing, a slight curve of her lips as acknowledgement. Before she left, she dipped her hand into the hidden pocket of the short Hakama, withdrawing a tiny bright-colored object. Glancing at it once, she quickly palmed it and flung it to Kazeatari. "You know what to do with it," Kei said dismissively. Kazeatari studied the purple origami star, knowing the fire wielder's deepest wish to written inside. _Cast it in the sacred fire at the end of the festival thereby releasing your wish to the heavens above_.

"You knew it was tonight?" Kazeatari slipped it inside her kimono.

Kei looked away toward the Graylands and Tsukikage, her eyes closed briefly, "it can't harm to hope, can it?"

"N --"

She had vanished in a burst of speed.

"No." Kazeatari sighed, "it doesn't."

~Before the Gates of the Phantom City~

A rip appeared in the dimensional wall of the world.

White stepped forward, the portal widened.

"You're early."

Green eyes went to the one who had spoken, seeing the crimson-clad Soulreaper from before.

"You were waiting-?" he asked quietly.

Kei straightened, smiling slightly, "of course. Something wrong?"

His eyes flickered over her then stepped back to the Garganta, "if you have no objection, my Lord wishes to meet you. Come."

_It was no request_.

Her smile widened, "that's fine."

She was gone. He blinked.

A hand laid on his arm, applying slight pressure, "shall we go? We mustn't keep Aizen-sama waiting. "

~To be continued~

~Extra scene: The meaning of the berry~

"What is this--" Ichigo made a face after tasting the drink Kagami had handed him, "--Strawberry?!"

"Uh-huh." The water wielder capped his bottle, feeling sluggish in the growing heat. _Damn her_..."Kei ordered everything without asking. Sorry about that."

Hitsugaya eyed the spritzer; _how did she know I liked watermelon?!_

Rangiku was happily downing her drink, remarking every once in a while that it tasted highly reminiscent of a certain type of wine. This one of course, being non-alcoholic.

Renji wondered about the similarities between himself and being called a pineapple head then decided to finish off his Pina-Colada before all the ice melted.

Etc...

"B-b-but w-why Strawberry?!!"

"Dunno." Kagami squinted in the glare of the sun, "maybe you can ask her later--" just then the Kanji for_ Ichigo _floated through his mind.

First protector--morphed into...

_Strawberry._

He immediately started choking on nothing.

~*~

AN: Thanks for reading.

Note: Ducat, the monetary system of Assiah.

One bronze Ducat is equivalent to two dollars in earth currency. Kei paid quite a bit for those drinks...

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Please review. :)


	18. Gods and Monsters

ShiKai CH.17: Gods and Monsters

_"The Elementals, are Gods in their own right_."

The gathered Espadas surveyed the 'deity' entering their midst with mingled wonder and some doubt.

_"Not of Heaven, but of the material realm."_

"It's just a girl! Nothin' special 'bout that!" hissed Nnoitora to his blond Fraccion, Tesla. Ulquiorra, passing beside Kei, silenced him with a look.

_"Their power will greatly benefit our cause."_

They reached the doors at the end of the hall.

_"You will respect them as you do me."_

Permission was granted for them to enter his presence.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"I've drawn up the charts you asked for, Lieutenant Shimizu."

Takara looked up over the disassembled insides of an old laptop, "oh, thanks, Kyou-kun."

The dark-haired boy flushed while she glanced over them, her light eyes scanning the fluctuations and readouts, searching for one date in particular. There. Withdrawing one from the middle of the bundle, Takara saw the spike in energy that _they_ had been talking about_. _

_"Did you...feel that?"_

_Lilac eyes widened, "can't be." _

_Kagami focused in on it, saying quietly a moment later;"it's not here...it's in Soul Society."_

_Kei stared at him. "He's been...reborn."_

Ever since then, Takara set aside the graph, typing into her wrist computer a search for the second to the last entry of high-spirit pressures recorded in the Living world; they had been so different. _Preoccupied. As if anticipating something_. She didn't like it. Haretosora counseled her to keep out of it yet somehow, someway, deep inside she felt permanence slipping away. Stability had been a rare thing in her life before, once another had shown it to her and now them.

That's why...she bit her lip frowning. There was no way to compare the two without a certain high level of error likely. "Kyou, you can discern spirit pressures from great distances, can't you?"

The fifth seat brightened, "spirit detection is one of my specialties. Hana says I was second best in Seireitei and now I'm _the best _here."

Takara only smiled; the female side of the twins was known for her prideful ways and impertinent manner toward superiors such as Fifth's Lieutenant Sakurai and First Division's Hisrio Shihoin. To the Captains (at least from Fourth and her own) she retained a semblance of respect. Takara shook her head, sighing, "I'm sure she's right. So, looking at this--" she laid the graph he had brought her on the table and then angled flat the tiny LCD screen near it, "could you tell me if this was possibly made by the same person?"

His brow furrowed, a dimple played in and out near his mouth. He leaned closer and their shoulders brushed but he paid it no heed, "the same person? I don't know, I would say..." he tilted up the graph, the light shown through the lucent paper, jagged peaks rose in the center outlined in black printer ink. "It's a possibility. See?" he traced the three step-like points rising to the top most then descending in the same pattern. "That's similar to this other. Though the rise is more erratic, less controlled if it is."

Takara nodded absently, "almost as if the person were gaining strength they didn't know how to handle."

"Maybe..." he looked doubtful. "I'm not one hundred percent sure the two readings stem from the same source."

She made a noise of frustration, "but you just said yourself that they resemble one another in spikes!"

"That doesn't mean anything." Kyou countered gently, "you see, most Soul reapers-Shinigami etc, put out the same amount of spirit pressure. Whether in shikai release or Bankai. It fluctuates the same, rises the same and the like. I can tell you the measure of Hitsugaya-Taichou's shikai and the non-seated Kuchiki-san's snow Zanpaku-to Sode no Shirayuki. She would be--by the way, a near match to yourself if you fought in the first release only."

_'Yeah right. That witch don't have anything on me,'_ snorted Haretosora, pushing her overlarge glasses further up her thin nose. Takara laughed a little uneasily, "is that so? What about Zoe-san?"

"Lieutenant Elbe? Well, she's different." Kyou said thoughtfully, "They wouldn't be so evenly matched. Far from it."

"Ichigo Kurosaki...?"

"He's strong." Kyou sobered.

Takara felt a slight tremor inside, "strong?" she echoed, "how much more so?"

"I've only discerned the shikai state of Zangetsu, so I don't have much to go on. However I would estimate it at least within the range of Captain Nanatsu's Sazanami. Both are perpetually in their shikai states when withdrawn from the scabbard. Keiko-san has fought him two or three times--Kimiko told me the other day they had sparred-?"

"That's right!" she had forgotten Kazeatari had said something to that effect when asked where the fire wielder was. _But she had beaten him that day too_. Her forehead creased, "Kyou, how can he be so formidable at only _fifteen_?" _And he's still human_! she thought worriedly.

"I don't know. Honestly, I really don't." he shrugged, then his expression lightened up, "hey, maybe he's like Kagami and Keiko and Captain Namaiki...an elemental! _They_ mature to their powers early on--"

"Don't be silly!" Takara scoffed, righting the screen of her computer, "everyone knows there's only _three_ elements."

"But, Lieutenant--" Kyou trailed off; it was clear she was ignoring him. He sighed tiredly, "you really want to know if they're from the same person?"

She tapped the graph sheet, not answering, but he could tell she was listening.

"If I was able to get another impression of their power flow, I could possibly give you a more accurate reading."

She looked up finally, "how?"

"Like Bankai."

~Assiah, City of Arcadia Time- 2:34 PM~

The sound of the sea was emitted from his pocket. Kagami, a little chagrined, excused himself from the middle of the line to answer it.

"Hello? ...Takara?!" He was aware of narrowed eyes watching from the crowd he had just left. Frowning he turned his back fully to everyone, "yes, I'm still here...you want me to _what_?! Taka--I--no. But I'm--no you don't understand--we're in the--yes, I'll tell Kaze when I see her, Kyou. But Takara-! How can I--" he sighed heavily, pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead, "...I don't know how I'll manage it. You know I'm no good at things like this--yes, yes, I know. It's alright." He watched the heat waves ripple in the air, "has K--"

"Who're you talking to?"

He almost dropped the cell. _What is his problem?! I'm beginning to think Kazeatari was right...the little Taichou is much less bothersome._

"Just a minute," Kagami said to Takara, he then turned a brow knitted in consternation to the orange-haired Shinigami sub. "Old Chap, I say, did you just step out of that there line and lose our place for the 'dilly?" He glimpsed bewilderment, and would've face-palmed had the action not resulted in making the Shinigami even more suspicious.

"That accent--" Ichigo began.

"Think nothing of it," Kagami quickly intercepted, a long and lengthy discourse on the subject of his previous human life in England was something to be avoided at all costs.

"You never answered me."

_Neither did you_. Kagami had to stop himself from fantasizing summoning Soryu to devour the Shinigami sub whole on the spot. _Though I guess the answer is pretty obvious_. Mournfully, he watched from the corner of his eye the line of Arcadians moving to fill the gap left by their absence. "My Lieutenant called," he cleared his throat unnecessarily, "there was uh-something she needed to ask my approval for."

"The one crazy about plants?"

_Nosy...and I'd like to see you escape from Nadeshiko unscathed_.

~Tsukikage Castle, Back room inside Second Division~

"Oh!" the object of speculation suddenly raised a garden-gloved hand to her ear and scratched, showering her half apron and gray kimono with a fair amount of soil and plant matter; "someone's talking bad about me!"

~ Assiah, City of Arcadia Time- 2:40 PM~

"Yes, that's Kimiko alright." His thumb slid over the mute button hearing the squawk of indignation coming from the end of the line.

_'You should've just embellished the truth, Kagami-sama.'_ whispered a soft watery voice from his consciousness. So unlike the harsh, commanding growl of the great blue Dragon, the lower vassal, the water serpent Sazanami served as the spirit form for Kagami's Zanpaku-to. He much preferred her gentle rebuffs to the Dragon's snarl of impatience.

_With __this__ kid, Nami_? He observed the scowl he had come to know as being the expression worn by the boy for all and any situations.

_'He is on not so familiar terms to have questioned Taka-chan on dealings between other Divisions_.'

_I guess you're right_. Kagami admitted sheepishly, shooting another look to the growing procession of people to the Shrine entrance. "We should get going. I think I might have some kind of paper in my pocket..." he released the sound button, hastily cramming the cell back into his kimono. _Sorry, Takara_...

"Did she say whether or not she had seen Kei?" Ichigo asked as they wound their up to the path beyond the gates of the Shrine. A ring of massive silver Willows with trailing tendrils of silvery greenery brushed the groups of humans already resting beneath their boughs. They ringed a large center where the sky could be seen dimming into a faded golden orange. The sun set early in Assiah, making the nights longer. Kagami could tell it was going to be a particularly splendid night for star viewing.

"No, she hadn't. Most likely Kazeatari and--" _oh damn_.

"What took you so long?!" Kanzaki waved them over and nearby, busy dividing up the spoils from one of two picnic baskets taciturnly, was the wind wielder, with nary a sign of_ fire_.

Kagami got a sinking feeling in the region of his gut when she spotted them, her expression brightening. _No. Don't say_--

"Where's--"As if on cue, Ichigo had finished scanning the occupants beneath the chosen tree, seeing at least one person_ still_ missing.

"She's with Kimiko." Kazeatari said perfunctorily, not noticing Kagami's look of naked panic; "she broke up our fight saying she needed assistance transplanting some desert Lilies closer to a stream. Keiko stayed behind to help her while I came back."

_Why...Why couldn't she have said Takara_?!!!!! The water wielder cried inwardly.

~Las Noches~

"That's all--?" Aizen couldn't disguise the note of disbelief in his voice.

She leaned back, "is there a problem?"

_So much, for so little_.

The ex Taichou smiled faintly, "no. Not at all. But, please if you will, indulge me on this. Why...?"

She looked past him to the white walls and even farther beyond the Palace structure, to the place in her long memory...the place that they had belonged to. Where they had been born. Her eyes darkened with the weight of things that had never been forgotten.

_His smile._

_Words_.

"You wish to know my reasoning...? I'm afraid I must leave your curiosity unsatisfied for now." She locked gazes with him, a certain coldness held within them that made him decide not to press the matter further.

Kei stood, "then if there is nothing further, will you excuse me? The first phase of my plan has already been set in motion. I must be there to guide it into the second stage. Good day, Aizen-sama." She dipped her head in mockery of a bow. "We will speak again, I believe, before not too long."

~Omake from CH.16 Divergence_~ The Alternate_...

_'Use that wily mind of yours, wielder. Devise a way to divert attention _--!' Touda broke off.

She had thrown her arms around the startled Shinigami sub and pulled him into a heated lip-lock.

A moment later...

KA-POW.

_'Well. That's one way of doing it.'_ The bird commented dryly as Kei dusted her hands off above Ichigo's knocked-out form.

"I'll just say he was being a horny teenager and made a come-on, so I sucker-punched him."

_'Will his friends believe that?_' one feathery brow was drawn up in an unmistakable gesture of doubt.

"Rangiku-san will and the others too, once I remind them that he was _hard_ the first time we fought." She said seriously, going down the rest of the steps in peace.

_'You have a very dirty-mind, wielder. Have you realized that?' _

"Mm hmm."

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading :)

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated. :)


	19. Raindrops

ShiKai CH.18: Raindrops

"...write your wish on the inside. Then fold it like so..."

Kazeatari's voice rolled over to him; she was instructing Matsumoto, Kuchiki-san and Inoue on origami star making. Kagami studied the light blue star made from one of the tissues in his pocket. Ichigo had one similar, seeing as the tissue had been divided between them.

"What is your wish?" Inoue whispered to Kuchiki.

Kazeatari's softened voice, chided gently, "you mustn't say it aloud. Only after it has been consumed by the fire can you tell it to each other."

Murmurs of appreciation reached them.

The first of the stars had fallen.

Kagami tilted his head just so, glimpsing through the division of the Willow, a sliver of sky. Scattered lights streaking across it. "It's starting," he said quietly, glancing once to the girls. The rest of the group were spread out on the other side with Kanzaki narrating in low eager tones the legend behind the event.

He caught the glower contained within brown eyes and quickly looked away.

Clearly Ichigo hadn't forgotten earlier...

Dead silence reigned--well not quite since Kanzaki and Ishida were still conversing; ignoring it seemed the Shinigami/Soul reaper side of things. Quincys had a way of doing that, he observed, wishing desperately for any kind of ridiculous inquiry from the Division one Captain as to his and the sub's whereabouts previously.

Unfortunately there seemed to be no relief forthcoming from that quarter.

"I thought you said--"

Kazeatari wisely kept her mouth shut, sensing clear-and-present danger lurking in the guise of lied-to Strawberries. _Damn you, Kaze! Say something-!_

Then the most heavenly sound interrupted.

"Kurosaki-kun! Have you made your wishing star, yet?"

~*~

Kei watched the clouds concealing the starry night.

It was over.

A steady stream of Arcadians filed past a large bronze urn, fire crackling within, devouring the wishes made by them.

From faraway she recognized the sunshine head of Inoue, who was first in the group from Tsukikage. Kei turned toward the urn, eyes narrowing. The flames leapt and flickered a violet-blue, someone passing gasped in surprise at the aberrant fire then it simply flashed into yellow. The man shrugged slightly and tossed his star in. Touda consumed it with a fiery gulp.

_'Disgusting.'_

_What?_ She smiled.

_'The kinds of things human beings desire.'_

More people went through.

Finally it was Inoue's turn.

With a happy smile she dropped it in, a wingtip of flame swiped it before it hit bottom.

_Please bright star let me have..._

The edges of the pink paper curled and blackened.

..._Kurosaki-kun's heart_.

Kei's eyes closed.

The flames engulfed it as it had the others.

~Tsukikage Castle, the next day~

"...damn you, you overgrown Lizard!" Kagami shook his fist at the sky, a growl disguised as a roar of thunder rumbled in response. Scowling, he retreated inside, venting some of his irritation on the French door, slamming it shut violently just before a powerful gust of wind lashed the place where he had just been standing. A spatter of raindrops pelted the glass door with a vengeance a moment later.

"Oh, no! It's raining!"

Kagami turned at the mournful wail to see the pair of Quincys, bows in hand, behind him. They were dressed alike in the blinding white ensemble of slacks and blue-trimmed jackets. "It just started a few minutes ago," he said slowly; Kanzaki rounded on him, "well, make it stop!"

"Don't you think I tried?" his lip thinned with a sneer. His humor not great at the situation before him. The door banged open suddenly, a whirl of gray and dripping dark amethyst hair rushed in. "My plants!" Kimiko cried; a couple of _the guests_ filtered in after her. Inoue, wringing her hands and trying to comfort his agitated Lieutenant and Kurosaki, looking over the room with a scowl.

"She isn't here." Kagami pointed out, "I haven't seen either of them since this morning."

"Damned straight." Kanzaki said, barging into their conversation, "I had a brief talk with Namaiki and Keiko about leaving all the work to their Lieutenants while they run around everywhere else."

"That probably wasn't such a good idea." He rubbed at his temples where a headache was starting. _Why were all these people trickling into his room_?! The icy turquoise eyes of the little Hitsugaya-Taichou peered in and he soon entered along with his bubbly Fukutaichou Matsumoto.

"Is this _not_ the Eastern wing...?" the water wielder began in a strained voice.

"Is the Division Four office within the castle?" Ichigo asked of the sobbing Kimiko.

"I said, is this _not_ my part of the castle?" Kagami demanded to Kanzaki.

But even the Division one Captain's attention was soon taken by the appearance of a wavy-haired man, calling to him from the open doorway. Kagami recognized the Squad member as Akashi Osore, a third seat interested in the vacant Third Division's Captain position. _Toya as well_. He thought, scrutinizing the newcomer's aura. He was soon satisfied that in terms of power, Osore was within reach of the level required.

Fear_. _

_Unusual ability. _In fact...his eyes drifted to the tiny black winged creature hovering behind Osore's left shoulder. _That must be...his Zanpaku-to's spirit_. Kagami circumspectly observed the indistinct forms following the others around. _An ice Dragon, no surprise there_, Kagami thought, catching a glimpse of a frozen field and the gleaming scales of a thousand icy diamonds glowing blue within Hitsugaya's mindscape.

Sode no Shirayuki, a pale woman in an elegant white Furisode flickering quietly beside the young Kuchiki.

A baboon and snake intertwined about Abarai's arms and neck.

Matsumoto's ...a majestic feline with somber gray eyes, one that even Byakko would have welcomed as part of his brethren.

And...Kurosaki. Sea blue eyes widened. _Two_? How could there--

_'One is a Hollow.' _

_Are you sure? _he questioned, the colorless double of the Shinigami sub, noticed Kagami looking and leered. The other, an older man with unkempt dark hair, shook his head slightly in reprimand.

_So, that's Zangetsu_. _Slicing moon_. _Strange, I'd imagined something wholly different_.

_'Yes...'_ ripples streamed from Sazanami's mouth, _'be careful, do not judge this one by his youth. He is a far more dangerous opponent then you have assumed. Resolve is his greatest strength. '_

_Tenacious then. That's the worst kind._ Kagami frowned slightly, stopping Osore before he left.

_Thanks, Nami_..._I'll bear that in mind. _

Kimiko soon insisted upon dragging him out into the gale, convinced by Inoue, that maybe not all was lost and some of the plants...were still salvageable.

He had began to see just why Kei wanted to set Maouen on the beaming girl.

_Two _against_ one. If. She fails_.

~*~

The rain drummed steadily against the wooden slats of the Division four offices. Set farther back from the rest in a forest corner glade of trees, it was covered on three sides, only one remained clear for a small winding path that wound upward to join the Fifth Division near the gates of the City itself. Inside, the rustic cottage sat Kei, tilted in the desk chair, staring up the ceiling.

The hum of the fax in the next room meant that Zoe was hard at work, receiving paperwork from the Third Division all approvals sent down to the next eligible signature in residency at least until from between the two candidates, one was chosen as the next Captain.

Kei listened to the droplets falling.

That Arrancar...

"Docteur Grantz...?

Amber eyes behind square frames widened, "êtes-vous allé … ?"

_Candlelight. _

_Hushed voices falling silent. _

_Raindrops suffused the world in a soft, silvery radiance._

_Slim girl-fingers fall upon ivory keys. _

_Countenances filled with wonder meet her gaze. His hair is longer then, tied back in a black silk ribbon, he smiles, tipping his wine glass toward her, the one beside him does the same_--it is...

Her lids fall close.

So long ago. Yet that drawing room was as ever clear in her mind as the bleak cell within the Senzaikyu.

She inhaled sharply, the hand resting on the armrest convulsed, then balled into a fist.

So much lost.

She cried.

"PRESS ENTER TO EXIT THIS INSTALLATION."

Kei glanced startled, to the open repaired laptop on the desk, a flash drive plugged into the USB port on the side. The screen was a blank blue, the command frozen in the center in stark black letters.

She pressed ESC. _They would_.

"INSTALLING DIES IRAE PROGRAM."

It was complete.

Phase two began now.

~*~

A soft knock on the panel of the door broke into her reverie.

"Yes?" she called, the chair creaking slightly on the worn floorboards with the shifting of her weight as she straightened. She folded the laptop closed, hiding the screen from view. The door swung quietly inward, a man stood awkwardly in the threshold.

"Osore?" Fourth rarely had dealings with First; Hisrio ran a tight ship while Kanzaki only stepped in if higher approval was needed. _The Noble falls when the subordinate rises_. It was an age old scenario oft repeated in Assiah. One that the Lieutenant of first, had difficulty accepting._ Still does_, she thought, raising a slight questioning brow at the Third seat's unease. "I won't bite." she encouraged, motioning for him to advance closer, "please, come in. It is much too awful of a day to be hanging with one foot in and the other out."

The hint of a smile quirked at the corners of his mouth and he did as instructed. Leaving the relative shelter of the doorway to stand before the desk, hands folded politely behind his back. Kei admired the long stretch of muscle corded skin left bare by the gray sleeves that stopped above his elbow in an uneven cut. "Tell me," she uncrossed her legs, leaning forward onto the desk, propping her hand beneath her chin, "how is Hisrio doing? ...And the rest?! Ren almost never comes by anymore." She finished almost accusingly.

"Lieutenant Shihoin is...in _healthful condition_, I believe is the word." Again the semblance of a smile flitted across his face. "He only seems to carry on more when Captain Kanzaki comes by."

Kei laughed quietly, "yes. And Kanzaki is always more frazzled after leaving that office, I've noticed."

They shared a moment of amusement at the expense of the two disparate-yet-worthy men.

"So," her expression became serious, clasping her hands atop the laptop casually, "what can I do for you?"

"Well, you see..." his dark brown brows furrowed above grayish blue eyes, "it's difficult to explain. It's not for Lieutenant Shihoin that I'm here. I was just up in Tsukikage's East room, giving in minute details a report from the Lieutenant to the Captain. Kagami-san and Captain Namaiki were there as well as the Shinigami guests. I think Kagami-san might have a problem with one of them though. He sent me to tell you..."

~*~

Kazeatari peeked through the slats of the heavy cream-colored paper stretched taut on the slender almond wood framework of the fan. Kanzaki was talking. His words spoken with the barely suppressed excitement caught her interest. He was saying...

"--why yes! She can play the piano wonderfully!"

"What are you talking about?" the one he had been praising so heartily, sauntered in behind the rest. Kei was dressed in long Hakama and a form-fitting kimono with trailing sleeves, slits to the fabric above each arm revealed a slice of skin. She had left behind the black surcoat as it was still soaked from the walk back to the castle.

"How come you don't play like you used to--you know," he had completely disregarded her former question and turned bright eyes to the Quincy, "the very first time she saw a Grandstand--"

"It was a babygrand." Kei reminded, scathingly.

He ignored her, "--she knew how to play it! It was simply amazing!"

Ishida glanced to her, complimenting slightly, "you must be a prodigy, Keiko-san."

"Was." she corrected, her hand trailing over the dusty cover. Her eyes took on a misty hue. Kazeatari observed the shadows and veins in the hand that had wielded a sword instead of tapped fine notes in a Concert hall/Salon. _Whatever it was they'd had then_. Kazeatari's expression saddened behind the screen of her fan. _Fate had been cruel and was ever more_.

Kanzaki was insistent upon it, "why won't you play for us? Come on, Keiko! What's one evening of performance to outsiders when any other time you let us watch?!"

"I didn't. You just wouldn't leave."

But everyone ignored her wishes.

"I'd like to hear, if it isn't too much trouble." Inoue said quietly.

"Yeah. I'd like to as well," Kurosaki seconded, scowling at the world in general.

Kei discreetly rolled her eyes at this, "...that's why I don't want to." Her voice was low in an undertone, but Kazeatari thought Kurosaki still heard and was wounded by it.

"See?! Everyone wants you to!" encouraged the ever blissfully ignorant Kanzaki.

Kei's expression darkened, "there's no sheet music. I can't--"

"Yes, there is." Beaming, he had lifted a corner of the covering upward and withdrawn a sheaf of musty music sheets.

_If looks could kill_...Kazeatari glimpsed cold detachment within the fire wielder's gaze.

Kei held her hand out; again the fine palm that had born aloft a hilt, a blade slicing into the skin opened. Kazeatari knew Kurosaki was imagining those hands running through his hair, caressing his burning skin. Inoue near him--always close by him, could sense it. Her expression fell, rosy color draining from her cheeks.

But, Kei was insensible to it.

She herself was lost in her own little world.

"Play that one--you know, the one where the lovers are parting." The Division one Captain frowned, "what was the name of it again-?"

Pain.

Deep inside. Clawing at her heart. Kazeatari had rarely ever seen her so affected over a mere memory. It was time to speak. "You don't have to," Kazeatari lowered her fan, earnestly appealing to the immovable figure of the girl, "really. Let's just find something else to occupy our evening."

She knew it hadn't had any effect.

_Loved him_...

Kei stiffly sat on the narrow bench, her feet in practiced place already, her hands interlocking, joints cracking. _so much_. The room grew silent.

The notes were beautiful.

Slow at first, like a minuet then more keys, deeper, resonant.

Kazeatari glanced to her face, enraptured in the beginning along with the rest.

No tears. Only a frozen mask. _Keiko_...

The last strains drifted, her hands were still above the keys. Only Kazeatari noted the whiteness of her knuckles.

Rapturous applause broke out.

Kei recoiled even though it was deserving of the attention.

None would've been better than any at all.

Kazeatari tilted her fan, half-leaning against the curved arm of the Maplewood chair. Kagami would've known what was the right thing to do in situations like these. To approach and give comfort or even a slight tap on the shoulder...her impulse was to destroy the thing that wrought so much painful feelings within the girl--

The words of command for the slicing wind were on the tip of her tongue, her fingers slid along the last two folds of the fan; a calm voice, much like that of a gentle rumble rolled through her consciousness.

_'Kaze...no.'_

_Byakko_? Kazeatari frowned slightly, watching Kanzaki attempt to coax another song from Kei. _But why_?!

_'They.'_ Golden eyes flashed, lids flickering closed over their intensity, _'won't understand.'_

Kazeatari perceived the expressions of the Shinigami and humans.

Despite Inoue's unhappiness over never being the object of Kurosaki-kun's eye, the music seemed to soothe her.

There was hardly ever much change in Yasutora-something or other's expression, but Kazeatari sensed an underlying current of softness within the giant while Keiko had been playing.

_You forget your worries_, Kagami had said once.

The ever-irritable Kuchiki girl looked visibly relaxed as well as the little Taichou.

Three chords trilled.

Byakko's tail twitched, tapping softly. Kazeatari sighed, folding her fan to rest beneath her chin. Keiko never needed sheet music, not when she had learned it all by heart.

~*~

_Walking._

_The place was dim darkness. Not the black of Touda's feathers, but a hazy sort of twilight, throwing shadows onto the path._

_Scared._

_Tart fear embittered her mouth. She gasped and ran, hands gripping the silken quality of the gown, hair streaming about her shoulders. _

_Falling. _

_She collapsed, skirts fluttering into the gore that stained the earth. _

_Red._

_A man lay face down, gray broadcloth became a white uniform mottled with the crimson hue._

_She knew him. A fringe of raven hair curled to one porcelain cheek, a line of cyan flowing beneath one closed orb._

_Her cries were soundless, her face buried in her hands._

_Instinctively she sensed another. Her head rose, "I-Ichigo?"_

_The sub's black Shihakusho was torn, hanging in ragged shreds exposing his breast. He held the long hilt of his Zanpaku-to loosely in one hand, the blade tilted outward._

_Plip._

_Scarlet drops beaded on the edge. "Why...why did you kill him, Ichigo?!" her voice was shrill, her throat raw as if she had been weeping for hours on end. _

_The look within his brown eyes was somber, and when he finally spoke, it was with an affectionate tenderness that made her blood run cold. "It was for you. Everything I've done has been for_ **you**, _Kei."_

~*~

Candles burned.

She awoke, lifting the tangled sheets from her body. Touda looked out from the hearth in the next room, the door connecting the two open. She glanced at the Meissen clock on the bedside table. 2:35 AM.

_'Dreaming, wielder?'_

_Yes_. She tossed aside the blankets and walked quickly to the bedroom door, throwing it open before he even had a chance to knock. _But this time_...

"Can't sleep?"

In the dimmed hallway light, his face was nearly ashen. She saw that he had barely enough foresight to toss on the outer gray kimono untied over his chest. Loose bottoms had been provided, her eyes ran over his cloth-covered legs, lingering in specific areas so that he shifted in embarrassment at her shameless appreciation.

"I er--wanted to t-talk to you." He stammered.

_It was different_...

~To be continued~

~Omake~

"Keiko?" Kagami leaned in the room, peering around for the fire elemental. At first he saw no one and was about to leave when a shifting/grinding/weird rustling of the blankets on the bed, had him tip-toeing closer.

_Was she asleep?_ he wondered then quickly summoned a ball of water to plunge on her if she was. _The only thing missing was a camera_..._huh_? _Orange_...?!!

A shock of bright orange hair stuck out between the under sheet and half-folded crimson kimono from evening. _Was he...could she have--?_

His eyes widened and the water went SPLAT onto Ichigo's unsuspecting head.

Within seconds the Shinigami sub was up and roaring, revealing himself indeed to be_ quite_ alone under the covers.

"What were you--" blue eyes scanned the body of the sub, then went as wide as saucers. Kagami started back, "ugh! Disgusting! Are all men such lumps of sexual desire as you?!"

"WHAT!" Ichigo apparently hadn't realized his _problem _and lunged for the closest thing to cover himself with. "Aren't you--a-a- man as well?!" he spluttered indignantly. Kagami favored him with a snort of derision, "me? Please! I was once a woman--"

"Don't tell me--" Ichigo sounded horrified.

"No, fool. Not like--"

"What he means is, the water elemental was born female but changed genders when going through the purification process of rebirth." A voice finished for him from the doorway belonging to the attached sitting room.

"Keiko!"

"Kei!"

She walked in, toweling her hair dry with a pink towel, glancing over them dismissively, "what? I was taking a bath..."

She stopped.

And stared hard.

At Ichigo.

Immediately he felt his face heat up at her intense stare.

"Were you..." she began.

"What?" his heart was racing.

Kagami looked back and forth, feeling left out.

"...HUMPING MY PILLOW?!!!"

The Shinigami sub followed her angry glare and discovered the fluffy pink pillow between his legs...

~*~

AN: :) special thanks to Bleachboy for submitting Akashi. Seijin was supposed to make a cameo in a different omake with Kazeatari--but I haven't done it yet.

Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated. :)


	20. a DeSoLaTe WoRlD

ShiKai CH.19: A desolate world

"I like the rain."

The sound of droplets tapping the glass panes on the door to the balcony unnerved him.

"Why?" the furrow in his brow was deeper than usual.

"Because, it makes me remember things." she answered simply.

~*~

_There was no division between land and sky. _

_His hands clutched at the sagging body of the recruit, eyes traveling upward to the man whose own eyes above the self-same mask pleaded desperate understanding. He's seen too much. The mission to purge the contamination within the Shinobi ranks has gone awry. _

_A short Katana is raised. _

_Lightning flashes, the white of pure energy courses and becomes a streak of blue. Blue like the scales of a Dragon. He must be silenced by one of his own men. _

_The point of a blade swooshes down and nothing. Just the sound of the rain falling and warm wetness splattering his cheek. He looks._

_The man falls. A lance of pure water breaks apart becoming simple rain once more. _

_Soryu has protected him. Without command, he has taken a life_.

_When they find him, so cold and still on that high bridge in the company of two lifeless men, some wondered why he hadn't fled_.

*`*`*`

_Arrested._

_Locked in a cell._

_Kagami threw his head back and laughed silently without mirth_.

_It's beginning again. Inescapable fate. _

_He wonders if Keiko and Kazeatari have been informed yet_.

*`*`*`

_Many stand up for him. _

_Twelve of the Thirteen are convinced of his innocence._

_Kagami is touched, seeing the conviction present in Shinji's face and burning in Hiyori's eyes when she's allowed to see him just before the transfer into a lesser cell_.

_They believe in him. _

_And that makes a whole lot of difference when his Lady comes to speak with him_.

*`*`*`

_'Did you kill those men?' She asks, straightforward as always. _

_'No.' He answers truthfully. _

_Yoruichi Shihoin nods briskly once_.

_He's heartened to realize she believes in him as well. _

_Her next words bleed his body of feeling. 'The King, they say, has taken an interest in your case.' She pauses, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes tilt downward, fine lashes shadow the hollows of her cheekbones._ _'Central Forty-six will convene tomorrow. It is out of our hands. I'm sorry.'_

*`*`*`

... punishment to bear.

_He's in chains before the high council. Wizened men and women stare down at his slight figure and murmur amongst themselves._

_Disgrace._

_Guilty. He closes his eyes and pretends he is within the fragrant Cedar wood Palace of Suiren. Or better...walking the ancient gardens of his birthplace. _

_Elemental. He hears whispered in aged voices._

_He remembers the heat of the merciful God Suzaku's fire consuming him on Sokyoku hill. _

_The hateful pain of its bearer plunging her own sword into her heart_.

_The howling shriek of wind who was left behind..._

_He doesn't want to face it again_.

_No decision is made. He's removed to the repentance cell._

_Visitors are forbidden_.

*`*`*`

_Shinji finds a way. _

_Hiyori can't look at him and instead screams her anger, letting him take it all. _

_Pain. Hurt. Powerlessness. _

_She can't forgive herself for being useless and his quiet words from behind the narrow aperture wound her more inside. _

_He understands._

_He knows acquittal is impossible and most of all he's __**sorry**__ for making them worry about him._

_'Idiot,' she says, smearing her tears with the back of a clenched fist. 'We're friends! Of course I'd worry about you!'_

_Shinji pretends to be cross, declaiming that he is Kagami's friend as well and that Hiyori had better get her facts straight._

_She responds by swatting him none-so gently with her sandal._

_Behind the white cell wall, Kagami is silent then laughs. A startling sound that breaks the forbidding silence maintained within the white tower. _

_Soon, they join him and it is only then that he realizes that they've done this to cheer him up. _

_Friends_.

_Belonging._

_His eyes close_. _The white walls and slice of sky and freedom blur into another day. The next when judgment is but a stone's throw away and Shinji and Hiyori know it. Keiko knows it, can feel death kissing the warmth from her flesh and then just before he's taken to the inner court room to be reviewed by the Central Forty-six, she comes. The Guards step back, the look in her eyes alone is what makes grown men quaver in fear_.

_She grabs a fistful of his white Yukata. _

_Yanking their faces only inches apart in lovers' closeness. _

_'I don't want to die.' she hisses, letting go. When one dies, the rest follow to complete the cycle. It's always been a fact of their existence. He thinks of Hiyori's tears and understands. _

_He doesn't want to die either._

_The Guards take him away._

*`*`*`

_Exile or execution._

_A desolate, abandoned world in exchange for life--as long as it lasts. He hears the Guards talking outside his cell; the castoff world of Assiah is ridden by Hollows. There is little or no chance of much survival past the first twelve hours. It's both a mercy and a condemnation. _

_Instead of the blade of a thousand Zanpaku-to, it will be demise to the teeth of a malevolent lost soul. _

_'Poor bastard,' they say. Pitying, but never wanting to take his place. Such is the nature of humans. He observes, a sneer on his lips. He grips his hands so hard there are angry red marks in the flesh. He's cold even though the day is sunny. _

_It's the King's offer, not Central Forty-six's decision. _

_He won't die in the belly of a Hollow. He'll become it, dominating its rank presence until there's nothing left but he and he alone. That way, the cycle won't end. There will still be the elementals existing to keep the balance in check. Without..._

_He's being used and despises it. For a moment he can almost feel what Keiko feels inside every moment she breathes. _

_I don't want to die. _

_Not yet. He breathes inward, rising from the hard floor and goes to the door._

_And says-_

*`*`*`

_'May I have a glass of water?'_

_The Guards hear and glance at one another, shrugging. It hasn't been forbidden and the man was likely to die soon--they believed he would choose the honorable way and die on Sokyoku hill and if he was truly innocent then the more worth he would have garnered as a victim._

_Kagami knew._

_The Guard disappears and soon is back with a frosty clear cup of water. Its slid inside and he takes it, murmuring thanks, eyes staring into the depths of the liquid._

_Soryu's face._

_Ripples._

_The bodies of the men outside falling beneath a torrent of rushing water. _

_Then there's faces. Keiko, fire smoldering in her eyes. Lady Yoruichi, her jaw clenching as he's arrested. Shaolin...beside her, unable to speak but deeply angered when he's taken away. Hiyori and Shinji. Kazeatari. And everyone he's ever met in this lifetime. The census Shinigami who gave him his name. His father. Mother. Sisters. The ocean with fierce and frightening beauty swallowing their ship in a mighty swell. _

_Farther back he can no longer see and raises the glass to his lips_.

_One swallow. His mouth doesn't open. _

_I don't want to die_.

**Die**. _He sets the glass down, standing beside it, his hand opens far above the rim._

_"Flow, Sazanami." It's the last time he says the shikai command. _

_A hilt appears first, then a katana-length tang. The water becomes the sword itself. _

_Shatter it._

_Water seeps out the bottom of the door, runs down the walls. The Guards withdraw their swords._

_It'll be remade._

_"Suiha-Nanahoryo." He says, letting go of the blade. The tip hits the floor and it's all over. _

~*~

"Good things?" Ichigo questioned.

"I died in the rain." She was smiling, hands clasped around her upraised knee, the other was folded beneath her. Glimpsing a certain hurt in his eyes, she guessed there was something else he wanted to say to this, but didn't know how to proceed. "Did you...lose someone...a friend perhaps on a rainy day?"

"...my mother." He said quietly.

She felt a stirring of pity inside and went on more kindly, "I'm sorry. I should have been more considerate of your feelings--"

"No, it's alright. How could you have known?" He spread his palm out, gesturing with a slight shrug. This action shifted the shoulders of the light kimono, exposing a sliver of flesh. Kei glanced from his face then downward, trying not to smile. _The boy had a nice form to be so young. Not nearly as pleasant to the eye as Aki's or Toya's, when topless though_, _but pleasing nonetheless_.

"Is there anyone you're overly fond of, Ichigo?"

"Er fond of? Well, there's my sisters and sometimes others..." he trailed off. She sighed, "I didn't mean platonically speaking. I meant romantically."

He blushed, "oh...uh no. There's no one--I mean I'm not that way!" He cried, seeing her smile widen. "That's too bad," she dropped her voice down to a husky octave, "I bet you'd look hot all flushed and sweaty on bottom."

_'...wielder...'_

"What...?!" he sounded faint.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking aloud is all..."

_So it's purely one-sided with Inoue_. She mused, observing him twiddle his thumbs, looking shyly away whenever he felt her turn toward him. _Shall I tell him_-?

"Ichigo, do you know of anyone who might harbor feelings for you?" She decided to test the waters that way. His frown said it all, "no, I don't think so. _Why_?"

"Must you always be so suspicious of my motives?" she murmured, deriving pleasure in watching him squirm beneath her mild gaze.

"I...I don't know what to think when I'm with you." he finally admitted, his eyes trained to the light Aubusson rug under his feet. She could see his heart palpitating, fluttering the fabric over his breast. His lips were slightly parted, dry with the increased intake of breath. _She wondered if he had butterflies in his stomach yet_.

"Explain."

"You act sometimes...as if you..._like_ me." he swallowed nervously; his heart pounding so hard in his ears it sounded like an ocean roaring. He was surprised she hadn't heard it. "But then other times...you push me away." He braved a look into her face and saw coldness in her eyes. "I--I'm sorry--I shouldn't have supposed--" he stumbled over his words in haste to apologize.

"Stop."

He fell instantly silent.

"I loved someone once."

He saw it in her expression, a softness that he had never seen before. It was as much as saying _I loved him with all my heart_. "W-who was he?" he asked, barely aware of framing the question in his mind and strangely, he found he wanted to know. _Needed to know_.

She shrugged slightly as if didn't matter, "just a boy. Black hair, pale skin, green eyes. He used to play the pianoforte."

"Did he...was it him who taught you that song? The first one you played...?" He felt a heaviness descending into his chest, filling up his insides like lead.

"Yes."

Silence pervaded the room. He didn't know what to say. Disappointment lay like a stone on his chest, making him feel short of breath. The atmosphere of the room was becoming stifling, though he could not detect any increase of heat from the fireplace. The rain drummed against the walls of the castle and he suddenly felt very small and alone. _He was a little boy on the banks of the canal staring down at his mother's body, puddles of water from the rain reflected the gray sky_. _Sadness_. When he looked at her now all he saw was emptiness, her eyes devoid of feeling. _Lost_. _Pretending all was well when it wasn't_...

"What happened to him? That guy you were in love with?" his voice was stronger, firmer with less of a tremor than before.

Kei stared out at the night, her head tilted at an angle that made the tips of her hair fall forward, dusting her black T-shirt clad shoulders. Ichigo wondered if she was cold. "His demise and mine not long after, separated us." She said shortly, coming back as if she had forgotten he was there.

Ichigo rose and took up a woven throw blanket that he had noticed draped over a small folded screen in the corner. Kei looked up at his approach. The vacant look remained in her eyes and he didn't like it. "Cheer up! Whatever his name was--I'm sure wouldn't want you to be looking so glum all the time!" His hand strayed to her hair, tucking back a few loose strands. The blanket he had settled about her shoulders fell away suddenly as she stood.

"Kei--"

She had fallen into his chest, making him stagger back slightly as he caught her, slowly enfolding his arms around her slender form. When she breathed in, he felt the contraction of her lungs expanding behind her ribs. The curve of her breasts, neither enormous nor tiny, yet full and perfect heaved with rare emotion. She said nothing, only clung to him, the top of her head tucked beneath his chin, his slight shifting soundless as he rocked her soothingly to him.

For a time they stayed that way, until he glanced to the mounted clock above the mantel, seeing the bone china hands pointing at four o'clock. Four distinct chimes sounded and he began urging her toward the open door behind them. Sleepily she complied, tottering a few steps before he finally scooped her up in his arms, carrying her the remaining way to the bed.

She mumbled something, head lolling against the pillow. Ichigo gathered up the cast aside covers, gently easing them over her when he felt a tug on his wrist. Again. Harder now. He tumbled forward on top of her. "Hey--omph!" instantly a leg snaked over him, arms followed tightly, preventing his immediate escape. "Ke--"

"Stay."

Her lips moved against the bare skin of his throat and he swallowed hard, fighting the shudder that threatened to run through his body at her quiet voice.

_What would the others say?!_ He fought inwardly a moment then realized _they didn't have to know_. He relaxed his taut muscles, burying his face in her flowing hair, inhaling the scent of burnt things and ashen fields. _It was strange_...he breathed in, finding it like her--something he couldn't explain yet found harder and harder to live without.

..._it was almost familiar_.

~The next morning~

"Get up, you lazy bum! It's nearly noon!" Kazeatari cheerfully called into the fourth room in the Southern wing. The knob turned easily at her touch and swung open to the waning light of the burnt down candles. The Kuchiki girl was at her heels as well as Inoue. Both curious as to the living quarters of the Captain and as they had never been in the South wing of the castle, looked around with much interest.

"Kei--" She stopped and stared at the scene before her.

Kuchiki stared as well, "Ichigo!?"

Inoue gasped, her face draining of color, "what's Kurosaki-kun doing in Keiko-san's room?"

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading.

No flames-idiotic spammers-stupid comments!

Reviews are always appreciated :)


	21. Deception

ShiKai CH.20: Deception

_I loved someone once_.

_And he loved me in return_.

_I knew what happiness was then._

_Until someone else destroyed it._

~*~

Their voices were irritating.

They grated on her ears. Inoue's the most.

Lying there in his slightly slack embrace, Kei imagined their faces sick with shock especially the human girl's. _Please bright star let me have Kurosaki-kun's heart_.

She made a show of her eyelids fluttering open; confusion at seeing them in her room awakening him from heavy sleep. Red-faced, denial fast on his lips, he scrambled off.

_It wasn't what they thought_, he said-ne yelled.

_It isn't what Kazeatari thinks_, Kei amended silently, _not yet anyway_. The wind wielder scanned the floor and crannies of the room searching for tell-tale evidence of a night of illicit passion. Kei touched her hip beneath the blanket, sighing softly._ Pants and panties still on (check). _Ichigo could barely speak coherently when in **her** presence let alone actually get to the point of putting his hands where they didn't belong. Not that she had truly _wanted_ him to put his hands there...that was something else entirely.

He was nothing sort of awkward in situations involving girls. Enough so, that Kei felt the need to intervene, at least get him to shut up.

"Please." She began disdainfully, rising in one graceful move from the bed, hand tugging up the robe that had slipped from her shoulders, "don't insult me by wrongly assuming something exists when _there_ is nothing there. There _is_ nothing between us."

_Cold. I'm sorry. _

A flicker passed over his face. Hurt remained in his eyes.

_I know no other way to be_.

Inoue looked relieved, almost back to her full, inane spirits.

_I love someone._

Kuchiki merely doubtful and after when glancing to his face, angry.

_And it isn't you, Ichigo Kurosaki._

Kei didn't watch them go. She went into the adjoining room, draping herself over the armchair she had previously occupied the night before last. On the floor in a violet puddle was the throw. She knew Kazeatari had stayed behind and soon enough, the wind wielder looked in, fan folded lax in her hand hanging at her side. Today, Kazeatari had chosen to accent her willowy figure with a hip-length off-white cherry-blossom printed Haori over wide trouser pants. She just observed her.

"I commend you..." Kazeatari began, after a long moment of scrutinizing, "for that masterful ability of yours to wound without severely damaging the seed. Truly, you have just dashed his hopes in a few words of innocuous denial that could've been seen as a mere placation to his friends' faces. Bend until you break them, hurt until you've ground their emotions to dust...is it all the same to you? Is nothing sacred anymore, Keiko?"

She smiled serenely, "non. I beg to differ." Her hand trailed through her hair, "I could love him...in my own way. Never wholly, mind you. But that's part of it, just another pretence in my game. To _pretend_ I love him...but everything and everyone is against it."

_That'll just make him more determined to_...

~*~

He couldn't eat.

Worry rippled in the familiar faces and auras of everyone_. Sans Uryu_, he thought, shooting a slight glower to the Quincy who was participating in animated conversation with the Juppongatana Head Captain.

He couldn't stand the look of pity in Rukia's eyes. _He wasn't pitiful_! She did...like was too strong of a word...but then what? Tolerated? No. He set down his water glass a little too hard and some sloshed onto the white linen tablecloth. Hastily, averting his eyes from the others' questioning gazes, he hurriedly mopped at it with his napkin. Did she abide his presence solely for appearances?

No, he could believe that of the fifth Captain, Kazeatari. The woman rarely ever spoke a word to anyone but _them_. Kei was...well...she is--

'Delectable.'

His eyes widened a fraction, his nerves going on end. _The Hollow_.

'And I must say...nothing between us? I beg to differ.'

_You stay away from her! _

'I would very much like there to be something between us...you want it as well...King. Don't deny it. I felt it as well--shared longing to be spoken of in the way she did the other.'

_I'm not listening to you_.

'Oh, but you are.' The mirror image of himself taunted in his mind, 'you're listening carefully to everything I say 'cause you want to make her feel the way you do about her and you think I have the answer.'

Ichigo had nothing to say to that, except waiting in impatient silence.

'...take her. Show her everything you want to do to her--'

_Never! I wouldn't force myself on..._he faltered_. _The Hollow's grin widened, 'you see. You can't even deny it.

~*~

Kei and Kazeatari walked up the hallway in silence. Each preoccupied with their own thoughts. Soon enough they reached a door off of the main staircase; sounds from below had indicated that lunch was still in progress but neither felt much like socializing and bypassed this, continuing instead to the aforementioned door.

Inside, a dimly lit room roughly the size of a small ballroom contained a large monitor against the furthermost wall and below several computer towers of whose running encompassed the system network of surveillance. Smaller computers in the First and Second Division of course had remote access granted to those of Lieutenant station and higher. The fifth Seat of Kazeatari's division, however was a special case. One that as Kei and Kaze entered, glimpsed the familiar mop of unruly black hair and bent back of the second half of the Retsu twins. "Oh! Captain Namaiki! Keiko-san!" Kyou turned at the sound of the door closing. "You're finally here!"

"Yes." Kazeatari hid a slight smile, "Takara called? Said she had something to ask of us-?"

"I did." Another door, smaller more hidden in a shadowy corner opened, Takara herself stepped out, in her arms ledgers were heaped. Kazeatari and Kei waited. She carefully set down the old records on a nearby space beside the optical mouse, wiping her brow with the back of her dusty hand. "I want," she straightened, glancing to each of them in turn then to Kyou's steady look, "you to get Ichigo Kurosaki to release his Bankai."

~*~

"...And how exactly are we supposed to accomplish that?" Kazeatari asked, a lack of enthusiasm evident in her dry tone.

"Kagami said the same thing the night of the star festival." Takara explained, "that's why I thought I'd come to you. Surely..."

"I gather since Kyou is here, you wish to know the extent of Kurosaki's power?" Kei surmised.

Takara ducked her head briefly.

"He's strong."

"I know."

"The strongest of the ones who came here."

"I know that too."

Kei tilted her glance askance at the girl, "but there's darkness in his soul. A Hollow...I think that's part of his strength. Your Zanpaku-to cuts through the darkness_ in_ someone's soul. I don't think it would be amiss to assume that if you were to take him on--you could reduce a great amount of the difference between his level and your own." She leveled her gaze on the Lieutenant, "Haretosora could come in handy for myself as well, if ever in the situation when his Hollow takes control."

"But wait--how did you find out he's a Visored?" Kazeatari back-tracked, brow furrowing over dark eyes. "Did he tell you?"

Kei looked at her, a sneer on her lips, "simple really. No, he did not tell me, I can imagine he believes its presence to be more of a disgrace--something I would be repulsed by."

"That makes sense." Kazeatari said thoughtfully.

"He's silly to think that. Anyway, when we fought in the forest outside of Arcadia; he donned a mask-similar to Ren's. That's how I guessed he had a Hollow within him." Kei shrugged, "the only difference I could sense was that his reiatsu grew denser and the Getsuga-Tenshou instead of white, became black. He didn't go Bankai that time either."

"I wonder why?" Takara asked aloud.

Kei yawned, "he said he didn't need it against **me**."

"Was he just confident in his own power, or not _thinking_?" Kyou finally broke in.

"Who knows." Kei combed her fingers through the longer strands of hair framing her face, flipping them back to hook behind her ears, "there isn't many reasons for him to release Bankai around here. I doubt I could ask him simply to show it to me--"

"Sort of like, you show me yours and I'll show you mine things," Kazeatari said.

Kei sighed, "yeah. Sadly I don't think he's quite foolish_ enough_ to fall for that. Unless..."

"Unless _what_?" Takara looked at her hopefully.

"We break the seal on _them_."

~*~

_The Cazadores. Immense, powerful Menos Grande sealed away in a sea cave near the eastern ocean. There they slumbered under the combined blood and demon magic used by the elementals of fire and water long ago. They were so-called __Hunters__, for the Kusari-Gama ball and chain scythes reminiscent of the final phase of the Getsu-ten, carried on their backs of their trailing black cloaks._

_It was thought they may have been guardians at one time_...

~Tsukikage Castle, North wing~

"ALL SYSTEMS ARE NOW OFFLINE."

Akashi Osore glanced back over his shoulder to the desk and laptop computer, Lieutenant Hisrio Shihoin sat before. The caramel skinned man swore and attempted a reboot of the system. "Is there a problem, sir?" Osore politely questioned; the man's brow furrowed and his scowl deepened.

"TERMINATION OF ALL PROGRAMS RUNNING IN THIS INSTALLATION. LOCKDOWN COMMENCES NOW."

"Son of a--"

~*~

"We have a problem."

Seven heads swiveled up at the approach of Kei and Kazeatari. Kagami spoke first, "long time no see. What rock did you hide yourselves under?"

Kei ignored his sarcasm, "the seal enclosing the Cazadores has been broken."

"No way!" He cried while Hitsugaya leaned forward, his white brow cocked over a turquoise eye, "Cazadores?"

"Ancient Menos--"

"-that were sealed away." Kagami impatiently interrupted, "no, no, this is impossible! There is absolutely no way blood magic could be--"

Her eyes flickered his way, the water wielder faltered. _It was next to impossible to break a seal of blood magic. Only by a greater force than the one who had set it, or...the original conjurer shattered it themselves_.

_What are you planning...Keiko_?

He was called away by Kimiko and left to attend to the worries of both First and Second Divisions; Kanzaki having left himself with Ishida for long held-off archery practice. Leaving the rest of the Shinigami and humans at the table.

"Please," she began with a note of desperation in her voice, "Ichigo, come with me! I'm not strong enough to handle them by myself!"

Kazeatari stood back, knowing well enough that he wouldn't be able to resist such an appeal, be it what it may that Abarai, the little Taichou and Inoue wanted to tag along as well. Kuchiki, Matsumoto-Fukutaichou and the giant were going to stay behind. _Inoue_...Kazeatari's dark eyes narrowed on the slim buxom girl whose large eyes wandered from Kurosaki's serious face to Kei's. The barest hint of a smile played on the edges. But if anyone had bothered to notice, they would've assumed she was the type to get excited in anticipation of battle.

~Eastern Sea~

Sea spray whipped the stone cliffs, water the color of topaz sparkled beneath the bright glare of the sun. Kei held back her hair from the gust of wind Kazeatari alighted in. Touda's screech from above directed her gaze to the fissure within the rock, the emblem of red splintered, energy spilling outward in a crimson mist. And all around the prevalent heaviness left behind by the gargantuan creatures remained.

"There!" Kei flash-stepped up the rock face, looking ahead to the low valley shrouded in late mist, towering figures swathed in black with violet crescent moons bordering the edges of their eyes like tattoos. _These...were the Hollows of Assiah_.

The Shinigami joined her; Ichigo slower, set Inoue down.

One of the giants looked back at them standing on the sea cliff and howled to the sky.

In recognition perhaps.

_Do you know who I am_? She stared straight at it, into the black depths of its eyes, her hand slid along the curved crescent moon adorning the sword at her waist. _The sickle moon, withdraw it now_. The massive handle bound in gray bandages moved, a chain with links the size of small boulders swung forward. Hitsugaya as well as Abarai reached for their Zanpaku-tos.

Kei sensed it waiting. _Attack_. She closed her eyes and leapt upward suddenly. Aloud she yelled in warning, "Move!"

Kazeatari followed with liquid grace, diverting almost lazily the sickle blade aiming for her to the rock cliff below, "Reppu Geki!" Kei snarled simultaneously, "you fool! Inoue's there!" She flipped out Getsu-ten from the sash at her waist, "Third Phase, Tsukisasu!" A beam of light shot out from the tang burning straight through the sickle seconds before Ichigo pulled the girl back.

_Pity. A second later and I would've missed_. Kei surveyed him expressionlessly. Vanishing then reappearing beside him, "I'll take her." She yanked Inoue to her, meeting his eyes steadily, "don't worry. Nothing will happen to your _girlfriend_."

He glared and refuted her previous statement, never noticing Inoue's expression when he said it.

"If you say so--oh, do be careful, Hollow!" Kei said, indicating with a jerk of her head the gigantic creature bearing down on them. She swept Inoue with her into the sky, crossing the scabbard and blade of the Zanpaku-to against one another, "Second Phase, Tsukiakari!" The black rainbow of moonlight blossomed around the Menos' face. Kei tightened her hold on the trembling girl, one arm curved over Inoue's back, "hurry!" Hitsugaya had released his, Abarai right after him. "Use Bankai."

He didn't want to.

Kei handed Inoue to Kazeatari. Her lip curled above the sunshine-haired girl's head. The wind wielder understood. _Whatever happened after this...do not interfere_.

She let herself be struck by the next slash of the chain scythe.

Getsu-ten flew from her hand to the ocean far below. Blood flowed freely from her side where the cloth fluttered, ripped. Touda shrieked in apprehension above. Kei ignored it, rolling onto her side painfully. The hand pressed to her side came away covered in red. _It went...deeper than I had planned_, she thought dismayed. The Menos screamed.

One of its fellows was falling to Hitsugaya's attack.

A wave of emotion welled up within her chest. Kei struggled to catch her breath from its intensity.

_'They'll remain here. These guardians you've made. ' The voice was feminine, soft, like the sound of trickling water. 'For all time...until they're needed. Until...Tsukikage is opened once again.'_

Her head felt like it was going to explode.

_'We're home._

_After almost a thousand years of wandering...we're finally home_.'

At the fringes of her consciousness, she felt the brush of Ichigo's reiatsu sky rocketing."Ban-Kai!" Black whorls. A slender black blade in hand. Kei slowly let go of her head. Black...he was looking back at her over his shoulder. It was--he was--

~Tsukikage Castle, Eastern side, balcony~

"That must be him." Takara closed her eyes briefly, sensing at the far seaside rising spirit pressure. Precariously she balanced on her lap, a laptop from Fifth Division, the energy readout spiking on the graph. She glanced over at Kyou, also with his eyes closed, concentrating. "Get anything recognizable yet?"

He frowned, "...give me a sec."

She tapped her finger on her knee, "I already gave you a sec!"

"Well, give me another! It's..." he faltered, hazel orbs opening, frustration clear in his expression, "it's hard to tell. At one point it is...but then at another...it feels entirely different. I felt a flicker of the same right before it shot up--"

The screen flickered, registering the growing intensity of another reiatsu. Takara stared at the computer screen, "w-wait that's--"

"Fire." Someone said from the doorway.

~Eastern Sea~

He wore a ragged coat, the sword balanced across his shoulders.

...The cause of everything.

Red glowed around him, the edges of the black blade blurred into a spear.

Her hand covered her mouth, the sharp, metallic taste of blood filled her senses.

It _couldn't_ be...

She was unaware of speaking aloud until he had gone and some_thing _remained. Something that wore white and curled an arm around her middle, whispering caressingly into her ear, "it is, dear. I am _it_."

~ Tsukikage Castle, Eastern side, balcony~

Takara squealed and flew behind Kyou.

Kagami looked them over, frowning slightly, "if anything that makes me more suspicious."

She thought a moment then peered out from behind Kyou's shoulder, "h-how long have you been standing there?"

His frown deepened, "long enough to suspect what it is those two put you up to. Now what did they want you to do, hmm? I promise I won't be mad and I will _not_ tell Kanzaki anything."

"Just some surveying, sir." Kyou spoke up when Takara fell silent. Kagami turned his attention to him, "oh? Which one?"

"It was actually Lieutenant Takara Shimizu's idea." Kyou said dutifully, "not my Captain Namaiki's."

~Eastern Sea-?~

She lay on something. Beneath her back it was hard like the surface of a building and cold like plaster. Her head ached still and she loathed opening her eyes. It seemed the light had faded which was surprising since it had been mid afternoon in Assiah.

But it was quiet.

Almost _too _quiet.

There were no sounds of battle; of Hitsugaya's calm commands nor Abarai's joyous yells. The Menos were silent. Maybe...he had destroyed them? She felt a chord of sadness inside at that thought. Then...something _rough_...stroked the outline of her wound.

She froze.

Dipped into the wetness of the gash.

Swirled.

Lapped.

And sucked.

She knew, because the last one hurt.

Carefully, oh so slowly she tilted her chin up just so to look down at the rest of her body. Her gaze encountered at first, a head of spiky hair. Her heart skipped a beat when the face that belonged to the hair rose as well. She was looking at Ichigo's image. But it was...his Hollow.

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading; yours truly had no internet service for three days. :P sucks. But I'm back now!

No flames-idiotic spammers-stupid comments!

Reviews are always appreciated! :)


	22. The King and his Horse

ShiKai CH.21: The King and his Horse

~*~

Colorlessness seemed a part of its make. From the whiteness of its skin to the reverse of the black Shihakusho. A splotch of red stained the corner of its mouth. Blood, she realized, the sting spreading from her side upwards into the pit of her stomach. A soft groan left her lips as she shifted, her knees folding, hands pushing back into the ground to gain leverage.

"Who are you?" She thought she knew but preferred hearing it come from the thing's mouth.

"Shirosaki Hichigo, the King's Horse."

"And who is the King?" Kei tilted her head at angle, surveying the rows of windows with stretches of plaster between them. _A sideways building? Was this_...

"Why, Ichigo Kurosaki is." The Hollow answered reasonably. "And you are Kei."

_...his mindscape_? "H-how do you know my name?" she glanced up at the sky, seeing nothing but dreary gray clouds concealing any and all sunlight.

"The King knows it so it stands to reason that I should as well."

"That's true." Kei caught sight of another; an older dark-haired man in a tattered cloak standing atop a sword on the building next over. _Just watching_. _That must be_... "Can you explain to me why I'm here?" _No Touda either. Bad sign_.

"'Cause I wanted ta meet ya."

She unconsciously moistened her dry lips with her tongue; the Hollow observed this action and did the same though she didn't notice. "Well, now that you have, it's time for me to go--"

"Whyyy?! You've only just arrived and we have so much to discussss!" Hichigo whined. His silky false tone drawing a shudder of revulsion to her shoulders. "We have nothing to talk about, you and I." She said tightly, "take me back."

Stifled rage rippled across his pale countenance, "back where?"

"Back to Ichigo." Without thinking about it, Kei had let it slip and its effect on the Hollow was instantaneous.

~Eastern Sea~

_The wound's stopped bleeding_. Kazeatari observed with some relief. Inoue had offered to heal **her**, but the wind wielder refused. The body of an elemental could be restored with little or no interference from outside sources. Plus the fact that Maouen was nearby, speeded up the process that much. _But_...Kazeatari folded her fan beneath her chin in the usual thoughtful way. _Why hadn't Keiko woken up yet_?

The air crackled with the excesses of Kurosaki's reiatsu; Maouen watched with beady burning eyes, head twisting sideways then suddenly taking flight to land near Keiko's body.

'Wielder. Wake up! Lover boy's putting on quite the show and you're missing it!'

"It's no use," Kazeatari interrupted. Inoue lifted her wide anxious eyes from Ichigo doing battle in the sky to the woman's impassive face. "What is?" Inoue asked innocently.

"Something's...wrong." She hated saying it.

Immediately Inoue's face became suffused with worry, "is it blood loss? Food poisoning?!"

_Where would that have come from-?_ The wind wielder inwardly puzzled the need for common sense in the girl's mind. "I doubt it and no. She's stopped hemorrhaging already, this is something else entirely different. It's almost like..." dark eyes turned down to the Soul reaper's smooth brow, a few wisps of yellowish brown hair trailing down her cheek. Kazeatari brushed it aside, starting at the coldness of her skin.

_Cold means_...

Kurosaki's yell of triumph startled her.

..._her soul has fled this vessel_.

~*~

Kei gasped, her body recoiling from the Hollow's narrow hand sinking deeper into the gashed flesh. Blood poured out anew, Hichigo's face was impassive.

Plip.

"Y-You bastard!" she backed away from him, watching with some revulsion, the Hollow raise his hand to his mouth and lick clean his fingers of the crimson stain. "What's the matter, Queen? You look huuurt. Has the bad Horse hurt you so badly?"

She paced back. Hichigo moved after her, a twisted smile on his lips, "punish me, Queeen. Chastise me for laying insolent hands on you!"

Her heels were at the edge of the building. She didn't like this. It had driven her back, behind was nothing. One more step...

The Hollow reached for her.

_I hate heights_. She fell.

~Eastern Sea~

"Look, Kazeatari-san! Her wound it's--"

She saw. Blood gushed out, soaking through the thin layer of bandages. Maouen fluttered above, crying mournfully to the sea. Kazeatari grew chilled though merely snapped at Inoue when the girl lifted her hands to the clips in her hair. "Don't do it!"

"B-But why not?"

"Because you reject reality, right?!"

The girl nodded fearfully. Kazeatari's tone softened despite her general feeling, "the elementals defy reality and basic law. We bend the primal units of matter to our will without thought or care to the natural order of things. It was never intended for any one person to wield such power! And if you reject it...it may erase Keiko's existence from this plain!"

"But then what are we supposed to do, Kazeatari-san!?" Inoue cried, tears starting up in her luminous gray eyes. "We can't just leave her like this! If we do she might die!"

_Perhaps. But with these idiots_..._they seem to be having the time of their lives. I bet Keiko never thought up this scenario when she devised this ruse_. Kazeatari reflected. _And now how to get out of it_...? _Just where the hell did you go, Keiko_?!

~*~

The air was cold. It stole the breath from her lungs and burned her insides drawing it in. _Give me the frozen thorn barred castle of Zoe's mindscape any day_. She was still falling. her clothes whipped in the velocity created by her descent. The level plain of buildings were high above her now and the Hollow looking down over the edge a tiny white speck.

_If a Shinigami's mindscape reflected their inner mind, then what did his say_? An upside down and sideways city. A disordered place. One that didn't bow to convention and fixed ideas. Unlike the floating Palace of Suiren, Soryu's domain. The Dragon was God of the sea so it stood to reason, water would surround it. Air was Byakko's. So within Kazeatari's mind, it was a great watchtower high above the sky. Mine...is--

She heard a wild yell above her and the scrape of something metal grating through plaster. Looking up, her sight was filled with the Hollow rapidly descending after her, the wide blade of Zangetsu running through the building side.

"Crazy fool..." she murmured. The Hollow grinned madly, "crazy is the word for it alright! I'm crazy for you, Queen!" So saying this, he swiped low, tilting his body outward, catching at the sash of her Hakama. Kei dangled there for a moment until she inched upward, clinging to his torso. Hichigo wrapped his free arm around her, the other maintaining a precarious grip around Zangetsu's bandaged hilt. He glanced up then down, "put your legs around my waist."

"Why should I?" Kei asked with distrust in her manner.

"Because, Queen, I can't hold us both up forever." He sounded serious enough even though she still hesitated to comply. Slowly she twined her knees about his hips, gripping them tightly until she felt safe enough to relax her hold on his middle. "Now around my neck," he instructed, a smile in his voice.

Kei grumbled something under her breath but did as he said. Bringing their faces only inches away from each other. He hummed a little, shifting his hold on the hilt; alarmed, Kei clung to him, their lower bodies rocking slightly against one another.

She heard his soft chuckle and cursed the insinuation produced by such an act.

"Hold on tight!" without warning he had launched them both off the side then up, skating expertly along reishii traction. Kei felt weightlessness consume her and she closed her eyes fearfully. _Damn Hollow_...

He touched down on something solid. "Queen, you can look now," he said, amused by her fright. Kei glowered, a scowl crossing her face. They weren't on the same building; he had landed on the neighboring one where Zangetsu was. _Stupid jerk didn't even_--

"Queen, if you want you could release me anytime soon."

She realized she was still holding onto him for dear life.

"Basta--" she didn't finish. Hichigo had dropped down, pulling her as well onto his lap. Her knees were pressed to his sides and her arms rested on his shoulder blades. She felt his hands clasp behind on her lower back, imprisoning her within a circle. "You really are a bastard, you know that?"

Hichigo smirked, "the King and I are one in the same. You get two for the price of one, now isn't that a good deal?"

Kei huffed, "please! What makes you think I _want _Ichigo?"

"Because of this..." he rocked her up and down on his lap, simulating her riding him. Instinctively, her legs tightened, her tongue darted out, flicking across her lips provocatively, "oh? So, you think you can fulfill my needs?" She gazed at him up and down, "better than Ichigo can?" she added a little breathlessly.

The Hollow laughed, "that depends if you tell me!"

Her heart pounded, "ride me."

~*~

Her hands tangled in his hair, his mouth moved over her throat, past her collarbone, licking and sucking at her flesh. Her wound throbbed with the pressure of his unyielding body halfway on top of her, but she ignored it. "Hichigo..."

The Hollow paused.

"How does..." she felt strange saying his name since they sounded so similar, "Ichigo feel about me?"

"Don't know," he worried the top of her kimono open, hissing slightly when encountering another obstacle to exposing her bosom.

"You're inside his head. Surely you must have an inkling!"

The Hollow stopped once again, golden eyes staring down at the black under-kimono. "He...likes you."

_Likes__? That's it?!_ She scowled up at the sky. _That meant nothing!_

"...more than anyone else." The Hollow continued, unaware of her irritation.

_Well, now that **was **something_. She urged him on, grasping at the shorter spikes of white hair, pushing him down. She felt the air perk her nipples to firmness, sensed the Hollow's admiration for them. "Stop," she said in warning, as he lowered his mouth to take one in. She tilted her head up to regard his disappointment with pleasure, "not there. _Lower_."

Hichigo shrugged slightly and tugged away the rest of the kimono, his teeth lightly nipping the under of her breasts, tongue flicking rebelliously over the pink nub, she allowed a soft moan to escape her throat. But still pushed him on. His fingers circled the top of her sash, tugging the ends free. His hand slipped in, fondling her wetness.

She was starting to find it hard to concentrate on anything. "What about..._you_?" her eyes closed, her lips parted.

"What 'bout **me**?" She felt his breath ghost along her belly button, his finger slid in deeper. She wanted friction-no-needed it. She arched her back, shamelessly bucking her hips, her walls sliding over the intrusion deliciously. "Ugh-uhn..."

"You like that, Queen?" his voice was a low purr, his golden eyes smoldering in dark lust.

_Yes. she wanted more. Deeper. Harder. she wanted him inside of her_. But most importantly...her swollen tongue wet her lips, "do you love me?"

It was simple really.

If Ichigo and the Hollow were one in the same (though sometimes they might deny it) if one felt one way about someone else...then the other...

"Yes." The Hollow said quietly.

..._would feel the same_.

Kei smiled faintly, triumph burning in her veins. "Prove it to me then. Take me...Hichigo."

_That meant...the second phase was complete. _

~Eastern Sea~

_"...Hichigo."_

The Shinigami sub started. _Kei?! _

He saw her still unconscious on the sea cliff, Kazeatari and Inoue kneeling at her side. They were attempting a different resuscitation method, one that for all their efforts seemed to have little or no effect. _Hichigo...his Hollow_.

_Dammit!_ _He had been such a fool! He should've known better than to trust that lying bastard! And now_...he Shunpoed roughly to the cliff, ignoring the girls' questioning expressions, he dropped instantly into his mindscape.

..._it might be too late_...

*~*

Kei wasn't surprised to have the Hollow wrenched violently from her. Ichigo's expression of fury matching or rivaling the Hollow's snarl of rage.

"Damn you, Kiiiing!!!!!!"

"Shut up!" his glare was hard enough to have the Hollow's anger dampen slightly. "Here," he thrust his hand to her. Kei took it, rising slowly, her free hand clutching at the short kimono, keeping it closed. He pulled her to him. His arms wrapping tightly around her, her head beneath his chin.

She expected reproach or disbelief but instead...

"I'm sorry... oh Gods...I'm so sorry." Ichigo murmured into her hair.

~To be continued~

AN ;) was everyone going, "aww! Stupid Ichigo for interrupting!"

Hehehehe :) Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated :)


	23. Stay

ShiKai CH.22: Stay

_I'm sorry_.

Looking back she caught his guilt-ridden expression, Kazeatari leading her away. The Menos had all but vanished in the midst of the battle; water had called them off, returning them to their slumber in the cave.

_Are you hurt_?

Once out of his mindscape, her wound sealed within seconds much to Inoue's amazement. Kazeatari had observed her narrowly several times, a glint of suspicion flashing in her eyes.

_Tell me! Did he harm you in any way?!_

Of course not! She had denied truthfully, but as to him it seemed more of a denial aimed at concealing the truth from him. His inner-Hollow had firmly dragged her into their shared mindscape with the full intention of having its way with her. Defiant and stubborn to the last, he wouldn't hear of it being any other way.

Kei glanced at him on the way back to Tsukikage; deep furrow in his brow and thrust out bottom lip indicating his current state of inner torment.

His name meant _First Protector_ yet he had failed in protecting her from himself.

She hid her smile.

_Or so he thought..._

~Ichigo's mindscape~

"Agh! I can't do it!" The Hollow complained, tossing aside the sphere of purple he had formed. Zangetsu watched it break apart and dissolve into spirit particles. "Her eyes are much darker than that!" The Hollow chewed his thumb pad, "stupid King! Interruptin' right when it was gettin' good!"

"You have your own self to censure, not Ichigo." intoned the Zanpaku-to spirit.

As expected Hichigo snarled then slumped down dejected, mumbling to himself. "Idiot King, makin' me feel shame...but I didn't! I didn't harm the Queen!! She wanted it!" He buried his face in his hands, rocking slowly on the balls of his feet. Zangetsu surveyed him unsympathetically, "she is something precious to us, not something to be used for an easy lay."

"I know! I know!" wailed Hichigo. "Don't you think I know that already!?" He sucked his teeth, "geez don't you realize it's driving_ me_ crazy?! Love-lust whatever you call it...and the King won't do anything about it! It's sooo fucking tiresome..." He opened a portal to look through into the outside world. "Right there..." he said softly, "she's right there!"

Zangetsu inclined his head slightly, observing indeed through the mirror that Kei was there. A flicker passed over his face, a residual from Ichigo's emotions at being in her presence. **He** shouldn't feel this way. The Zanpaku-to spirit frowned slightly; if he'd had a heart it would have been fluttering and that did not suit his usual self-control.

~Tsukikage Castle Throne room~

"We discovered it was a virus that had snuck through our firewalls into the general network and from there spread outward into the other channels. The first indication of the outbreak, was a blue screen that said..." Hisrio droned on.

Kei yawned politely behind her hand, exchanging a slight wink with Takara. The Third Division Lieutenant smiled a little chagrined. Hisrio was infamous for boring reports and proper punishment of misconduct as per the code maintained by all Nobles. In other words...

A glower was sent their way.

Kei straightened and pretended to lean forward to catch his every word. Takara started giggling uncontrollably much to the annoyance of the easily-ruffled ex Noble.

"This is a very serious incident, Lieutenant Shimizu--"

"Shihoin-kun, please state which Shimizu you mean. There **are** two here..." Kagami interrupted with a straight face. Kimiko bit her lip to hold in the giggles.

"--I do not see the cause for your amusement." Hisrio finished haughtily, then turned a pouting upper lip to the water wielder, "Lieutenant Shimizu Takara, of course."

"Ah." Kagami crossed his arms and nodded wisely, "of course. I should've known. Now, please if you will, carry on." He barely withheld adding on. _Your intriguing-if not repetitive report_.

Hisrio still looked a little affronted but continued, "it locked down all systems on..."

"He reminds me of a cock-on-the-rock." Kei muttered under her breath. Kazeatari's brows rose and hastily, the fire wielder hissed, "not that kind! Get your mind out of the gutter, fool."

Hisrio glared again.

She fell respectfully silent.

"As I was saying. The firewalls were useless, the entire network was left defenseless and **I** of course was left to take charge of the..."

"All puffed up with pride and crowing every chance he gets." Kazeatari murmured contemptuously. Kei eyed him up and down, "like Chanticleer himself."

"Chandelier?"

"_Chanticleer_. Ma'mere's prized rooster."

Kazeatari was quiet for a moment then said, "you know you talk funny sometimes."

It was Kei's turn to frown slightly, "like _how_?"

"With an accent. Rolling your letters more than the Japanese pronunciation dictates. It's really weird." Kazeatari admitted.

Kei stared at her; the sound of a scuffle outside in the hallway reached them. Hisrio stopped speaking for a moment, irritation evident in every line of his tanned face, "what now?!"

"Captain Yamamoto," the door opened an inch and Ren Mimasaka peered in, "there is a Kurosaki Ichigo _demanding_--" here her lip curled slightly, "to speak with you, ma'am. What should I tell him?"

_Kick him out_, Hisrio was silently mouthing to her.

Kei stood, "I'll talk to him." Glancing to Hisrio, she smirked slightly, "if you'll excuse me."

He spluttered indignantly after the door had closed.

~*~

Ichigo didn't know why he had gone to the upper floor of the castle. Kei's reiatsu wavered softly like the smoke from a dying fire in one of the topmost rooms. He knew this part was restricted; they had been told of this from the beginning. But still...somehow, he found himself wandering down one corridor after the other, seeing no one.

The rooms were finer, he did notice.

Threadbare rugs glittered with faded silver embroidery, old mirrors reflected rippled glass, Oriel windows studded one hallway, rounded panes with plain crossbeams shed light onto the stone floor in a multitude of colors. Stained glass...he recalled the dream he'd had the night spent outside of the Arcadian City.

Blue glass illuminated by night. Candle sconces burning with large flickering flames. And that woman...

_Keiki_. He rubbed at his suddenly aching head. _Why did the remembrance of that name bring about such pain_?! Her face. It was Kei's face-almost. With a few minor differences. Black hair, bi-colored eyes. One of flame the other familiar violet.

The headache grew steadily worse, he squinted in the sunlight, the brightness bringing a fresh wave of throbbing to his forehead. Noticing the door at the end of the passage, he quickly went to it, not caring what it lead to. _As long as it was dark_...

The opening of the door threw a shaft of light into the inner recesses of the room. Cartons were piled haphazardly on aged rattan chairs, the seats sagged with the weight. A heavy oaken sideboard was against one wall, it was the duplicate of the one in the Dining Hall, except this one was wrecked. It seemed a great force had crashed into it, splitting the large top in half. Ichigo eyed it warily, having touched its twin downstairs, knowing the thickness of the ancient wood.

He passed by an open crate full of dusty dishes. Aubergine glass gleamed dully from within. Extras of the ones lining the China cabinets below. His gaze drifted over these various items of forgotten remnants, feeling quite like a kid again digging through an attic in search of treasure.

Then he saw it. Against a chair back, leaning, half-hidden by the fold of moth eaten fabric. A painted eye. He stepped forward, his heart pounding unnaturally fast. The cover fell away, revealing the canvas that lay beneath.

"Keiki?"

~*~

They didn't have to go far to hear the struggling and muffled cursing of Ichigo being forcibly restrained in the entrance to the outer hallway by a grim-faced Seijin Maru, Kazeatari's third seat. Akashi was stemming a bloody nose obviously dealt out by the irate Strawberry.

"Lemme go, you basta--oh! Kei!"

Her eyes rolled over him then to stoic expression of the unyielding man, holding him captive. "Thank goodness, you've come, Captain Yamamoto!" Akashi said warmly, pinching the bridge of his nose so that his voice had a nasally undertone to it. Kei smiled, "am I to assume the old left-hook got you? You know Hisrio would be severely displeased to think that one of his seated officers took a fall from a _rookie_."

Akashi looked truly nervous for a minute, "you won't tell the Lieutenant, right, Captain?!"

She laughed, "of course not, silly! That is...as long as Ren here doesn't--"

"So, now I'm a rookie?!" Ichigo yelled. Kei sighed, turning to him, her smile faded, "this is an area of limited access to very few Soul reapers. Be grateful of that fact that anyone of the seated members standing guard could've alerted someone other than myself and you most certainly would have been punished."

He scowled at the floor.

"Release him, Seijin."

Ichigo stumbled a little without the iron-grip of the third seat holding him up. Kei nodded toward a door on the right, meaning they could talk there. He however, motioned for her to follow him instead and took the roundabout way to the window-lined passageway. He was glad to leave the cold stares of the Squad members behind.

"I find it odd," Kei began, the moment they had passed the dividing wall and turned toward the left, "that we just saw each other during breakfast yet you insisted upon breaking one of our principal rules all for the sake of speaking to me. What..." she glanced at his shadowed face, "on earth could possibly be so important as to warrant such a scene?"

"I was curious about something." He finally said after a long moment of inner turmoil. A shaft of sunlight fell across his face, softening the harsh panes of his cheekbones, turning his brown eyes to an almost amber color. Her heart skipped a beat. She blamed the heat of the day for the sudden increase in palpitations.

"Well, what is it?"

He stopped almost shyly before the closed door, "here."

_Inside_? She didn't hesitate to go after him when he pushed on the elongated tarnished silver handle, it gave way easily, opening on silent hinges to admit them to the garret. Kei glanced around as he had done before, at the dishes and chairs cluttering the small room, seeing nothing of relevance in the dusty crevices and corners. Ichigo sensed her lack of interest, hurriedly wiping his sweating palms on the sides of his Hakama before taking a hold of the replaced covering.

"Who is this?" he tugged it away. A shower of dust, disturbed from a century of dormancy thickened the air for a moment. Ichigo coughed into his sleeve, not so surprised when she didn't speak for a while. Her gaze entirely absorbed by the object, some undefined emotion flickering quietly in her eyes.

"That's..."

_'Look! Look at what I made, Kei--' his voice was youthful then. Without knowing bitterness or anger toward the world._

Ichigo was watching her.

_For what he could not have_. _'This is...?'_

"I don't know." She lied, averting her face from the painting._ Me_.

_'Why it's you, of course! My Nee--'_

He had a feeling she was lying. Seeing her chilled though the day was stifling in the enclosed room, he wondered what she was thinking. They stood in silence that was near absolute, no sound reached them from the hallway and rooms beyond. _No one else. Only them_. He started at the thought then cursed his inner-Hollow.

But...he didn't sense it waiting in the wings to take over in any moment of weakness. If it wasn't...

"Was that it-?" Kei's voice drew him out of his reverie. He looked up to see her turning her back, without waiting for an answer, taking another step closer to the open door.

_'Wait! Look at me!' _His Hollow cried out.

"Don't go." without realizing what he was doing, he had caught at her Haori sleeve, fingers folding in the clutch of fabric they had captured. "Stay."

She hesitated.

"Toshiro said we...they...want us to go back." His voice was normal, grumpy-sounding. Belying it though, was a well of frustration and anger at being told what to do.

"When?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"Oh...I didn't know." She said then seemed to consider her words weak, "can't you stay on by yourself? I mean one of us can open a portal to take you back..."

He was heartened at the offer. "thanks, but no. I have...school." Technically, Kon was supposed to be attending in his absence but...

_Yes, he wanted to stay._

_No, he didn't want to leave the castle. _

_But...he was afraid. What if next time he couldn't stop his inner Hollow from coming out--hurting her...it wasn't worth it_.

'Nooo, King!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

_Speak of the devil_. In his mind's eye, he saw its dismay and glimpsed a flicker of her own by what she said next. "I forget you're still so young. High school, right? Not the Soul academy?"

"No, it's the local High school. My dad operates a small clinic out of our house and we're not far from it, so I generally walk to school."

"Do you like it?" she questioned, moving toward the door. He followed her, frowning thoughtfully, "it's okay, I guess. I'm usually out slaying Hollows, so my attendance isn't perfect."

"But you're human...doesn't it bother you to not be able to live a normal life?" They were outside in the hallway, a soft tapping at one of the windows further down made him glance. A dark shape hovered behind the opaque goldenrod pane.

"Not really. I mean I have this power and why shouldn't I use it to protect others?"

"But it's Soul Society's responsibility. Why should you have to shoulder that burden?" she argued back mildly. Ichigo scowled, "I don't know. I've never really thought about it as being _a burden_...it's just my role. Something I feel I have to do!"

Kei observed the fervent belief in his eyes and expression and smiled sadly, shaking her head as she turned away from him. "You're so unselfish. I've never met anyone like you before." She laughed a little, "it's a little surprising actually...such earnestness makes me see that we are not at all so unalike."

He tried not to appear _too_ overly pleased in hearing that. His brash, abrupt manner disappeared and he seemed almost self-conscious. She smiled and his flush deepened.

A reiatsu pulsed far away. Faintly. Only someone superior in sensing spirit pressures from a distance would know it belonged to an Arrancar of Espada level. As it was, it barely registered in his consciousness. _Most likely the Hollow's as well_.

Impulsively Kei leaned in and brushed his cheek lightly with her lips, "I have to go now. I'll see you later, 'kay?"

~Touda's p.o.v~

_Rake a hand through your hair, stare briefly into the rippling ancient glass; it's all the same. _

_Pinch your pale cheeks; they become rosy. You daren't speak it aloud this hope._

_Power. You let it envelop you, radiate from your very being. It's all to impress him. _

_Worth in his eyes, that's all you want._

_Your thoughts are on_ _him_ _when you pass Kurosaki in the main hall. In your own world you see nothing but the distance remaining between you and the other, you don't notice Kurosaki's eyes following you or the broken-hearted stare of the Inoue girl._

_I know her wish, just as I know yours._

~Edge of the Northlands~

"...Aizen-sama requires an act of good faith on your part." The Espada's eyes were cold, distant, their look as barren as the frozen wasteland surrounding them.

"A display, you mean." Kei smiled, "I understand his impatience. Tell him...that the Juppongatana will side with the Shinigami for now. However, I have something that will change the course of the entire war."

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated :)


	24. Deep feelings

ShiKai CH.23:

_'It's a sword. Hakuya: White Night_.'

She slipped into the Second Division office; through the side window, she glimpsed a whistling a happy tune, Kimiko carrying a potted Gardenia to the back, a profusion of white buds studding the green-leaved branches.

_It was the last sentient blade the Elemental of water ever completed_.

Kei stepped quietly around the large center desk, her eyes turned above to the mounted scabbard, leather thongs held the guard and end perfectly level on the wall. She reached for it, fingers tingling with the contact of foreign reishii encasing it. A barrier. Kagami was no fool. Of course he would take every precaution necessary to protect something so powerful. No matter. A handful of her own reiatsu fractured the effervescent bubble, melting away the watery prison. Her hand slid over the gray bound hilt then wrenched it upward in a single motion. The brackets came away and the scabbard rose, Kei ran her eyes up along the black sheath to the curved wickedly gleaming tips of the ivory horns adorning each side of the triangular guard.

_It is a fitting weapon for your Lord to wield_.

Swiftly she unsheathed it, the long silver tang drawn to the cold atmosphere, almost immediately she felt it pulse in recognition. Remembrance. Its aura glowed black then white, a combination of the two melding into gray. The color of lifelessness. Of misery and desolation.

_It takes its victims to a night without darkness. A place of nightmares and reality distorted by their own tormented memories. Few can wield it. I am one of them. Not even its own creator could handle such a wicked sword. But it also has another, more unique ability...it can-_-

"Kimi--"

She started, cursing her own stupidity for leaving the door open. She turned, the sword lowered, "oh, Inoue, you startled me."

~*~

"I'm so sorry!" the human girl instantly cried in a way of overreaction that Kei found slightly irritating. "It's alright," she managed to smile reassuringly, noticing the girl's large luminous eyes pass over the office and then alight on the sword in her hand. _She knew what was coming_.

"What's that?"

"It's one of the swords Kagami made. Hakuya is its name." Kei answered easily, silently hoping that the girl's curiosity was satiated.

"Oh...wow, it's so...so cool!"

To her intense aggravation, Inoue moved closer, studying every inch of the blade.

"...I'm glad you think so. Kagami would be pleased to know you said that--I'll tell him when I see him--but um, I assume you were looking for--"

"Kei-san..." Inoue interrupted, her voice quieter than usual, the buoyancy diminished.

_What happened to 'Keiko-san or Yamamoto-san_? She thought but inquired as warmly as she could, "yes?"

"Do you like...Kurosaki-kun?"

_You act sometimes as if you like me_. Kei stared at her blankly, "why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know...I'm sorry! I'm prying aren't I?" Inoue laughed at herself. Kei's gaze dropped, "don't be ridiculous. I sometimes wonder about it myself. I suppose I'm cheating on him in a way."

"Cheating...?" Inoue's eyes widened.

She slid the blade back into the scabbard and laid it aside, "not on Ichigo. You see there's someone I love and I've only just been reunited with him after a very long separation. I want things to go right this time... but I'm just afraid, you know?"

"Oh, yes!" Inoue breathed, her hands fisting determinedly against her bosom, "oh, Kei-san, I didn't know! To love someone so much and be parted from them--you're so strong! I could never bear it..." her cheeks pinkened and Kei knew she was thinking of Ichigo.

~*~

The doors swung open to the first of the allotted rooms made into the Division one offices. Kanzaki glanced up from reviewing paperwork, setting it aside at Kei and surprisingly accompanying her-Inoue's approach. "Did someth--"

"Second, Fourth and Fifth are in agreement." She cut him off, reaching into her surcoat for a folded paper. He took it, seeing immediately a hand-written spread declaring the alliance between the Juppongatana and Seireitei as authorized by three of the four Captains. As Takara was merely a Lieutenant, the decision was made by proxy.

Witness my hand: 強い山の皇族の火の子供

第7ミラー

吹きさらしの前方がありなさい

He wasn't surprised to see them written in Kanji characters. "Very well then," Kanzaki took up a pen and added his signature below Kazeatari's.

Inoue spoke first, "does this mean that--"

"Yes."

"Oh, I'm so glad! And Rangiku and Hitsugaya-Taichou will be, and..."

Kei ignored the girl's excited prattle, her look askance in his direction, "announce it at dinner. I must speak with Third. Please, have tonight's meal especially prepared to celebrate our union."

"O-Of course, Kei--"

She had walked out already.

Leaving Inoue behind.

~*~

"We have decided to comply with the terms offered us by Soul Society. We will now be allied with them for a time and I expect full cooperation and conformance to their laws."

The room was silent, the Soul reapers from Divisions Third and Fourth had their attention on the three women standing before them. Kei flanked on the right by Third's Lieutenant Takara and on the left by her own Lieutenant Zoe Elbe.

"However that doesn't mean you are bound by their authority. You will still answer to us only and obey any and all orders given by a superior such as myself or any other Captain in residence. If you are called to the front, you will go. If you are told to release your Zanpaku-to, you must. And if you are commanded to turn on those considered to your allies..." her eyes were steady and cold as her gaze passed over their faces, "you will not hesitate. To falter is to show weakness and that is forbidden. Anyone who fails to observe this, shall be punished severely and stripped of all rank. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" was the response in unison.

Kei ducked her head briefly, "then, back to your stations."

~*~

The great Dining hall was lit from end to end with ironwork sconces in stands. Beads of wax dripped down the sides, scenting the overall surroundings with the fragrances of rose and lilac. The atmosphere was tense around the group that circled the large banquet table. Chairs were pulled back and the _dissidents_ as well as the Shinigami sat down. The assembly was larger as it was requested that Lieutenants join the Captains in this last dinner party; it had been announced earlier in the day to Kanzaki by Hitsugaya that they had every intention of leaving before noon tomorrow. This news soured Kurosaki and he scowled darkly at the person who had the unlucky position of sitting opposite him: Takara Shimizu.

The Captains were along one end, Kei was nearer Kagami who sat next to Kanzaki at the head. Somehow or another, Inoue had ended up opposite her!

"Well--" Kanzaki began nervously, feeling every head turn toward him. "here we are together on this last night-" someone's foot connected with his ankle and he jumped up to his feet hurriedly. "I mean what I want to say is..." he took a deep breath and forgot by Kei's glare to use the paper she had written up for that purpose.

"We will ally ourselves with you. Fight alongside you in the upcoming winter war and by Gods I pray we will win!" He raised his goblet awkwardly up and everyone did the same. "To victory!"

The response of the Shinigami was enthusiastic to say the least. Inoue and Rangiku's cheers were the loudest.

"Se venger," Kei whispered, tipping the contents of her glass into her mouth.

~*~

The party drifted into the Library after dinner by silent consent. There a cheerful blaze had been prepared and sweet cedar burned in black-violet flames. Kei prodded it once with the iron poker, two contented fiery eyes peeked out and Touda yawned.

"Happy now?" she questioned in a low tone, indicating the wood offering.

_'Maybe. If you'd take that damn thing out of my side first then ask again.'_ The fire bird complained.

"Silly." She replaced it in the metal urn beside the fireplace just as Ichigo walked up. "Who were you talking to?" he asked, leaning slightly against the stone mantel. The glow of the fire lightened her eyes, deepening the contrast between the rim of black surrounding the violet. Her lashes lowered, a lock of hair trailed across her cheek, the flickering flames turning it almost golden. His hands clenched in his pockets. He longed to brush it aside; touch her skin.

She was unaware of it, "just the fire." Then smiled faintly to mean she was just teasing. He smiled as well to indicate he understood only to have her move away. Her glance had been to the door where Orihime was entering. _He didn't get her sudden reticence_.

"Kei--"

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime was at his elbow, beaming her usual radiant smile up into his face. "Kagami-san suggested we divide up into teams to all play a game of Whist! Isn't that wonderful!?"

"...yeah." He answered hesitantly, scratching at his head, eyes turning to the opposite doorway where she had disappeared to. _That was where the piano was...was she going to play?_

He took a step toward the open door, a sliver of the large instrument in sight. _He couldn't see its player_. Chad's quiet rumble stopped him, "Ichigo."

_Just that. Reminding him of them_. Reluctantly he turned away from the other room and to the rest; Kagami and Ishida were toting one table while Kanzaki and Renji were with another. Toshiro was standing back, unofficially supervising the assemblage.

He looked from this to Orihime's bright, happy expression, hesitantly joining her and Chad at one of the tables, near them, Rukia and Renji argued over a book picked up from one of the massive shelves lining the walls. He glanced over the cards he was given, then up at the sound pattering against the ancient stone.

It was raining.

~*~

Kei ran her fingers dissolutely over the keys. No particular melody in mind. From the open door, she could hear Kagami explaining the rules of the card game they were to play. Every once in a while this was punctuated by Inoue speaking up in that soft girlish voice of hers, about what they couldn't and could do then with a slight nervous giggle, Kurosaki-kun this and Kurosaki-kun that; as if he hadn't just heard the self-same thing explained right there.

She shook her head, lying her arms crossways over the lowered keyboard cover. She couldn't explain this feeling that had taken a hold of her mind. She felt oppression where there was none, a heaviness that had settled over her heart for no reason. Raindrops spattered the stone terrace outside. Her eyes closed.

'I'll be rooting for you, Kei-san!'

_Poor simple-minded girl_. _How naive could she truly be? Or was it just...a quality of innocence_? _A trusting sort of determination, eager to find the good in all?_ _Pathetic really_...Kei lifted her head and removed the cover from the keys once again. _As the world wasn't as sugar-coated and rose-colored as it was in the girl's fantasies, there, Ichigo looked at her._

_Cared for her._

_And loved her_.

Kei began playing the opening strains to Zetsuai bronze. _Inoue really didn't suit him_. The chords were deeper, more transcendent and soon she became lost in the notes of the song.

~*~

He couldn't concentrate.

Between the three of them, they'd lost two games with the threat of another in the wings. Only Kagami's group seemed to have any luck and it was mostly due to the man himself, pointing out different whispered tips to the other players. Kazeatari looked bored and yawned over her cards before applying a brief wave of her fan then selecting more cards from the extra pile.

Music notes drifted from the room beyond. He wondered how she could discern the keys in the dimness. Orihime chose more cards, interspersing her gathering with trivial commentary. He said nothing and Chad only grunted, looking over his own hand with a furrowed heavy brow.

_Belong with them_. He glanced to the faces of his companions, their expressions ranging from contentment to repose. Toshiro sat beneath the corner floor lamp, the glass shade a myriad of water lilies in a mosaic; he was reading. _Probably something he didn't get to do often in Seireitei_.

Ichigo switched his wandering gaze to Rukia, a novel in hand, sitting on the sofa beside Renji. Every once in a while she would punch him on the arm to get his attention and then they would start quarrelling again about her excessive use of violence. _Luckily they did it quietly_.

Friends. They had been through so much together and known him longer than Kei ever had. She was just--

'Just what, King?'

_Stay away_, he warned the Hollow inside his mind.

'Nothing? Was that what you were going to say? Deny your own feelings?!' The Hollow snorted derisively, 'pretend you don't need 'er around us?'

_Shut up!_

'Ooh angry are we? Touched a nerve have I? Why don't you go in there--be around 'er some more and then tell me we feel nothing around her.' The Hollow suggested, a grin splitting his lips as if he found something terribly amusing. 'Or are ya too scared?!'

Ichigo ground his teeth silently seething. "Inoue, can you get me an umbrella?"

Before she could respond-or even question his reasons for needing one, Kagami waved a hand vaguely to a hidden corner stand where several curved handles stuck out. "Thanks," Ichigo stood, dropping his cards unceremoniously on the table. Orihime stared from them to his face, her brow puckering, "Kurosaki-kun--?"

"Sorry," he muttered by way of apology to her and the ever-silent Chad, before taking up one of the umbrellas from the stand and then going into the other room. He could feel their looks after him, his jaw tightened. He didn't need their approval for **anything** or **anyone**.

He could take care of himself just fine without it.

~*~

"Hey."

He was standing there, looking down at her. Her hands slowed, the rhythm of the sequence faltering beneath his intense gaze.

"Am I bothering you?"

"No," she answered shortly, returning to her original pace. She was lying though. It did perturb her to a certain degree to be watched in the way she was by him. Admiration bordering on near worship was contained within his eyes and he probably didn't even realize it. Kei shifted slightly uneasily, the last notes fading within the sound of the rain.

"So, um would you..." he wet his lips nervously, "walk with me out in the garden?"

She tilted her chin up, regarding him with a narrowed look, "you do realize it's raining out there, right?"

"Yeah, so what?!"

"I thought you didn't like the rain."

He looked away, "...I don't. But you do. So...I just thought we could go out there and you know maybe see those moon flower things that Shimizu said were going to bloom tonight."

_Takara_..._hmm, the boy's coming around more than I expected so early in the game_. Kei observed, her hand absently lowering the keyboard flap. "You know you're crazy," she said bluntly, standing up in the limited space remaining between him and the bench. Ichigo backed up, the closeness brought on by her sudden proximity darkening his cheeks.

To disguise it, he snorted softly, going to the double doors at the end of the room. Kei followed close at his heels, her hand reaching around his arm to undo the lock he was having trouble with. "There." Her fingertips brushed the back of his hand and he started at the slight touch, his skin tingling.

She didn't notice his shudder, "are we going?"

The door opened to the pouring rain.

*~*

"He's out there..."

Renji glanced up at her tone, "huh? Who's--" then he caught sight of the orange-haired sub tilting the wide canopy of the umbrella over his companion more than over himself, ignoring whether or not he became soaked. The Sixth Company Fukutaicho chuckled quietly, "they make a nice pair actually. Never would've thought our Ichigo would find someone like that! Hah!"

"What're you saying, Renji?" Rukia asked, dropping her voice down discreetly as she had noticed Orihime glance over to them after hearing his loud guffaw. "That he's _lucky_?! Surely you can't mean it!"

It was his turn to eye her suspiciously, "now what are _you_ talking about--oh, wait...I get it..." a sly smile crossed his face, "you're just jealous--Oww!!!"

Her fist was sunk into his gut, "fool."

Renji scowled at her, "well, what am I supposed to think?! Wait! Don't answer that..." he hastily held his hand up as her fist readied itself again. "But seriously, explain to me why you're not happy for him? I mean I am--even a little jealous. That girl's got some--"he only stopped at her quiet demand. "Have you really forgotten what Ukitake-Taichou told us before we left Karakura?"

He looked a little blank, "uh...yes."

"About those reincarnated as the Elements?"

He shook his head mutely.

Her expression darkened, her gaze looking past him out into the rainy night and _her friend. Once savior. And_--she refused to think anymore. "In every lifetime that passes they are meant to die tragic deaths and without fail it always happens!"

"Oh...that sucks. But that was then, right? I mean what's this have to do with Ichi--"

"Don't you see?! He can't..." her lips trembled and she couldn't go on. The words died in her throat. _He couldn't love her. Because...eventually she would die. It was cruel and unfair but it was just...their fate_.

~*~

The steps were slick with moisture. Her hand slid along the rail, palm encountering a coldness that was deeper than the chill that surrounded her. At the bottom, she paused, her fingers tightening, nails digging into her flesh. The chill was spreading, hovering inches above the strips of flesh not covered by the kimono.

_Sinking._

_Crawling into her veins, freezing the blood around her heart_--her breath was a white mist when his wasn't.

"Cold?" he broke into her thoughts quite suddenly, hand that wasn't holding the umbrella over their heads, reaching for her shoulder. His scowl deepened as she shrugged him away. "It's noth--"

"Like hell!" forcibly he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. "You're nearly shivering! Maybe this wasn't--"

"I'm_ fine_." She said tightly, her tone brooking no room for argument--if it had been anyone but him who was wise enough not to contest her reassurance.

He glowered and proceeded to drag her back up the steps.

"H-Hey!" Kei struggled to break the grip he maintained on her arm. "Unhand me this instant! I mean it, Ichi--"

"No! You need to get inside and get something warmer on then maybe we can come back out!" He yelled back, his voice barely audible over the whoosh of the rain.

Kei glared at him, terribly affronted, "_Maybe!!_ You dare treat me as if I am a child?! You're the child here--if you remember I'm-agh!" He had lifted her up-albeit clumsily into his arms. Kei's legs dangled for a moment against his knees, then he shifted his hold, bringing them up to his waist.

"You are...so stubborn," she muttered against his shoulder. Ichigo _quite_ unconsciously cuddled her closer, the steady thump of her heart beat against his breast bone. The rain fell around them, like a lament for the living within the realm of death. Kei pondered this, her hands intertwined behind his head, fingers curling into the longer strands at the base.

Here they were, Soul reaper and human.

Elemental and Shinigami.

Worlds and time had separated them. Age was inconceivable to compare. Experience affecting the judgment of one while youth flared the determination of the other.

But here...standing together beneath the pouring rain...

~*~

"How cute..." Kazeatari murmured.

Kagami twisted around in his seat to look behind to the glass doors overlooking the terrace way. On the steps were Kei and Ichigo. Blond eyebrows shot up and he quickly turned back lest he drew attention from other quarters to the scene unfolding outside.

"It's so...so--"

"Romantic." Kagami muttered in an undertone. Kazeatari carefully laid down one red card then scanned the rest before answering in an equally quiet voice. "Exactly. It's like that RobinxAmonxTouko thing from Witch Hunter Robin..."

He looked at her, "what?"

"You know!" she gestured with a fanning motion as if she had forgotten the fan was folded up on the table near her elbow, "when Robin was out in the rain and she saw Touko and Amon walking across, sharing an umbrella." Her eyes glowed, "it was so romantic! But then I mean sad in a way for poor Robbie--"

"Uh huh." Kagami covertly glanced around then indicated with a jerk of his head to the opposite table. Kazeatari followed his gaze, immediately ducking behind her cards.

Inoue was miserable. Her large eyes were gleaming with a sheen of unshed tears, her lower lip trembled and when Yasutora quietly asked if she was alright, she responded with a weak, watery smile and jerky nod.

The giant's face crinkled in concern for his friend.

He knew she was lying. But could think of nothing to say to console her.

"Perhaps, you would best be off to bed? You seem tired." Kazeatari finally spoke up, her voice gentle. Inoue sniffed, smiling wanly to her, "oh, no, Namaiki-san! I wouldn't dream of being so impolite to--to everyone!" Her eyes turned mournfully to the doors, "after all, Kurosaki-kun hasn't come in yet and I would like to say goodnight to him..."

_Stubborn girl_. Kazeatari rolled her shoulders luxuriantly the way a tiger might when stretching, "alright, if you want." _Go ahead. Watch them. Just torture yourself ._

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading. Tired:

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated :)


	25. The setting sun

ShiKai CH.24: The setting sun

_Night turns to day  
And I still have these questions.  
Bridges will break  
Should I go forward or backwards.  
Night turns to day,  
And I still get no answers _

_Just a whisper, a whisper, a whisper, a whisper  
Just a whisper, a whisper, a whisper, a whisper_

-A Whisper, Coldplay

~Karakura Town, five days later~

_'...The flowers Takara was talking about, are over there.'_

The teacher's voice went on, the dull scratch of pens filled his ears.

_'Moonlils. They only blossom beneath the light of the full moon, though often it is erroneously stated that it is during the blue moon so hence--once in a rare blue moon. But that is folly. The Blue moon occurs over the Northlands, never over Tsukikage. They are pretty aren't they?'_

"...saki. Kurosaki!"

He glanced up.

"Class is over. Didn't you hear the bell ring?" The teacher said gently, seeing the confusion in his eyes. At the door, Orihime and Chad waited; _concern written all over her face_.

~Assiah, Tsukikage Castle~

"He'll be waiting to take us to Las Noches at this point in Arcadia." Her finger landed on the name beside a patch of land surrounded by trees; a Park. Kagami straightened, his eyes on the map, but his words were to her, "Kurosaki asked about you yesterday."

"Hn?"

"He barged into Inoue's apartment when Hitsugaya-mini-Taichou was telling me about the acquittal Ukitake and Kyoraku-Taichous were having written up for me. Without it, if you recall, I'm prohibited from entering the living world and by proxy Seireitei."

Kei moved to the keyboard, glancing up at the display on the screen.

"Anyway, he goes over there and cuts in with--_is Kei there_? Hitsugaya elbows him out of the way, apologizing to me profusely. I tell him it's not necessary and inform the kid you aren't as a fact even in Tsukikage at the time. Surveying or something. And let me tell you...he looked really disappointed--hey, are you even listening to me?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, what did I just say?"

"Confirmation that everything is going exactly the way I wanted it to. What? Did you expect me to say something different?" Kei turned to him, a lack of interest in her manner that Kagami found slightly maddening. "That boy is falling in love with you and all you can say is _everything's going the way you want it_?!"

Kei thought a moment then nodded agreement, "yes, that sounds about right."

He made a noiseless snarling gesture at her back.

"I was thinking Ichigo might make a nice Third Division Captain to Takara as Lieutenant." She went on, oblivious to his indignation on the absent sub's behalf. "I was even considering a brief visit to Karakura to broach the subject to him. In the upcoming war, it would be sheer folly to present a lacking front with a Captain-less Division. I myself am much too occupied with my own responsibilities to keep a firm rein on them. Let alone you or Atari. So, yes...I think I should go post haste as soon as--"

"Hold on," Kagami backtracked; Kei waited.

"Am I to understand you're planning on offering the vacant Captaincy rank to a kid in his teens--who need I mention is also still living and most likely would not want to leave his family behind?!"

"Is there a problem with that?" Kei innocently asked in rhetorical fashion.

The water wielder sputtered a few inarticulate curses in English then simmered down somewhat, pinching at the bridge of his nose, "alright, I can only assume you must have some sort of ulterior motive for taking such a risky course. Now, what is it?"

"His Hollow."

"What!?"

"His hollow is an unforeseen hindrance I had heretofore not thought of." She explained patiently, "Hollows as you well know--like with Ren how it was in the beginning, are very unpredictable. It would be almost impossible to predict the movements or trouble it could cause, unlike with a human or Shinigami, their judgments are often impaired by emotions or feelings. A Hollow isn't so much ruled by the viewpoints of its host, more like it makes its own." Kei sighed and rubbed her forehead with tired fingers, "I met his Hollow and it saved me..."

"Saved you?" He sounded incredulous.

"Yes. As you know, I sustained some injuries that day when the seal broke on the Cazadores. I misjudged the depth to the wound I was given and was easily taken into Ichigo's mindscape by his Hollow. I have to admit...I was frightened. I was utterly at its mercy and little or none that it has..."

_"What's the matter, Queen? You look huuurt. Has the bad Horse hurt you so badly?" _

"The Hollow stabbed me when I demanded it take me back. Then I fell off the building trying to get away from it."

Kagami's expression became troubled, "and it still rescued you?!"

Kei smiled faintly, "mm hm. Imagine my surprise if you will, at seeing Ichigo's double coming after me. It didn't apologize nor did it do anything other than admit it loved me when I asked. Ichigo came not long afterwards, fully contrite and well-- you know the rest. So now do you see _why_ I wish to have Ichigo as the third candidate for the Captaincy?"

"...So Takara can fight him and..."

"Cut the darkness from his soul. Precisely."

~Karakura Town, Kurosaki clinic~

"Ichi-nii? He's upstairs," Yuzu glanced toward the rest of the house, cooking spoon in hand, "should I get him?"

"Uh--no! No, that's alright," Renji said quickly, dropping to her eye-level, "I actually wanted to ask you girls about him. Without," he shot Karin who lurked, glaring at him in the background, "him knowing about it, 'kay? "

"Okay," Yuzu opened the door wider, "please, come in."

Once they were seated in the tiny living room, Renji rubbed his hands together nervously, casting a glance to the back, making sure there was no berry eavesdroppers hanging around. "I was just wondering how he is--I mean you know, around you guys?"

Karin harrumphed and leaned back; it was Yuzu who spoke up, "well, lately he's been..." she struggled, a frown puckering her small brow, "not finishing his dinner. Says he's not hungry and pushes the plate away only half-eaten. Dad commented something silly once and Ichi-nii looked like he took offense..." she trailed off uncertainly.

"What was it--do you remember?" Renji pressed.

"I think dad said he was lovesick over a girl. But Ichi-nii's not like that! He's not interested in girls!"

"He didn't deny it though...did he?" Karin muttered.

~*~

_He was such an idiot! _

_If he had wanted to see her, he could've just_...

Ichigo closed his eyes to the familiar surroundings of his room.

The late afternoon of Karakura, melded into the dark night surrounding Tsukikage. Light flickered from the fireplace, casting a dull gleam on the embroidery of the Haori draped over the chair. He glimpsed her retreating back, going into the next room.

A stone bathroom. A sunken tub took up one half, the whoosh of the running water suddenly audible to him. But then--

Her kimono fell into a puddled heap on the floor revealing a smooth expanse of fine unmarked skin only broken by the strapless row of black that soon was discarded. _Her bra_...

Ichigo began to panic. He had never dreamed of coming upon her when she was--

_Undressing!_ He groaned. Her short hakama falling as well to join the kimono. Now she was only clad in panties and leaning up to adjust the spout sticking out of the wall. Inwardly he cursed, his breath becoming short. _Look away! He had to_--

He shut his eyes to her panties sliding off and was back in his room. _Only perverts like Hat'n'clogs would've watched it all_, he told himself, attempting to get his breathing under control_. And Kurosaki Ichigo was no pervert! But still...no!_

Inwardly arguing with himself for a time, he decided to try once more. His lids fluttered shut...

The water made gentle ripples, silvery in the cloud of steam curling around her bare shoulders. Ichigo felt his cheeks blaze but got closer anyway. Kei leaned on the side of the tub, her arms pillowing her head on the raised edge. _She looked weary_, he thought, seeing her eyes close and a soft yawn escape her sealed lips. Her hand dipped into the water and splashed some over her skin, the trickles ran down her back sinuously.

"...orra." She murmured softly. He sank to his knees near the tub, eyes on her face. _She seemed...sad_? "What is it?" he asked-ne-demanded. But of course she couldn't hear him.

'... thinking of _him_, wielder?'

The voice startled him. It came from beyond the open doorway, he immediately discerned its source as being the violet-black flames in the fireplace. _Familiar. Wasn't that_--

'You know such pining does not suit you--'

"Oh, shut up! You know nothing about it!" Kei grumbled, shifting back against the other wall, her arms draped along the sides. The water swooshed with her movements settling once more around her bosom. Ichigo modestly-of course, had averted his gaze slightly seeing her move at first but now looked back, trying not to stare to heavily at the shadow between the curve of her breasts

'Oh, I don't do I...? Then tell me that your heart doesn't race in his presence, that you're not fighting breathlessness--'

"Shut it."

'But then again I suppose I understand some of the need for reticence on your part. Any sort of relationship with him would be breaking all social and class taboos.'

_Are we really all that different?_ Ichigo wondered.

"I know," her eyes closed as if in a drowse and for a short nerve-wracking while, he suspected just that. She had fallen asleep in the tub--but no, after a time, her lids fluttered, the intensity of her lilac gaze hadn't been diminished by time apart nor its effect on him. He blushed crimson before realizing with some disappointment she had not seen him as her steady gaze straight at him originally denoted. "But how can I possibly remedy that? I can't ask him to change who he is for my sake if it were at all feasible. So, what am I do?!"

_My Hollow_...he cursed its existence. _If it wasn't there, then Kei wouldn't be_...

'I don't know.' The fire admitted, crackling softly in thoughtfulness. For a time both were quiet, lost in their own musings, the silence pierced occasionally by the splish-splash of droplets cascading from her cupped palms. The room was filled with the scent of vanilla and roses with an undertone of fresh lavender in the sachet floating by her.

Ichigo inhaled deeply, wondering why he felt so... strange.

'Lavender,' commented the bird, 'to ease sleeplessness. Have you been having trouble getting rest, wielder?'

He was surprised to see the not-unappealing blush coloring her cheeks. "You mean you didn't know? I thought for sure you'd have been the first to notice."

Both knew what insomnia connoted other than a body in sore need of respite from the duties and attentions demanded on them every waking moment.

"I rest, but when I do...I dream. And that's much worse." She covered her face with her hands, fingers digging into her scalp at the fringes of her hairline. "In my dreams, he's there and everything is the way it was...but when I wake up, I'm alone!"

"Kei...I didn't know," he murmured, pained at the anguish he heard in her voice. "I'm sorry I didn't know you felt this way--but...but I'll come and see you as soon as I possibly can! Maybe tomorrow after school--oh hell with it! First thing tomorrow, I swear it..." he saw with a sinking futilely that it had had no effect on her. _Can't hear me_. He slammed his fist down, no pain corresponded with his hand meeting the stone floor. He had never felt so helpless before and never been made more angry by it.

'But you slept well that time in _his_ arms.' Interposed the bird.

Her head rose, "he kept my nightmares away. It was strange though...how contented I felt with him lying against me, one arm around my body..." she smiled, "I suppose some would say it's one of the symptoms of falling in love?"

He didn't notice the hint of contempt in her voice, nor anything else for that matter. Distantly in the background, he heard his name being called. _It was Yuzu. Dinner was ready. _

_His dad was busy and would leave him in peace for a while. _

_Tomorrow...he would go see her_.

Ichigo opened his eyes slowly to the dim light of the setting sun filtering in through his window.

_He wanted-no-needed to see her. No matter what the others said or thought._

_It was clear that they both needed it_.

..._needed each other_.

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated :)


	26. Missing

ShiKai CH.25

_Back then, when we met_

_it was all awkward _

_We went the long way, didn't we? _

_We got hurt, didn't we?_

_Dearest-Ayumi Hamasaki _

~Karakura Town, early am~

He put one foot on the sill, glancing back to catch Kon's pout as the Gikongan was forced to take his place yet again. "And don't let me hear of you chasing after the girls while in my body!" he threatened as an afterthought. The horror of that first time hadn't quite faded, after all, he had reputation to uphold.

~Tsukikage Castle, noon~

"How do I look?" Kei sashayed to one end of the room then back, the cranberry skirt of the dress held in her hands. "Cute. I guess." Kagami muttered, still disgruntled about being gotten up at an ungodly hour just to make her a Gigai for the trip to the living world.

"It still looks like a Lingerie slip to me, "Kazeatari observed insistently.

Kei sneered something in her direction, flipping a sheaf of tawny hair over her shoulder. The dress was a deep claret color, with thin spaghetti straps and a modest sweetheart neckline accented by scallops of black lace. Over that, a quarter-length sleeve jacket had been added to lessen the bareness. Her boot heels tapped as she rocked on the balls of her feet, a smile twitching on her lips.

"You seem awfully excited to just going to be checking up on him...is there something else perhaps that you have in mind?" Kazeatari questioned. Kei clasped her hands together, a giddiness that had dismantled her previous reserve overtook her. "Of course not!"

"You're lying. I can see right through your poker face. You're enthused about this jaunt merely because you're going to--"

"Don't start, at least not so early after lunch," Kagami grumbled, effectively calling a cease-fire between the two antagonists. Kei broke off from her glare and casually stalked to the doorway. His voice stopped her, "is this such a wise course to go unarmed? I know you can't take your Zanpaku-to, but at least--"

"I'll be fine. The Shinigami are there and I still won't be left totally defenseless. I have Touda's blood magic after all and anyway it'll give Ichigo a chance to act the hero if there is an attack..."

~Karakura Town~

"Kurosaki clinic..." she strolled up the sidewalk, glancing up and down the store fronts. The day was seasonably cool to one whom had left the warm spring sunshine for the autumn of the other world. Kei shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably; the air was freezing. The jacket did nothing to keep the chill from her body.

_Curse the humans and the artificial Gigai bodies for imitating them_.

Being in one, she dared not surround herself in the usual circle of heat and instead bore the cold at least until she spotted the large sign above a modest two-story house.

Kurosaki clinic.

She made an instant bee-line for it.

And knocked.

A small blond girl who looked to be around ten years old answered the door.

"Yes?"

"Is Kurosaki Ichigo home?" Kei couldn't lie and add she was one of his classmates, though she had checked the time previously and knew that school should've been out for the day. Well...maybe only about twenty minutes ago.

"No, he isn't--" began the girl cheerfully until another, a dark-haired about the same age pushed forward, "and you are-?"

_What_--

"Yamamoto Keiko, a friend of--oh, excuse me, you must be Ichigo's sisters."

--_adorable little girls...not_.

A smile broke out over the blonde's one face and Kei decided immediately that she liked her. The other...scowled darkly. _Not so unlike her brother...I can certainly see the resemblance. It's uncanny!_

"We are," admitted the dark-hair gravely. Kei bit the inside of her mouth to restrain saying something she would probably regret later. "May I come in? I've come a long way to see him, I'm afraid, and would be terribly disappointed if I managed to miss him if I waited elsewhere."

They had no choice but to invite her inside. Though, she was sure Yuzu--the fair-haired twin would've in a matter of seconds--the other, Karin, still eyed her distrustfully. Which was entirely evident by the next question shot back to her.

"How do you know our brother?"

"A friend of a friend introduced us." That wasn't completely a lie.

"How come I've never heard him mention your name before?" spoken in a suspicious tone of voice.

"Our acquaintance is relatively recent. I expect he doesn't openly discuss many of his friends at the dinner table." Kei said lightly; Karin's expression tautened. _It was clear she had struck a nerve_.

There was silence for a few minutes as she attempted to think up another snappy comeback and Kei struggled to keep her gaze from wandering around.

"You're right...he doesn't."

_Aren't you going to ask me to sit down_?

Karin stood uncertain between her and the rest of the house. "Where are you from? You look foreign," she said flatly.

"I assure you I was born in Japan."

"You don't look it."

"Karin! That was rude!" Yuzu exclaimed, coming back downstairs, "just because Ms. Kei doesn't look a certain way--doesn't mean she's a liar!"

_So, now to another person I'm __Kei_. _And Ms.?_

Karin shrugged, "what? No need to jump me about it, I'm just saying she looks European and besides that..." another scowl, "what's _someone like you_ doing with our brother?"

"What do you mean?" Kei disliked the tone in which she was addressed in.

"Oh, I don't know, he's a high school student and you look like you're in college. I'm just saying he doesn't have much to offer--"

"We're not what you think."

~*~

"That went well." Kei muttered under her breath. Karin closed the door rather hard behind her and the fire wielder's hands clenched just the slightest bit more. She had considered raising her reiatsu just to make the girl feel smothered then remembered self-control just in time. Yuzu was there, and she liked Yuzu. Not to mention there was another Shinigami present, just beyond a few doors. Their dad. She could tell by the amount cloaked that he had been something once upon a long time ago. Though just why he would've fled Soul Society for the living world as a small town Doctor was anyone's guess.

_He might've known what she was. _

_And not liked his son taking after one._

_That thought alone mainly kept her in check through Karin's insolence_.

But--_we're not what you think_. _Was that the right thing to say_? Kei frowned as she turned the corner, continuing onto a slightly busier thoroughfare. She was so lost in her thoughts that she failed to notice the orange-haired girl across the street watching her.

It was Inoue.

~*~

Orihime gasped. The hand that had held the lunch box of homemade Bean paste and jelly cookies released its hold on the handle. The box tumbled. The sound from within was that of the painstakingly prepared treats smashing into unrecognizable doughy fragments.

"Kei-san!" The moment the exclamation left Orihime's lips, she desperately wished she could take it back. Fortunately the Soul reaper hadn't heard and continued walking. A slender figure in a crimson colored dress and white jacket. Her hair had been layered, with two pieces framing the sides of her face and one half sheaf gathered over her forehead, pinned at the side above her ear by a baroque clip.

_What was...Kei-san doing_--

Realization struck.

_Dressed up. In a Gigai by the stares that followed which meant that the town residents could see her_. Orihime whispered to herself. "But, Kurosaki-kun isn't..."

She had seen him just that morning; stopping in to tell them of his plans to head down to Tsukikage Castle. Toshiro had harrumphed and glowered at the clock then waved him off, grumbling about time differences and the like. Orihime had heard them speak briefly from behind her closed bedroom door. Her heart had leapt at the close proximity of Ichigo's reiatsu then dampened hearing about the other world.

_But she hadn't..._

_...thought. Dreamed. Expected_ _it would really be Kei-san he was going to see._

The ground tilted beneath her blurry gaze.

_Then did that mean Kei-san had come to see him as well?_

Kei was getting further and further away in the crowd.

"I won't..." her heart was pounding so hard she felt as if she was suffocating, "I won't...tell her Kurosaki-kun isn't here."

~*~

_Such a quaint place_. She went up street after street of tree-lined sidewalks and bustling thoroughfares filled with life. She went for the most part unnoticed save for the few times a rude honk or a whistle from an auburn-haired teenage boy in the company of a smaller dark-haired boy, interrupted. She was amused to see_ Ichigo_-well his body inhabited by a Gikongan keeping up with the two aforementioned boys.

Yuzu would probably tell the imposter a girl had stopped by and then he would be eaten up with curiosity at least until the real owner came back which she hoped was sooner rather than later. A large digital clock on a billboard gave the current time as 3:56 PM. Kei shielded her hand above her eyes, glancing up then down the street. As much as she preferred the world of Assiah, she had a genuine inclination to examine his hometown more.

At least until he got back that is.

~Assiah, Tsukikage Castle~

"What are you doing here?"

Before Ichigo could answer that is without coloring--someone else broke in.

"Kagami-san, Captain Namaiki wishes to know if you will dine with her tonight on the Western wing terrace?"

"Ye--no, Kurosaki, she isn't--wait! I didn't mean _no_ to you, Sakurai!" Kagami groaned, "Kaze will have my head if I don't--and don't tell her I said that! She's still furious over earlier--wait, Kurosaki!"

Ichigo paused in the doorway.

"It was supposed to be kept a secret, but Kei went to the human world--she was going to look for you...but seeing as you're already here, you may as well stay. After she doesn't find you over there, she'll probably come back..."

"...I'll do that then--"

"Just not here. Go off," Kagami made a shooing motion with his hand, "there's too many bodies in here already! Off with you!"

Shrugging slightly, the Shinigami sub trailed out, an unhappy-looking Third Division Lieutenant Shimizu passing him with nary a greeting. She looked very upset. He briefly wondered what it was, then directed his feet up to the path that lead to the castle.

He would follow the water wielder's advice.

Kei was likely to return back after not finding at home in Karakura. He just prayed to whatever Gods there were, that she _didn't_ run into Kon impersonating him.

~Karakura Town~

4:56 PM.

An hour later and she had explored two record shops that only left her wondering as to the style of music he liked. Though she constantly reminded herself it wasn't her concern, she couldn't help but make an inward note to ask him about it later.

~Assiah, Tsukikage Castle~

He had wandered around for an hour-or what felt like one, from the Eastern wing to the Library off the Dining hall, there he had looked over the sheets of scattered music on the open piano, but being unable to read a single note of the minuscule hand, he had soon set it down, unsatisfied in his search for any lingering trace of her presence.

From there, he had looked to the grand staircase, the quiet in the echoing stone walls making him feel as though he were alone. But that was absurd, the First Division had offices in the Northern wing and there was still...

He turned to the South and went up the corridor, stopping only at the fourth door down. The smoothly polished knob gave way easily to his touch and swung open invitingly; she hadn't locked it. _He knew he was trespassing but_...

The room was mid-size. The bed stood in the corner at an angle, gauzy material he didn't remember being there previously hung suspended from the posts. That Kei had a canopy bed, wasn't surprising, what was, happened to catch his eye at the last moment. A plain nondescript wooden box on the foot of the bed.

He went to it, unsure of why his mouth was suddenly parched.

His hand shook as his fingers made contact with the lid.

Unbalanced, it fell open, a tune began playing in aged softness.

_This was_--

~Karakura Town~

6:56 PM.

Diners were steadily streaming from the clubs and restaurants comprising the growing nightlife of the town. Kei observed the casually dressed women on the arms of men, smiling and laughing into each other the way lovers' do and felt somehow...lonely.

_Apart. From any other_. Anonymity was something she had always reveled in walking the streets of Arcadia but now it only served to isolate her from the cheerful, happy humans passing her by.

She didn't belong here.

It didn't feel right.

~Assiah, Tsukikage Castle~

_Once upon a December_.

He picked it up.

Inside was a burnt engraving of a castle--_Tsukikage_, he realized with a slight shock.

But it was--

The cry of a bird disturbed the quiet.

'Go!'

He spun around.

'Wielder's in trouble!'

He didn't bother on questioning the half-formed body of the bird emerging from the flames in the fireplace nor the fact that it wasn't through his normal hearing that he heard it speak.

~Karakura Town~

Evening had fallen. She stood before a window display, admiring the selection of choice Murano glass jewelry pieces set in silver. One in particular had caught her eye--a gold and green swirled heart fastened to a woven leather cord. She briefly considered going in to ask the price then thought better of it when a shape rippled into being behind her.

People passed by it with nary a comment save for the unexpected chill in the air.

The spirit pressure it gave off was too indistinct for her to get an accurate reading of its strength, though she noticed an edge of broken mask cupping its cheek.

_An Arrancar? _

It spoke, "you can see me."

"Maybe." she consented quietly, watching its movements from the reflection in the glass.

"I was told that if I ate you my power would increase exponentially."

"Who told you that?" she turned slightly to half-smile at the hulking creature. She gave a slight, soft laugh, "whoever it was, you were foolish to believe them. I'm just a _simple_, _pretty girl_."

And turned back around.

She was slammed headfirst into the glass front a moment later.

~*~

One step.

Orihime stopped.

Her hands had gone to the clips in her hair, but the words for the Koten Zanshun had died in her throat.

Across the street, at some distance away, a dull thunk came as Kei hit the back of a parked car with enough force to cause the alarm to go off. Orihime wanted to tell the people edging closer to the girl's inert form lying in the middle of the street to keep away, that it was dangerous. The broken-masked Hollow paced a few feet away, invisible to almost all.

_Kei-san..._

Another step.

..._needed to be protected_.

At the curb edge.

_Because Kurosaki-kun wasn't around to_...

She froze.

"You really are stupid, aren't you?"

Orihime stared wide-eyed to the bleeding figure of the Soul reaper getting to her knees then rising, a twist to her cut lips, "since you really don't know what you're facing. And **he** never told you." Kei's words were to the sky. Orihime followed her glance and saw another smaller Arrancar in white.

_That was the one_-_-!_

"--shall I show you then? So, you won't die in ignorance? Guren-Kaina." Kei flicked her wrist in a crossways slashing motion. A thin red line of blood snapped the air, slicing cleanly through the stunned Arrancar's body. Kei said something, but she was too far away to hear it. Eyes lowered, then glanced over the faces of the gathering crowd.

Lilac met gray.

Orihime longed to shrink back, disappear among the crowd desperate to evade the guilt-crawling inside her.

Footsteps.

They both looked.

Toshiro , Rangiku and Rukia at their heels, but not only them. Ichigo back in his body, panting hard as if he had run the entire way, which he probably had.

_All for_...

He stopped when he saw Kei.

Orihime watched his face fall, shock and disbelief etched onto his beloved face.

Then pain.

He had failed once again.

_**Her**_.

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated :)


	27. Something I can never have

_I __love the way__that your heart breaks_

_With every injustice and deadly fate_

_Praying it all be new _

_Living like it all depends on you._

_Again-Flyleaf _

ShiKai CH.26: Something I can never have

"Ichigo, you're back." Kei didn't like the expression on his face.

He didn't seem to appreciate her affected nonchalance.

"You're hurt-" he began, coming toward her.

"Just a Hollow, I--" her glance went to Inoue, who immediately tried to drawback but too late Kuchiki had seen her as well.

"Inoue! Are you-"

"She's unhurt," Kei quickly interceded, driving the spike in deeper, "I told her to stay back and let me handle the Hollow. It seemed to be a low-level Arrancar but then I'm not sure since its spirit pressure was so fuzzy. Right now I'm less than able to read them as well as before."

Hitsugaya's expression became serious, "yes, it was." He cleared his throat, "I cannot believe you would choose to take on one in your state. That was very reckless of you."

"If I had thought there was even a chance I might sustain injuries beyond my own capability to heal then of course, I would've stepped back or lead it to you for you or anyone else from your team to dispatch," Kei replied coolly, knowing of course by the look of doubt that flickered over their faces that she must look pretty bad. _They didn't believe her either_.

"C'mon, you need to be bandaged up." Ichigo's hand was on her elbow. He still wore the same expression as when he had first caught sight of her. Kei jerked her arm out of his grip, wincing infinitesimally at the action. _Must've fractured something_.

"No, I'm alright-really. Deal with--"

"No, you're not! So, stop pretending that you are!"

_Must you always be so forceful? _She glanced askance at him, seeing the return of his normal scowl. _Is this what Inoue wants? To be taken care of_? She recalled Touda's flippant dismissal of the wishes made by the Arcadians. Inoue wanted Ichigo's heart; yet _her_ own presence here seemed to deny all that had previously been allayed.

Ichigo himself was a caring person; they all flocked to him because of it and resented her intrusion into their shared little world.

"Take care of me then."

She saw the effect such a simple surrender wrought on the Kuchiki girl's countenance and the relief it invoked in his. Inoue was frozen, her smile pasted on, "I'll help you! After all, Kei-san is--"

_No, you won't._ "I appreciate your concern, but you aren't needed." Kei perceived Kuchiki about to jump to the rescue of the slighted girl.

"Why--" she sounded almost angry.

"Inoue rejects matter, if it were a true healing ability comparable to that of Soul Society's Fourth Company, then I would have no problem accepting her help." Kei explained easily. Ichigo could see the wisdom of this, but Kuchiki couldn't. "But still..." she faltered under Hitsugaya's close scrutiny.

"I guess you're right." Kuchiki finally conceded. Matsumoto laid a hand on her shoulder, asking her for help in erasing the memories of the humans in the crowd. Hitsugaya nodded in approval and fixed his stare on Kei. He would want a thorough report on this later. But as for now...he jerked his head, giving them leave. First her injuries had to be dressed and Ichigo took this as a sign to lead her away. After all, Hitsugaya would know where to find her.

_They just don't want us alone together_.

~*~

"That hurts!"

"Oh, sorry," he applied another swipe of the wet cloth to the gash on her forehead. Kei winced and twisted away earning a sharp glare. "Hold still!"

"I can't! Not when you're--"

He caught her chin and forced her to turn toward him, "look, you didn't want to go to Urahara-san's shop. Now you don't even want me to clean it out--"

"But it hurts..." she hated the way she sounded.

He didn't seem to mind, "I know it does and I'm sorry!" His voice softened, "I'll try to be more careful." He must've thought it was soothing, stroking the side of her face where the skin was mostly intact. Kei leaned into his touch for no reason at all save that it felt nice.

Quiet. Far off the blare of a television set reached them, something his sisters were watching. She was glad he had snuck them into the clinic side of the house rather than face his family. He seemed to have a low opinion about his dad, one that indicated he had no idea the man was a Shinigami. _Best not to say anything_...

"...Did you..." he was unsure on how to go on, "really come to see me?"

"Did _you_?"

She thought he might've colored slightly in the dimness, "yeah, I did. I'd have come back sooner but Kagami-san said to wait, that you would eventually return to Tsukikage so I stayed..."

"Hm." she leaned even closer, folding his arm around her and when he started to pull away, she followed, pillowing her head against his chest. After a moment or two, he accepted, then silence reigned for a time until she broke it, "Ichigo...why were you so interested in that picture?"

It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. "You mean the one in that little room?" She sensed his mouth crease a little, whether in a smile or a frown, she wasn't sure. "I-I don't know. I just thought it was--_interesting_."

"I see." Kei burrowed her cheek into his breast, the skin throbbed but she ignored it, "she was a bad person--the woman in that painting."

She sensed his confusion but went on, "she did terrible, unforgivable things to all. She hurt..." her voice caught between a laugh and a choked sob, "her brother, the one who loved her the most, she--"

_...stood by while the world turned in on itself around her. _

"Shhh..." he didn't understand the emotion she felt nor the crux of fault that lay inside, burning with every breath, in every step. And when Kei grabbed onto his shirt front, twisting her hands in the fabric, begging for absolution that wouldn't--couldn't be granted not until atonement had been paid...Ichigo only held her until her cries had subsided and Yuzu was pounding at the door demanding to know if everything was alright?

_Yes-or-no?_

The answer to which, even he himself had no clear answer to.

For how could she speak of the woman in the painting as if she had been there...seen everything and yet implore for forgiveness when the sin hadn't been hers to begin with?

~*~

_Awful. Ugly. Horrible..._

_How could she do that to Kei-san?!_ _And_--

Orihime sunk to her knees, burying her face in her hands. Muffled sobs escaped into the sweet-scented atmosphere. Rangiku was in the bath. Nice, unsuspecting Rangiku who didn't know what sort of monster she was rooming with.

_She truly was_--

"Hey! Hey!! What is this?"

Orihime lifted her head, sunset-colored tresses spilling over her teary cheeks, "I-I'm okay, Rangiku-san! Really, I..." her voice cracked.

There was a soft exhalation of air, "what is it? You can tell me."

_Always there...I don't deserve it_. "Kei-san is a very good sort of person, don't you think so, Rangiku-san?" Orihime paused then added in a breathy giggle, "better than me!"

Rangiku sighed again. The water made sounds like splashing, and she spoke, "she's...alright, but _not_ better than you."

_Oh, Rangiku-san! If only you knew!_ "I don't think so..." Orihime traced imaginary pink circles on her wrist, "Kurosaki-kun doesn't."

"He's young, too young to fully appreciate what's right in front of him...like you for instance!"

Orihime flinched.

Unaware of the pain she had just caused, Rangiku went on in a cheery sort of voice, "you have lots of good qualities that that other girl doesn't! You're prettier than her for one thing!"

She hardly dared hope, "you think...so? I think Kei-san is really pretty..."

"You've got great boobs no other girl your age has!" Rangiku insisted, her own bosom heaving in righteous emotion. "And everyone knows that's what all the guys like!"

"Maybe," Orihime assented slowly then burst out imploringly toward the closed bathroom door, "but her eyes! They're so--so lovely! What's gray to-"

"Purple? Is that what you were going to say?! Purple-schmurple! What's so great about it anyway?!" complained Rangiku, pounding the water with her fist. Orihime smiled hesitantly, "well, maybe."

"Maybe!? Is that all you can say?! You're a thousand times better than her in every way!"

"But I..." Orihime's heart fell again, "I can't fight! Kei-san is so--so amazing! She's--"

"Listen," the door opened and Rangiku stepped forward in all her sudsy glory, "you're a great girl, Orihime-chan. You just have to get Ichigo to realize it."

She looked up with tears in her eyes, "really? Do you really...think I could?"

Rangiku smiled softly at the hope shining in the orange-haired girl's expression, "of course I do! And I'll help you!"

!~*

"Oh, hello! We're friends of your brother! Is he--"

Kei watched from the dining room table.

Karin was mildly cheerful to Matsumoto and Inoue. Inviting them in without nary a second look, only when her gaze passed over to the table several feet away did her eyes darken.

Yuzu greeted the two females as well from the stove. Only the flickering flames in the burner increased. No one commented on it except when Yuzu nearly caught the pot holder on fire.

Kei met Matsumoto's glance with nary a change in countenance.

Inoue asked in that simpering way of hers if _she was alright now?_

Kei tucked back a lock of stray hair, her face as unmarked and without a scratch as when Inoue first saw her. Long before the Hollow attacked. _She was now and if they were looking for Ichigo, he would be back shortly, having run an early morning errand to pick her up a few articles of clothing--paid for by the Yen she'd had forethought to bring and not from his pocket money even though he had offered_.

Matsumoto took this with a _Hmm_ of thought and said no more.

Inoue clasped her hands and couldn't meet Kei's eyes.

He came soon after.

Matsumoto still stood. Inoue sat near her and Karin to her left. He carried several bags. Inoue greeted him first but his glance went past her. He addressed Kei first. A gesture which didn't go unnoticed by Matsumoto or his sisters.

_He hoped she liked what he had picked out for her_.

Kei didn't bother reminding him she only needed one change of clothing. Not as much as what he seemed to have bought.

Inoue spoke up, her voice a tremulous articulation. _Good morning, Kurosaki-kun_, she said cheerfully. He looked at her as if he hadn't even seen her there.

The round of tedious chatter began. Kei rose silently and went to him, briefly breaking into his conversation with Inoue by a simple _thank you_. She took the bag he still held and peered into its contents, her face expressionless.

_I'll change now_, Kei answered to his questioning look.

~*~

In the bathroom upstairs, she was glad to discard the old dress, the jacket was a lost cause. Plunging her hand into the paper shopping bag, she withdrew a layered T-shirt in pink with gray long sleeves.

A denim skirt and stockings followed.

Kei dressed quickly, ripping the tags off with her teeth.

Everything fit well, she observed narrowly, turning from side to side, studying her reflection in the small cabinet mirror. He had done fairly good for something so hurried, even though none of it was her style. It was clothing, Kei could see Inoue wearing.

Another thought darkened her countenance, going down the stairs.

_Would Inoue and Matsumoto insist upon accompanying them?_

She received her answer soon enough.

~*~

_Kei-san was pretty_.

Orihime watched her step down.

Kurosaki-kun had a rare faint smile on his face; he seemed to get happy when Kei said _she liked the clothes_. He was even happier than when in Kuchiki-san's presence.

He wanted to make up for yesterday. He wanted to show her his town himself.

Kei shrugged noncommittally. She didn't really care one way or another, but Kurosaki-kun seemed to take it as if she had been ecstatic about the idea. Karakura town wasn't the ocean with a million different blues and greens nor the rocky canyons of the desert-like valley. It wasn't beautiful like her world, but he still wanted to share it with her...the place he called home.

_More than pretty_. Orihime realized with a well of hopelessness that spilled into her soul. Rangiku tried to catch her eye and even loyally drew closer to her just to press her shoulder comfortingly.

_She was beautiful_.

~*~

"Hello?"

"Kagami, it's me--yes, I'm alive. Oh, so Touda told you--no, I'm still in the Gigai--yes, he came. I know--but wait, there's something I want you to..." her voice dropped, and she spoke discreetly into the cell, "check for me."

"What is it?" Immediately a note of suspicion crept into the water wielder's tone.

"You know..."

"No, I don't."

She glared at the tree a few feet away, "_stop being such a blockhead, Charlie Brown! _It's about..."

Matsumoto was too close.

Kei settled for, "Schiffer-kun. You know how he is, I just wanted to make sure he had followed orders and..."she trailed off. Her eyes narrowed, "I know that too. Just do it. I don't care about anything else only _yesterday_, that's all I want you to ask."

She hung up before he could say anything else.

_Aizen must've sent him and that other_...

Ichigo and Inoue came back with cups of flavored ice. Though it was a summer treat, the weather was relatively warm unlike the chill of the day before--and he wanted her to try it.

_...to see how powerful I was in a weakened state like that_.

"Cherry! How'd you know?" she exclaimed, resurfacing from her inner thoughts for a moment, seeing the perfect conical top of glittering red crystals. Ichigo muttered something, clearly embarrassed. Inoue began gulping down her bubblegum flavored one at a rapid rate, soon suffering from a brief case of brain freeze.

_Silly_. Kei took small bites, her palm going unpleasantly numb from holding the icy paper container.

_That's the only explanation, I can_--

"The street vendors in Wentworth sell something similar," Ichigo said conversationally a moment later, "that's why I thought you might like it."

_Wentworth...? That's a sea town on the eastern coast. Kagami_...

"How did you--who-"

"K-Kagami," he answered quickly.

_He did? When? _

"You went during...some sort of flower festival. There--he said there were red flowers blooming up near the mouth of a giant cave carved into the cliff face."

_He's lying_. She decided to play along, "that's right. Legend has it that they are the same flower that blooms perpetually beside the gate to the underworld. Some God or Goddess's blood was spilled there and from then on blood red flowers sprung up. They say they even have a scent."

"Yeah, but only the real ones do. Like ash and blood mixed together..."

_Kagami never knew that, I never told him_. _Only Touda_. _There's something strange_...

"How gruesome," Matsumoto commented, shaking her shoulders to rid herself of impression. She had been listening intently to everything they had said, observing their interactions with an acumen that Kei despised. It was like being under a microscope and for whose sake, she also suspected, was also the other member of their little group.

Inoue was at a loss for words, "oh-oh, how dreadful! But, Kei-san did they really smell like that?"

Kei smiled faintly, "no, they didn't." Her eyes narrowed in mirth and leaned in closer to the other girl, "but I'll let you on a little secret."

Inoue's eyes widened predictably, "oh! What is it?!"

"Red flowers really do bloom beside the gates to Hell. I've _seen_ them," she finished in a whisper.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"Well...here goes nothing," Kagami muttered, typing in the code given to Kei by the Arrancar. The screen flickered, the green modem lights indicated a signal had been found.

A silver-haired man with narrow, slit-like eyes peered into his end of the monitor.

"Gin!?" Kagami burst out.

The Shinigami cocked his head to the side queerly, "yeah? I know that voice...Nanatsu-kun?"

"Yes," the water wielder cursed his luck-and Kei for wanting him to question one of their alleged-enemies. "Don't start, please." He interrupted when he saw the other open his mouth. "Takara's fine."

"She is...? I'm glad to hear that." Gin looked pleased.

Kagami waved his hand dismissively, "I can only assume you weren't able to question Keiko when she was over there."

"I wasn't. Aizen-sama kept her all to himself after Ulqui-kun brought her."

"Ah--is Ulquiorra nearby by any chance?"

"I don't think so," Gin paused thoughtfully, "I could get him if you want?"

"Yes, please. I'd like to ask him something." Kagami breathed an inward sigh of relief.

_So far so good_.

~Las Noches~

His actions were irrational.

_Why had he commanded a low-level to attack the Soul reaper?_

Aizen-sama hadn't ordered it, nor even knew so much about his being in the living world for that short time. Oh, it would get around to him eventually, his Lord knew all about what went on inside the walls of his desert Palace.

Keiko Yamamoto had done nothing to warrant such a move on his part...save for--

"Kyorra-kun!" The sing-song voice broke into his reverie.

"Ichimaru-san," Ulquiorra addressed, his pace slowing for the silver-haired Shinigami to catch up.

"One of the Juppongatana wants to speak with you!" Gin said matter-of-factly, overlarge smile stretching his lips thin.

_Was it--_

"--an old friend of mine, Nanatsu-kun." Gin was still talking.

_The water elemental_. _Not..._

"Well! Come along, he's waiting!"

..._the one he had thought_.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"Ulquiorra Schiffer?" Kagami studied the Arrancar on the other side of the screen.

He assented briefly, "I am."

_So, this is the one_...

Messy black hair, the tips brushing white-clad shoulders. Pale face, the monotony broken by a line of green beneath each emerald orb. His eyebrows were dark and straight, a lock of hair lay between his close-set eyes. His features were fine, delicate-almost. His head was capped by a partial broken mask, a single curved horn much like the one used in Hakuya's creation, adorned the top. Kagami idly wondered what his release state was like. _Sazanami couldn't see it. _

"I er," Kagami cleared his throat rather nervously. The Arrancar's stare was unnerving him and Gin was still in the room. "I wanted to know if what happened yesterday was all just a part of your orders and if so, I have to say that was really _low!_ To attack one of your own allies--"

The Arrancar's expression didn't change.

Gin's however, did. "Attack? Why...I haven't heard a thing about this! Ulquiorra?"

There was a flicker in his eyes. A contraction of his pupils and then thin line of black upper lip parting, "I merely wished to test the full prowess of your Fourth Division Captain while in a lesser state ensured by the artificial body she was in."

_Liar_. "Is that so?"

Gin was unsettled by this.

Kagami instantly deduced he knew nothing either.

"It is." The Espada's eyes were cold, his tone sure.

Kagami ran his free hand through his hair, leaning the other against the hard console top. "Well, then, thank you. I'll be sure to tell Keiko later." He paused, closing one eye in the gesture of a wink, "she is after all _still_ in the living world with the Kurosaki boy. From what I gather, she plans on staying several days with _him_."

Again the Espada's face registered nothing, only his mouth compressed tighter. "Do not forget, in two days--"

"Yes, yes!" Kagami muttered impatiently, glancing aside and noticing the blinking light meaning another entity was calling the network. _On hold...crap_. _Hopefully it's not_...

"I'll remind her, though I dare say she hasn't forgotten..." he gave a half-hearted wave to the Shinigami loitering over the Arrancar's shoulder, "bye, Gin, we'll have to get together later on to talk about the old times or something!"

He thought he heard a cheerful, _oh, of course!_

But then he wasn't sure. He slipped the folded paper with the number connection to Las Noches, in his pocket. He rubbed his face tiredly then, before reaching over to switch the link.

A scowling white-haired boy in a black Shihakusho and white Haori stared back at him disapprovingly. "Finally!" snarled the irate little Shinigami.

"Sorry for the wait, Hitsugaya-Taichou," Kagami said smoothly, "we were running diagnostics to better improve the connection between the worlds and it was down for quite a while, I'm afraid. Anyway...what's up?"

~To be continued~

Theme song for Ichigo and Kei: Hanging by a moment--Lifehouse.

Kei's theme song: Disturbia--Rihanna

AN: It really isn't that Rangiku absolutely dislikes Kei. It's more that to me, if Ichigo really had a love interest all of a sudden--that wasn't Rukia; everyone would cluster around Orihime in sympathy--at least if they knew she was in love with him. :P Chad, Rangiku and Rukia herself would be supportive; Hitsugaya, Renji and Ishida, not so much. I think they could respect Kei more as a warrior than anything else. And as for Karin's rudeness...hmm and then she was nice to Orihime and Rangiku...

Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated :)


	28. Preparation

_I want a normal life_

_just like a newborn child_

_I am a lover hater_

_I am an instigator_

_you are an oversight_

_Don't try to compromise_

_I'll learn to love to hate it_

_I am not integrated_

-Sooner or Later, Breaking Benjamin

ShiKai CH.27: Preparation

"...attacked, you say? Hm, I heard about that."

Hitsugaya showed some surprise.

"Kei told me," Kagami intercepted hastily lest the little Taichou become suspicious. "She called me some time last night, I don't remember the time, you know with the difference and all." He shrugged apologetically.

Turquoise green eyes surveyed him through the screen, he did his best to keep his expression composed. Not to blink too much since he'd read somewhere that that was a sure sign of a liar. Luckily Hitsugaya seemed satisfied; "I see then...did she say whether or not it was an Arrancar?"

He pretended to think back. It wouldn't do to confirm the tensai's sharp instincts so early on. _Damn it...I'm no good at this! Keiko!_ "Really? She didn't--" he tried playing for time.

Unfortunately the Shinigami didn't fall for it. "The Research and Development Division couldn't get an accurate reading, I've spoken with the head there, Akon, and he himself didn't know whether or not the read out their scanners picked up on was that of an Arrancar's, or not. Now, hers, did register. Albeit several minutes after the original signal, but it did." Hitsugaya pinned Kagami with his piercing gaze, "a type of ancient magic was used. One that it was thought to have died out a long time ago."

_I'm going have to tell him...sorry, Keiko_. "She does..." he sighed, rubbing at his temples again, "possess a mastery over the type called _Blood_. Out of the three magicks in the worlds, Demon or Kido, Blood and the rarest Black, which was a form so-called by its usage among Hollows and the Black army. I--"

"Black...army?"

_Said too much_. _Curses_. "Yes," Kagami answered shortly, bracing both hands on the sides of the console, his head drooping, "certainly you must've heard about the Third world of Cayo Hueso and the God that supposedly resides there?" He gave a brief bark of quiet laughter, "of course you haven't! Soul Society outlawed any mention of there being another King or God in existence other than Reio-dono. They've always been like that..." his smile had a hint of bitterness and something else to it. "Because of what happened, I guess I don't blame them in a way. The schism split the Heavens and the earth apart, if I were them, I wouldn't want to risk it coming to pass now."

Hitsugaya didn't know what to say to that nor the strangest feeling he got, one that he couldn't explain its source. _Schism...did he mean the chaos that had enveloped the worlds before the Elements were brought into existence? _

_~Flashback: Karakura Town, the night before~_

_The house was quiet. The knob to the door connecting the rest of the house to the clinic, turned, in a small clasp. Karin Kurosaki eased the portal open, peering into the darkness of the little room. It contained a hospital bed, coarse white sheets drawn up to the shoulders of the sleeping girl. Her chest rose evenly, her brow smooth, her countenance showing only peaceful slumber._

_At the foot of the bed, the girl's clothes were folded, the stains garish in the muted light. _

_Her brother had said, a fall on some stairs and that she was a friend-could she stay for a few days?_

_Their dad had welcomed the girl enthusiastically, Rukia had loitered in the background, saying nothing. Yuzu was enthusiastic as well, having censured Karin for her behavior hours before._

_But, Karin didn't want her to stay with them._

_Looking now into the girl's face, lids closed over purple eyes; she couldn't understand her initial dislike. The girl had manners, almost high-born as if she had been something else, like a Lady. _

_Again, Karin wondered what the girl saw in her brother; if his glances at her were anything to go by. He was infatuated with her, yet Karin had the feeling it was only one-sided. If so, then her brother had a lot of heartache to go through._

_"You'd better not hurt, Ichi-nii..." she said aloud, "I'll never forgive you, if you do."_

_Feeling a tad bit better, Karin departed, closing the door softly._

_~*~_

_A moment later, her eyes flew open._

_Little brat! How dare she even deign to threaten __**her**__!_

_Kei sat up, she had half a mind to summon Kirin to ferry away her soul..._

_Her hands fisted the material of the sheets, twisting them between her fingers._

_"Shaku-" the command froze in her throat. The darkness rippled in response._

_He was very protective of his sisters, let alone...damn it. She couldn't do it. At least--not until, she slid from the bed, her bare feet meeting the cold floor. Everything was over._

_The door yielded to her touch, glancing out, she saw the kitchen empty. Karin must've gone upstairs already. Carefully, she stepped out, letting the door close gently. On the stairs, she paused and listened, nothing. Not even a creak of the house settling._

_Her hand slid up the banister railing._

_On the landing, she stepped immediately toward the door marked 15. _

_His room._

_Luckily it wasn't locked. The knob twisted in her palm, the metal clammy. Inside the room, the curtains were drawn back, moonlight falling in shafts over his body, the sheets lowered to his waist, his brow troubled. _

_He moaned softly. His forehead wrinkling. Kei got closer, dropping to her knees beside the low bed. he seemed to be dreaming, about what though?_

_"Mo...ther..." his voice was heavy with angst._

_His mom? Oh, that's right...she died in the rain. Kei extended her hand, fingers sliding through his hair, slowly she raised herself, sitting at the edge of his bed. He leaned into her touch, his breathing steadily growing calmer._

_"Dancing bears, painted wings...things I used to remember," she started singing softly under her breath. The deep furrow of his brow smoothing, his face settling in serene calmness. "And a song someone sings, once upon a December."_

_There. With some satisfaction, she saw him return to deep sleep. _

_Now to--_

_His hand suddenly snaked out, grabbing her wrist. Kei started back, but already felt a weightlessness come over her as she was pulled into his mindscape._

_~*~_

_It was the Hollow of course. Leering grin stretching his lips thin. The moment her feet touched the building, he had pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace._

_"Hellooo, Queeeen."_

_"Bonjour, Hichigo." Kei muttered, her mouth buried in his shoulder. He thrust her back at arm's-length, looking over her current ensemble of a T-shirt and boxers. She sensed more than he warned, what he was going to do next. That is, plant his mouth on hers._

_Kei turned her head, his lips grazing her cheek._

_His annoyance was great. "Why'd you do that, Queen!? Won't you give a poor lonely Horsie, a kiss?!"_

_"No," she said carefully, catching flowing black movement from the corner of her eye. Zangetsu. The Zanpaku-to spirit was looking even sterner than usual. "Hey," she half freed her hand to give a wave of greeting. Hichigo twirled her around, her feet momentarily lifting from the ground. _

_"Why No-o-o-t!" he whined, stretching out the last word._

_Kei struggled against his arms, "because..." _

_He stopped, head cocked at an odd angle, golden eyes intent on her face._

_Damn it... slowly her hand rose, cradling his cheek. Her lips pouted slightly, her hand sliding forward into his hair. Inches away, she grasped a handful of the white locks, tilting her face just so. He eagerly lowered his mouth toward hers, meaning to regain control, but her hand at the back of his head, slowed his assault._

_"Hichigo...I need you to promise me something." _

_"Anything." _

_"I'm serious." She stared into his eyes, "you must promise me that whatever happens, you will not fight Kagami or Kazeatari."_

_"But--" her finger to his lips, halted his objection._

_"If you do...their deaths will be mine as well." _

_She could see he halfway didn't believe her. "You'd kill...yourself over-?"_

_No. You've got it wrong. If even one dies..._

_But it's easier this way. "I would."_

_He appeared to think about it until at last he assented slowly, not happy with what he was forced to concede to. "I won't touch 'em." He vowed, his scowl making him resemble Ichigo in a way that he-if he knew, wouldn't be pleased with either. Since the Horse was forever trying to usurp the King, and the King was always fighting his Horse._

_Idiots. Oh, well...their current disharmony is better for me anyway. Kei dropped her hand to his shoulder, one tangled in his hair still. She tilted her head back, brushing her lips lightly against his. The Hollow pressed harder, grinding his mouth hard on hers, plying for entry. Not satisfied with such a chaste kiss._

_Kei felt his teeth nip at her bottom lip, heard Zangetsu's sigh of disapproval. And smiled, her lips parting to allow the Hollow in..._

~Karakura Town present time~

_How good was the Hollow's word?_

With it, her former design to have Takara dispose of it was rendered null. Its existence was no longer a hindrance to her plans...rather...

A source of entertainment.

She was sure neither Ichigo or his Hollow would like to be thought of in such a way. It was amusing to see how much they truly were alike even if either had never realized it. One was the darker half, the other the lighter. The parallel existing inside one soul. Separated they were overcome, together they were unstoppable.

In the inevitable end, she knew that one day they might face one another in combat. _And if he and his Hollow were united_...

"What're you thinking about?"

..._there's the possibility_...

She smiled up into his face, the way she had seen other girls do to their beaus. What Inoue never had the courage to do. She looked deep into his eyes, the smile still playing on her lips, "you."

_I might lose_.

He fairly flushed, refuting it anyway, "tch! Yeah right..."

Her fingertips landed below his lip, tracing the curvature of his jaw. "You're not used to this sort of thing, are you?" His skin felt warm beneath her cold touch.

_I love a challenge._

"What do you mean?!"

She chuckled under her breath, "so simple. So naive, but I suppose that is part of your charm..."

His confusion was even more endearing. Agitation deepening the line in his brow, a light scowl thinning his mouth now. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about." He grumbled, his eyes shifting away guiltily. Dimly, she became aware of Inoue and Matsumoto-Fukutaichou's approach. Someone else was with them. Their distance still several paces away.

"Then to clarify, I will make my meaning clear, I _like_ you, Ichigo Kurosaki. Much more than anyone I've ever known in my long life--and don't be stupid either," she glared when he had opened his mouth to speak. "_Like_ can be construed in two different ways, if you don't believe me then let me say this. *_Anata ni aenakute sabishii..._that's why I came. To remedy that..."

(* Phrase means: 'I'm lonely when I can't see you.)

Her hand fell to her side, her smile to his friends. "Inoue, Matsumoto and ah! Kuchiki! All finished with reporting back to your Taichou? I'm sorry that we missed one another this morning."

"To be sure," Kuchiki's return smile was tart.

Kei's became little less than a sneer. _I won't take your shit..._her eyes narrowed. _Watch yourself_.

Inoue was worrying her hands, knuckles white, her cheerful look strained. Kei was gratified to see her on the point of breaking down. She addressed her now, "Inoue, I was wondering about what you told me a couple of days ago--when Kuchiki here, was rescued. You did say...it was because you considered her a friend...right?"

Matsumoto looked taken aback, not understanding where this was coming from. Instinctively the blond Fukutaichou stepped closer to the girl, standing by her side as a show of unconscious support against the evils in the world-or against **her**.

Kuchiki blinked, "what's this-"

At the last moment, Inoue's tremulous voice interrupted, ending Kuchiki's interference. "It was...it's true." Her voice grew stronger and for a moment she looked determined.

Kei's smile had relaxed now it widened, slow, deliberate, satisfied with her answer, "I see...then you protect your friends-?"

Inoue's affirmative was louder, her confidence returning.

Matsumoto at her side, was reassured by this, enough so as to interpose directly, albeit with a sardonic hint to her tone. "Why are you asking? Is there something wrong with that?" Then crossing her arms below her well-endowed chest, "Orihime-chan is a very honorable girl, and for you to be mocking--"

"I wouldn't, Matsumoto-Fukutaichou." Another smile in her direction, "I have nothing against self-sacrifice. Indeed, I concur with your praise of Inoue's spirit. She is...the very image of selflessness caring for others as she does."

Inoue flinched. Her exuberance draining away.

Kuchiki looked uncertain, going between the nervous twitch of her friend to the other's impassive expression, only the look is those purple eyes made her question the sincerity of the statement.

Ichigo was oblivious to it all; in his mind there was no doubt that they-his friends were getting along well with her. In fact he was pleased by it...

"I suppose I am fond of her...since she reminds me of Ichigo." Kei allowed the faintest of smiles to grace her face, her glance to him, meeting his eyes then swinging her gaze back to them, "a somewhat_ ridiculous_ notion, hm?"

With that she walked past them, her cell in hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another call to make." Only...she paused half-step in passing Inoue.

She smiled, whispering in a soft hiss meant only for the human girl's ears. And if anyone heard...they wouldn't understand it anyway.

"I thought we were friends..."

Inoue's face fell.

~Current time, Tsukikage castle grounds~

Kazeatari watched with approval, the great rippling dome repel the spiraling fiery attack by Lieutenant of First's Hisrio Shihoin's Houou-hime. The man himself, dispelled the resulting backlash with a slashing motion of his unsheathed blade. Houou-hime returned to his side, red-feathered wings folding elegantly on her back; Kazeatari was reminded of Suzaku, a smile came to her lips.

Keith Rolston and Atrix Crusellas, both fourth seats of different Divisions, yet both wielded swords equitable to the earth element.

Kazeatari signaled they should begin.

"Save the innocent, Nikoli!"

"Awaken the dead, Tenma Mukurode!"

Kazeatari turned to the woman at her side, clipboard in hand. "Rizu, tell Takara to cut the shield by half, I want to see how it holds up at less power."

The Lieutenant of Fifth nodded and briskly flash-stepped to the laptop Kyou was working from. A webcam feeding directly into the dimmed room of the Third Division's main office showed a girl in gray robes at the console top. Her shiny blond hair pulled back in a pony-tail while she managed the energy output of the Genei.

"Shimizu," Rizu spoke into the attached microphone.

Takara glanced up, "Sakurai, how goes it on your end?"

Not one to waste time, Rizu answered curtly, "as well as can be expected. Captain Namaiki asks that the shield's power be lessened to half."

"Will do...this'll only take a few minutes." The blond muttered under her breath, fingers dancing expertly over the keys. In a matter of seconds, the great rippling barrier high above the spire of Tsukikage Castle's highest point, reduced, the dome thinning noticeably.

Rizu glanced over her shoulder to give the message to her Captain. Kazeatari nodded in thanks, turning back to face the gates. Keith and Atrix standing at opposite ends of the perimeter.

The Fourth Seat of Third, charged first; "Path of the Wrym!"

Kazeatari felt her chest heave, something inside tightening at the rush of the Dragon form made of Earth. A crushing attack meant to swallow the enemy within its jaws. It wasn't...she shook her head to clear it. It wasn't like **his**.

Atrix more slowly, hurtling his image form of a skeletal reaper. Its touch could corrupt living flesh, this was the power Kagami had given it, that of decay.

Kazeatari fought back a shudder, her lips curling into a small smirk of satisfaction.

Again, they were repulsed. Nary a ripple of shockwave disturbing the barrier's surface.

Keith let out a startled yell, a shower of earth erupting in a wave upon him. His attack had completely shattered, Nikoli's path of the wrym breaking apart as Matsumoto Rangiku's Haineko had upon the real thing.

Atrix's Tenma, however...recoiled back into its blade, the reaper vanishing in a mist of darkness becoming one with the sword once again.

Kazeatari smiled at the dirt falling from Keith's hair and robes as he staggered to his feet, his Zanpaku-to still unsheathed. She motioned for Zoe Elbe to step forward. The dark-skinned woman's hand already reaching for the diamond-shaped guard and Fleur de-lis patterned hilt stuck through her black sash.

A small trill sounded, Kazeatari slipped her hand into her pocket withdrawing a cobalt blue Razr.

"Kaze, here."

"Miracle of miracles," exclaimed a dry sounding voice from the other end of the line, "she answered on the first ring! Praise be to God--"

"Oh, shut it, Keiko." Kazeatari said, glancing up at the first flake falling.

Zoe's reiatsu.

"I am glad that you called though," Kazeatari continued, her eyes on the tall figure, unsheathing her sword just outside the confines of the gates. "The tests have gone well, just about with everyone we've tried, the shield hasn't--"

"Muhyo Getten!"

Kazeatari glimpsed the released state of Shirahime, a slender Wakizashi of frosted diamond sheets attached to a silvery hilt and matching guard, the sheath had become a blue crystalline scepter as well, was held in one long-fingered hand. Ice obscured her vision a moment later, spreading upward and around, following the exact circumference of the transparent dome.

Kyou gasped, his eyes widening as the very sky above them was iced over.

"Kaze, what's happening?" interrupted Kei on the staticky line.

The wind wielder stared at the cell in her hand, "hold on!" She jerked around to Kyou, "give me stats now! Current temps--"

"Already on it!" Kyou typed fast, bringing up a barometer on the screen, he swiveled it around to face her, reading it off quickly, "no change reported in the vicinity of Tsukikage, nor anywhere! It's all...a steady Seventy-five degrees..."

KRK.

Striated lines appeared far above. Rizu stared at them, her head turning to follow the massive crack spreading across the dome-like sky. "What the..."

"Kaze!"

Kazeatari lifted the phone to her ear, "I'm still here."

KRK.

She kept an eye on the firmament. "Keiko...the shield, it's frozen."

"What!" the girl's voice was sharp. Disbelieving, "are you sure?!"

Kazeatari's fine dark brows drew together, her thin mouth twisting in a scowl, "of course, I'm sure! I'm standing beneath it!"

"...ice." Other voices, distorted by distance and the fact they were all asking questions at once, came through. Kei sounded irritated, "back the fuck off--" then, "I'll be there in a--I'm needed-no, Matsumoto. It isn't an Arrancar attack--believe me, they wouldn't _even_ need my help if it were that."

"Captain Namaiki!" Kyou cried, "Lieutenant Shimizu says we should evacuate the area! The shield's power readout is fluctuating erratically! At this rat--"

.

"It'll collapse." Kazeatari finished for him in a whisper.

"Ka---!"

~Karakura Town~

Dead silence.

"-ze." She paled, the line was gone.

"Kaze!"

~Tsukikage Castle grounds~

"What in God's name is going on here?"

Kazeatari lowered her fan, the words for the ReppuGeki dying on her lips. Kagami stood, feet-planted firmly apart, hand wrapped around the empty sheath of Sazanami. Above, outside the clearing dome was the immense form of a blue-scaled Dragon. The sheets of ice were held motionless, where they had begun their descent, the barrier having withheld the Ice World onslaught even to reverse it...to the detriment of those still ringing the outside-namely quite a few of the Divisions' seated officers.

"Uh..."

"KYOU!!!!!! WHAT'RE YOU DOING HIDING BEHIND LIEUTENANT RIZU?!!!!!!"

The Fifth seat flinched and cowered, the wrath of his sister bearing down like a harpy of legend rather than the Hydra spirit she controlled.

Rizu stepped aside as Hana came charging in, her green eyes ablaze in righteous anger.

Kyou whimpered when she took a fistful of his hair and dragged him out by it. Takara peering into the webcam on the other side, witnessed, and laughed behind her hand. Kyou reddened. Kazeatari sighed, dropping her head into her hands.

Kagami tapped his foot impatiently, dispelling the frozen water with merely a flick of his wrist. "Well? What's your excuse this time? I can't believe you, Kazeatari would condone this--and besides, I was right in the middle of answering a call from you-know-who when I chanced to look out for the source of all the rumbling when lo and behold I see the Genei shield frozen over!"

Kazeatari scratched at her nose disinterestedly, "I-know-who? Who?"

"Don't get off the subject..." he frowned then heaved his shoulders tiredly, "...it seems as if our movements are still a matter of great interest to...someone we were once close to."

Comprehension came, "Ma--"

"Yes." They exchanged a long look, "it was her."

"God," she went half a step closer, "how is she?! How is--"

He held up a hand to silence her, "they've begun to stir. They know about Aizen and Hueco Mundo as well as the Shinigami. She says...she says she'll be waiting for us. It's in the stars, that we'll meet again..." he looked at her sadly, "before the end."

~Karakura Town~

_Gods...Kaze_.

Her body felt numb. _What was happening over there--or had it already transpired?!_

They were asking her questions. Worry smothering the general atmosphere.

Ichigo began shaking her; Matsumoto told him to stop.

_'It'll collapse.' _ Kei's lips trembled, her teeth chattering. _What if...no! She couldn't--_

"I have to g-go." Unbidden she felt tears dampen the corners of her eyes and wiped them angrily away.

They were demanding to know what happened.

"I-I don't know!" The tears wouldn't stop. Big, fat droplets rolled down her face. Matsumoto's face softened, "what is it? Did someone-"

Kei forced herself to move.

He went after her, running, his longer legs easily matching her shorter stride. Kei cursed the Gigai once again. He pulled her to a stop, her arm aching from being jerked back.

"What is it?! Tell me! Why are you crying?!"

"Bakudo 1. Sai!" Her Kido was stronger than most. It held him fast to the ground, even though struggle as he might, he couldn't break free. Matsumoto, Kuchiki and Inoue were sprinting up the sidewalk.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed, backing up. Looking away, but not before she had seen the hurt in his eyes. _Understand..._

"Keiko, wait--"

It was the first time Matsumoto had ever used her first name.

..._when one dies the others follow to keep the wheel turning_.

She faded from sight.

_I have to make sure one of us hasn't died_.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"...It looks like the connection held," Kagami spoke in hushed tones, bending over the side of the console. Kazeatari stared up the large screen, her expression inscrutable in the unlit room. Only her dark eyes glittered with expectation and reminiscence.

The doors burst open behind them. Light from the staircase spilling in, Kei stood in the threshold, eyes roving over them. Her shoulders heaved, relief evident in every line of her face. "Damn you, Kaze! You--"

"Oh, hey, you're back earl--" Kagami began, but another, softer, more feminine voice came in through the speakers.

"...is that you...?"

Kei stopped mid-step, frozen at the sound of the woman's voice.

"...Keiki?"

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading. :)

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Special thanks to Nikoli for submitting Keith.

Please review :)


	29. And time passes

_I think they lost something they miss  
_

_I wanna find that book  
_

_Dust it off and read it again  
_

_There was hope in the end_

-Have we lost, Flyleaf

ShiKai CH.28: And time passes

"I told you...never to call me by that name again."

The woman was quiet. Then, "forgive me...I forget constantly that those days are long past."

An uncomfortable silence descended, the face of the one whom had been the cause of so much suffering in their thoughts.

"Have...have you found him?" the woman was tentative, knowing her own inquiry to be a source of fresh pain.

Kagami looked down, "no...I'm afraid we haven't." His gaze rose, "do you...have any idea perhaps of who-?"

"No"

He thought she was lying, "Mara--"

"You know I can't tell you..." a sigh, "...it lies buried deep in your subconscious mind. Something--something you've forgotten or possibly choose not to remember. That single thing will lead you to the absolution you've been seeking. But be warned..."

They waited.

"In this lifetime it was decreed he would have a bond, an attachment of some sort to you, Keiki. Not of the blood..." her voice trailed off and it began to seem as if the signal was fading. "But of the--"

It cut out.

"Mara!" Kagami flew to the keyboard.

Kei sunk to her knees. _Of the--what? If it wasn't blood--_

"-did we get through?"

The screen flickered from the blank blue to that of the familiar background of the Inoue girl's apartment.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou?!"

Kei was startled out of her reverie by Kagami's exclamation.

The Shinigami glowered then shoved back at the pressing bodies behind him, "get back, I said!" Huffing with an under breath grumble about busybodies, the white-haired Taichou turned back to them. "I see that Yamamoto Keiko is there."

Kagami didn't look even remotely glad, "did you call just to check up on her?"

"Not me," Hitsugaya jerked his thumb back, "I blame most of it on Kurosaki."

Her head slowly rose to encounter the watchful brown-eyed gaze of the Shinigami sub.

_...then of the heart?_

~Karakura Town~

Kei-san was alright. Everyone was alright.

Orihime wished she could say she was glad...

_'I thought we were friends.'_

Her heart lurched painfully in her chest, absently her hands rose and laid, clasped over bosom. Rukia touched her arm, leaning forward, a concerned look on her face. Orihime shook her head, her sad eyes resting on Kurosaki-kun's back.

He was talking to Kei-san. Asking her if she was really alright.

Orihime could see the annoyance growing in the Soul reaper's expression. In the way she tilted her chin, the narrowing of her eyes, the set of her mouth.

_Her answers were curt, to the point._

_Almost sharp_. Rukia could see restlessness as well; something was bothering Kei-san, but she wouldn't say what.

"Kei-san..." Orihime dropped her arms to her sides, hands fisting against her sweat-pant covered thighs. "Is something bothering you?"

For a moment she looked truly angry. Her teeth were clenched behind the grimace of a smile. But her eyes-

"I assure you, I am quite well, only that I'm severely disappointed I've missed the reunion with a friend I hadn't seen in many years. Your call to the server cut our connection. I'm afraid that may have been the only chance I had to speak with her."

Kurosaki-kun looked disgruntled at the implication. Toshiro was stiff in apologizing, though he had sensitivity enough to not demand the identity of the friend.

Orihime wondered if it was the one she loved but didn't want to say.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"We have a meeting to call." Her face was turned up to the blank screen, "also, have Ren Mimasaka attend."

Kagami exchanged looks with Kazeatari, the latter shrugging faintly.

"Alright--"

"One more thing, compile every known scrap we have in the database using the term Visored. Keith of Third, I think should come as well." As she spoke, she had begun walking to the door.

"What're you thinking now?" Kagami complained, tired of following her lead in the dark. His hand trailed through his hair, the strands ashen in the dimness. Kazeatari folded her fan beneath her chin, looking pensively after the girl's back.

"My original objectives have changed." She half-turned, a sliver of profile visible. Her eyes were cold, "To assure total victory one has to think through any proposed course and adapt as the situation either worsens or progresses down a different path. I've had a long time to concoct our strategy, but I need your help to bring it to fruition."

His brow rose crookedly over one eye, "you sound as if you're asking me to lead the charge."

"...That isn't a bad idea." she murmured thoughtfully to herself.

"What do you mean!?"

"Soryu at the forefront...hmm...that might work, only--" she paused, "--gather a quick list of the water types within our ranks. Did you..." the confidence faded from her voice, "did you...speak with Mara, before-?"

He observed the change in her demeanor. From swift-thinking and assertive, she had gone to low, her spirits downcast. "Yes." he answered shortly, "I did...she-Mara said they're awakening from stasis. The four remaining Generals and their troops are mobilizing, soon she believes, Aizen's thoughts will turn toward them and the key must be found. He lacks the power on his own terms to defeat..." he finished quietly, the effort great, "Reio-dono. But with the combined forces of the First born and us, he'll be able to crush the world and ascend to the Heavens as God."

He smiled faintly then, "I see your face, you're wondering if _Sosuke_ even has heard of _them_."

Kei looked doubtful.

"In the Dai--, of the Central Forty-Six, the Myth of Creation was kept. A written, highly falsified version to be sure, but existing documentation of Cayo Hueso. It's safe to assume he or another has read its contents. You know of whom I mean."

"Gin Ichimaru."

Her eyes lowered, surety in her tone. "We would never win against them."

~*~

_Without you_.

"Ren, I want you to go to the living world to train this boy." The screen changed and a grainy image of Ichigo Kurosaki flashed on. The magenta-haired woman turned from the Captain of Fourth's face to the computer Takara held. Thin lips pursed, hand pushed back trimmed bangs from her temples, exposing for a moment the puckered skin of an old scar lacing through her slender arched brow.

_There is nothing_.

"He is a Vizard?" The fifth seat queried carefully.

"After a fashion, yes."

_You sustain us all whether or not any of us truly realize it_.

Kanzaki looked between them, "am I missing something here?! Or are you ordering one of _my_ officers--"

"Not ordering." She said, contempt in her voice, "asking."

_We're your pawns in this game. Loyalty is the price you ask, in exchange for_...

"Just what do you hope to gain by having Ren show the kid how to control his Hollow?" Kagami finally asked. Kei regarded him with steady look, "two things. First, it's bound to become known that we have a Vizard among us, then some may wonder-like his _friends_," her lip curled slightly, "why **we** didn't offer to help him with _It_."

"Oh...well, I guess that makes sense."

"And secondly, I've a curiosity, selfish though it seems, to see the extent of his power."

"Kind of like he fascinates you even though he might become too powerful for even you to handle?"

"Yes. True that scenario has come to mind. And if it did turn out that way, then that means I will have created a monster."

Unless...

"Just bloody brilliant! Created a monster!" Kanzaki threw his hands in the air, going into the usual overly-dramatic rampage. Kazeatari rolled her eyes at the outburst, with effort turning her back to the man, "but you're counting on being that monster's Achilles' heel. Aren't you...Keiko?" The wind wielder finished softly.

Kei looked pleasantly surprised, "how did you know?" A short laugh, then sobering, "it is sort of strange, when I was with him... I _wanted_ him to feel that way for me even though I knew it wasn't supposed to be born of any attachment forming on my side."

"You're not falling in love with him, are you?" Kazeatari asked suspiciously.

"Of course not!" She sounded scandalized, "haven't I told you already that I love someone else!"

"Only about from the moment you first had cognizance in this lifetime. I thought you were just trying to make me jealous, that someone was able to love _you_." muttered the other.

"And what motivation would I have for that?" Kei reddened.

"Dunno. Maybe because you're a little ?" Kazeatari suggested with a slightly bored yawn.

"I'll overlook _that_ for now," said the fire wielder, glaring daggers.

"For now? Oh, so you plan on retribution?"

"Maybe."

Kagami, correctly interpreting the closing distance between the two elementals, intervened, "is this not a meeting?" They each backed off, a sneer on Kei's lips and a _hmph_ on Kazeatari's side. In the former's mind it was clear whom had won this round.

Takara breathed a sigh, the air having grown quite dense from the opposing elements clashing. Wind inflamed Fire so much so that they fought constantly, but in the end...Takara's crystal blue eyes alighted on the ornate Chinese fan rapidly flicking back and forth across the woman's olive-skin.

Together.

_Hollows pressed on all sides. They were back to back, Kei was lashing a thin whip of flame, searing the flesh of the creatures, enraging them._

_"What now?" out of the corner of her mouth._

_"Don't know...got any suggestions?"_

_"Yeah...one." she was smiling down at the sword in her hand. _

_Dark eyes flickered from her face to the blade. "Oh, no..."_

_"Yes." Kei sunk to her knees, slashing the air crossways, "Kaho-Enbu!"_

_Kazeatari heaved her shoulders, performing a fast drop-dance with her fan, "Kamikaze-ReppuGeki!"_

_Wind shuddered from the unfolding leaves of the fan, whipping Kei's hair around her face before swelling the red ball of fire into a consuming wall_.

...

_That's why..._

"Kei," Takara came up to her shyly, "I believe in you."

The fire wielder blinked then small smile formed on her lips, "belief, huh? Ichigo said something similar earlier, though I'm not sure what he meant. If he believed in the validity of my heart...or he had the belief I would go back. I don't know which. It's a ridiculous notion, however, thank you."

_I'm not afraid._

Takara smiled a watery smile, "this place," her eyes wandered up along the four walls, the large deep-set window looking out over the entirety of the City, "you, everyone. This is my something. My place to belong--"

"Then," Kei passed by her, turning once to glance back, "you must fight to keep it that way."

~*~

_The enemy of my enemy..._

"We're all here, as you requested." Water and Wind flanked her on either side. Ulquiorra appraised them, eyes sliding from the faintly smiling face of the girl to the slight grin and wink of the man, the tear-drop shaped guard in his sash the channel of his power. The Sazanami blade. He heard Ichimaru speak of it in slight awe. The man's capabilities must be great...

The olivine-complexioned female to the left, bore a sealed fan of fanciful design. The edges dripped gold lattice-work onto the heavy cream-colored paper. His glance flickered to the small Kodachi she carried, the scabbard was greatly curved as Kodachi blades were more so than normal Katanas, the Japanese character for 風 was embossed on the dull pewter guard. His gaze returned to the fan, lingering on it. Kazekiri. The wind cutter. Through his Pesquisa, he sensed the twisting coils of captured wind. _The fan was the shikai release?_ The woman noticed him observing her, a slight smirk curved her narrow mouth.

She addressed him directly, "I was wondering about something, what do you remember of your former life? Nothing-? Or is there a deeper--"

"Kazeatari," the girl warned, there was something in the look they exchanged that he didn't understand.

"What? I was only asking a simple question, Keiko." An unpleasant smile crept onto the woman's countenance, "Can't I at least satisfy my own curiosity?" Then abruptly, she began to hum, softly, quietly under her breath.

The Soul reaper's expression tautened, an emotion he didn't recognize passed like a shadow over her face, darkening her eyes.

The tune was rough at best. His heightened senses picked up on it escaping her lips, shattering the stillness of the frozen wasteland.

_...faraway, long ago..._

"Kazeatari!" snapped the man, the color of his hair ashen in the decaying light. The woman stopped a little surprised then shrugged, her eyes dancing in malicious mirth.

"I want to get this over with. Let's go." The Soul reaper said shortly, a certain tightness to the set of her mouth.

He drew his hand across the air, the slats of the world sliding apart like puzzle pieces at his fingertips. It was much easier to form a path out of the plentiful reishii in that world than in the living. Soon, they were stepping through first Wind, her head held haughtily high as if declaring to the empty world, she would bow to no man.

Water, sighing. His eyes revealing a weariness that went far beyond physical condition.

_The body of a young man containing the spirit of an ancient._

Fire came last, her steps slow, her face turned toward the ground. "Kei." Her name slipped from his lips and he didn't know why.

She glanced, then looked ahead, to the colorless world they were entering.

..._Is my friend_.

~Karakura Town~

"...then let's find it." Rukia slipped her hand into Orihime's, "together."

The human girl smiled weakly through her tears up at her friend, "okay."

_Kei-san's power didn't let her be a burden to Kurosaki-kun...then that meant that __**she**__ needed to become stronger as well to keep on standing by his side_.

~Tsukikage castle~

"Set a date...?" Takara pretended to think about it; Matsumoto Rangiku waited on the other side of the screen, "well, the issue wasn't discussed so much in depth but I think...a month."

_One month_. Kei's voice floated through her mind.

The honey-blond Fukutaichou, nodded, "I'll inform Hitsugaya-Taichou. The Soutaichou also requests a data compilation on all the members of the Five Divisions." She looked a little apologetic, "for the official records."

Takara smiled in understanding, "yes, I'm sure I can have everything ready for the meeting. Will a high-speed 2.0 USB flash stick be acceptable?"

Matsumoto's reply was hesitant, "that's...fine." Her hesitance indicated it was highly unlikely that the Research and Development Division possessed such a port in their system buses. In the short time frame between the gathering of the Gotei 13 and the Four Captains in mutual respect and truce...they would reconfigure their systems to include one rather than admit the former_ rebels_, had them up on the integration of human technology in their realm of death.

_Everything..._

"I look forward to working with you," Takara said, closing the transmission.

_Was turning out perfectly_.

Matsumoto smiled, "and I as well, Shimizu-Fukutaichou."

~Las Noches~

"Inoue? Why her?" Confusion.

"She has an ability I am most interested in, Keiko-san."

Kei's look was narrow, "rejection?" She gave a short bark of laughter then downed the cooled tea in one swallow. Her glance searching for that of the Arrancar sitting across from her. _The Primera_. She smiled, "what do you think of her...Stark?"

He blinked sluggishly, faint surprise at being addressed quirking the corners of his mouth. "She's human. Frail." He didn't think this Inoue-girl would last a second in his presence without having her soul be consumed. _Ulquiorra was full of it, if he thought she was worth something. Now these_...an indolent gaze of speculative gray eyes went to the face of the yellowish-brown haired Soul reaper whom had spoken to him. _Yamamoto Keiko_. Immense power had separated her from others--_like him_. But she...

Kei caught his eye and faintly smiled again. Abruptly he felt a peculiar lurch in the center of his chest beneath his pectoral muscles. But her reply was to Aizen, "I think I may have a solution." She broke eye contact, swiveling slightly to meet the Lord of Hueco Mundo's stare. "Please, just listen, I..."

~*~

"Hey."

_She had noticed him looking_.

The blond-haired man whom had accompanied her, called after her from the main hall; her following_ him_ having taken her some distance away but still within sight. "Keiko, let's--"

But even this was interrupted by the grinning face of Ichimaru, "Nanatsu-kun! I declare we have so much to catch up on! Come, come! This way!"

Stark watched the man be forcibly carted off down an opposite doorway that connected to another corridor. The narrow-featured woman with the fan, looked after their exit with some disdain then glanced to the scowling Sexta. "Spar with me-?" The woman half-heartedly offered.

Grimmjow leered at her, his maddened grin wide, "think you can handle it, pussy?"

"Who're you calling a pussy, hmm, kitty?"

His grin faded, rage burning in his eyes, "you're on, bitch!"

She sent him flying with a mere flick of her fan, "call me that one more time, baby and I'll rip one of your arms off."

"Violence isn't permitted within these quarters, Namaiki," the cool baritone of Kaname Tosen interrupted. His passage hindered by the large form of the Sexta.

"Always the same," the Soul reaper before him, shook her head sadly. Stark had a feeling she meant the other woman and not the Shinigami. He felt a twinge of envy for the closeness they shared. _Friends_. _Companions_. _Someone to end one's loneliness_.

Someone tugged on his sleeve, hand sliding over the back of his gloved one.

"Let's be friends, hmm?"

~To be continued~

AN: thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Reviews appreciated :)


	30. The end of Halcyon days

_You take the breath right out of me  
You left a hole where my heart should be  
You got to fight just to make it through  
'cause I will be the death of you _

-Breath, Breaking Benjamin

.29: The end of Halcyon days

"Why are you following me?"

"Good question. Kagami is with Ichimaru and Kaze's with Grimm-kun...so that just leaves--"

"You."

"Yes, me." She stepped in front of him, a smile twitching on the corners of her mouth. "Let's race."

He looked down at her lazily, "and why would I do that? It expends too much energy."

"Well, what else is there to do around here?"

"Sleep." Stark replied as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kei sweat-dropped, "what are you, an old man or something?"

He thought a moment, "if that means I get to sleep, then yes."

She looked unconvinced, "race me!"

"No." He tried moving around her.

Kei latched onto his arm, succeeding in dragging him a step or two with her

"Hey!"

She stopped and turned, "race me this once and then we'll sleep."

_We? _But since he was already feeling sluggish, he agreed, "...how far?"

"Around Las Noches."

"That's far," he complained, running his hand through his hair then yawning.

"Would you prefer three times then?" she threatened.

"You said only once."

"Well...maybe I changed my mind."

Her pout was kind of cute. "Fine. But I have to warn you..." he looked down at her. "I'm pretty fast."

"So am I." she said simply.

~Training grounds below Las Noches~

"...That all you have, kitty?"

Grimmjow glared, his breathing hard. No matter what he tried; Balas, Cero, his sword. She countered them all. A gust of wind, the sting of the tiny Kodachi-one he had made fun of her for, then found out the hard way, it was as lethal as could be.

And all she did was buffet him around with wind, controlling his movements so that he was flung from end to the other and he was damn sick of it!

"Fight me fairly!"

Her brow rose, "I thought I was."

He snarled something under his breath and charged forward.

Kazeatari sighed; such an idiot. But she supposed...

Her wind dispersed his Cero seconds before it struck.

His growl was adorable. _He was like a wild cat...in near human form!_

And she knew just how to handle those.

~*~

"I'm sorry."

Completely taken by surprise, Kagami stared at the bowed silver head of the ex Taichou; "what?"

"You know..." Gin looked askance, "for that time."

He knew then. "For trying to have me executed so that I wouldn't tell them everything I knew?"

Gin frowned, a rare expression on his ever-smiling face, "er yes."

He laughed shortly, "that's alright. It would've happened sooner or later."

"You're right...and," Gin observed him from the corner of his eye, "thank you for taking care of...Taka-chan."

"No prob."

"I'd like to see her...you know, if she wants to see me that is."

Kagami smiled, "of course."

~Tsukikage Castle~

Hand through wavy magenta locks, trimmed short to ruffle over her ears, a fringe of bangs over her forehead disguising the puckered skin of the old scar, curved brows above narrow, steely hazel eyes, the flecks of gold more pronounced than most.

Skinny-leg jeans in a dark blue denim, ankle boots in black with two buttons on each side facing outward. Her top was a light tan button-down with a white under showing at the collar. Over that was a jean jacket in stone-washed black. Lastly, Ren strapped her Zanpaku-to to her hip. In a Gigai, the humans would be able to see it, but she had little or no fear of repercussion, they would just have to deal with it.

"Ichigo Kurosaki..." she muttered to herself.

_Train him. _

_That device..._

Ren felt the round bezel set stone around her neck on an omega chain.

..._records spirit energy_. _Bring it after he has released his Bankai and showed you the limits of his strength. Kyou can read it for us_.

~Karakura Town~ Two days later.

"Get up." The Vizard's voice was cold.

Sweat poured from his body, stinging as it ran into his eyes. Various cuts had been rent into the flesh of his torso and arms. The woman held one Kunai expertly between two fingers, ready to let fly the minuscule cutting device at the first sign of his resumed offensive.

Twice he had summoned the loathsome mask only to have it split down the middle by the tip of the dagger. Her reiatsu steeled the point seconds before impact so that it was able to pierce even the hardest of surfaces. She had even given Urahara a run for his money yesterday; his Blood mist shield shattering moments before it struck her.

He then had wisely deduced that her spirit pressure was what hardened the blade. Ichigo had no idea, though he pretended to follow just in case the Vizard reported back to them in Assiah-especially **her**, that he was an idiot.

It was clear, however, as he got to his feet; he could sink no lower in the woman's opinion of him.

"You don't seem to be trying hard enough." She phased closer, right in front of him. He started back, the whistle of the Kunai cutting the air seconds later. "Why is that?"

She caught him in the stomach, her knee imbedded in his middle. "You fight for your friends, don't you?"

"S-Shut up!" he tasted acrid sweetness and spat, red tingeing his saliva.

The Vizard tilted her head at angle, "why are you angry? Is it not true that you want to get stronger to protect them?"

He looked away, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.

"Or is there another--"

"How long have you known Kei?" he countered quickly.

"Captain Yamamoto? Over a hundred years."

_I keep forgetting_...

The woman was watching his face as he digested this; "it is _she_ then."

~Tsukikage Castle~

"Achooo!!!"

"You okay?" Kagami glanced up from his grilled sandwich. Kei glowered over the top of her napkin, "does it look like I'm okay?"

"Gross," Kazeatari muttered, leaning over to confirm her suspicions of the fine spray dotting the top of the glass goblet. "Germs. Maybe you're getting sick."

"I am most certainly not. Someone is talking about me!"

"Yeah, yeah. Who would be?" the wind wielder scoffed, picking up her buttered crumpet to take a small bite. "Oh and I saw you with that guy-the scruffy one--"

"Stark." Kagami reminded.

"That's the one," Kazeatari sipped from her fluted wine glass, "I couldn't remember his name. Anyway, why were you making the effort to go after him, I mean he is the Tercera."

"Primera." Kagami again corrected.

"Whatever. I mean you're after the kid already and giving stupid cow eyes to the emo guy--"

Here, Kei glared, the omnipresent fire in the hearth crackled ominously to indicate her displeasure. "I have very good reasons for doing that to Ichigo."

"I'm sure you do." Kazeatari said smoothly, not taking her eyes from the thin slather of jelly spreading across the flat bread in her hand. Neatly she dipped and swirled the knife in the Pomegranate jam before withdrawing it to apply the same amount to the next piece on her plate. "Of course like I've warned you previously, don't fall in love with him."

"I know better." The fire wielder said tightly, her jaw clenching. "My heart, thank you, isn't any concern of yours."

"If it hinders you in battle then it is."

A deathly silence reigned. Then, Kei started up, "Shaku--"

"Hey! No fighting at the King's table!" Kagami barked, turning incredulous eyes from woman to woman, "listen to yourselves! Bickering constantly over trivial things! What has happened to us?!"

Kei dropped back into her seat, her gaze falling to her plate.

Kazeatari looked away as well, lids closing over dull obsidian eyes.

"We used to be united! Our bond, that which kept us together was that of experience not of like power. We were each created and given life to be shared with our limiters. Water the emotion, Air the voice to speak it. The passion of Fire grounded by Earth. Alone we--"

"Have you forgotten that was what brought us to this point?" Kei asked quietly.

~*~

She glanced around.

No one.

Zoe was out with the twins, resealing any cracks in the atmosphere, in effect clearing all traces of the dimension being breached by Hueco Mundo. They would be gone for a while.

Pensive now, Kei dipped her hand into the sliding drawer, the false bottom giving way to a much larger compartment from there, her fingertips made contact with something soft.

Another glance.

She pulled it out.

A worn black shirt, the fabric faded from much wear, was held in her hands. Lifting it to her face, it still bore the scent of its wearer, being unwashed from when she had picked it up...

~Flashback~

_Her lips were bruised; the Hollow had been loath to let her go. Standing in the moonlit stillness of his room, Kei felt suddenly drained. While the flesh wounds were all but gone, new skin replacing the broken flesh, leaving no scar; her body remembered._

_Her head ached from the pounding into the glass, her shoulder throbbed from colliding with the car's rearview mirror before she had rolled off into the street. _

_Inoue...she still remembered the girl's terror-stricken face._

_'I thought we were friends.' _

_Inoue didn't want her friends or especially Ichigo to realize what she truly felt inside. _

_A humorless grin twisted Kei's mouth. The human girl had left her to the wolves and they-Matsumoto still labored under the delusion that Orihime-chan was a saint. Saint! Hah! More like trash._

_Kei covered her mouth with her hand, yawning quietly. Ichigo stirred in sleep and she quickly stepped away from his bedside. There would be time for laying out the basis for the next stage of her plan, after all she was tired and she couldn't very well drop down and nestle beside him now could she? Despite every nerve ending in her body crying to seek rest in the little spot right behind him..._

_Logic refused. _

_Her mind wouldn't allow her body to override its commonsense. Though, it did let her turn around to tuck in the blankets snugger to his shoulders. It was then, as she was turning to leave once again that her eye fell upon the small basket stuck between the bed and the desk. _

_Clothes were in it._

_Unfolded, piled haphazardly in the four walls of the plastic bin to the near top. Her hand reached for the collar of a cast aside shirt. Probably from the day before. Its screen printing she couldn't read in the faint light. _

_Kei lifted it toward her face, inhaling the scent it was saturated with._

_It smelled like him._

_A shudder ran the length of her spine, her legs grew tingly, the blood rushing to her cheeks._

_Her face felt hot, I'm blushing? Ridiculous._

~*~

_'...don't fall in love.'_ Kazeatari's voice floated through her consciousness.

"I know." she murmured.

_'...hinders you in battle...'_

"It won't." she folded the crumpled shirt against her body, her fingers digging into the material.

Why had she taken his clothing...why couldn't she burn it in the fire rather than bury her face in it in lovers' proxy?

~Karakura Town~

_"You desire to become stronger for Captain Yamamoto." _

He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. The room was in near total darkness, the sliver of the moon hanging above in the sky, scattered little light over the town. The Vizard's words replayed over and over in his mind.

_"If she were here..." she had smiled then drew her hand over her face; he tensed, thinking she was summoning her mask. He had yet to see it. _

His brows knitted together, his mouth twisting into a scowl.

_"Kei--" _

_The woman flipped her hand through shoulder-length tresses of orangey-brown_, _the gold in them was muted beneath the false light of the training ground under the Urahara Shoten_. _"Alike, hmm?" There was a flash of mirth in her eyes, "would you prefer I wear this face instead?"_

Ichigo grimaced, covering his face with his hands. He had made a fool of himself and the woman had known it.

_"N-No!" he had stuttered, feeling stupid for the way his heart pounded. The woman's smile had widened, but her hand wiped away the likeness of the elemental. A mask of bone forming along the graze of her fingertips. A skull face, eyes narrow, cheekbones protuberant and a single horn on the middle of her forehead. It was grotesque, a type he had never seen before and for that he was glad. A Menos maybe ugly and others were as well but this..._

_"Gluttony," she said, her index finger trailing over the hard ridges of the jowl. "this was meant to represent the aspect of death known as greed. Unfortunately this thing became a part of me instead..." _

_He didn't understand what she meant. Aspect of death? _

_The woman looked at him with those horrible, little piggish eyes, the yellow flecks in her hazel eyes brighter than usual, "summon your mask. The real training begins now." _

~Tsukikage Castle~

_"What is your name?" _

_"Namaiki Kazeatari." _

_"No," the girl was smiling-smirking, "your _**true** _name."_

_The distance between them lessened the effect of the girl's eyes, very few could stare her down. Only... Kazeatari sighed, the breeze flattened her clothing against her body, her hand rose, a fan materializing from the air, "Wind."_

_"Ah...I thought so." The girl paced around a few steps, then abruptly swung back to face her. "If you are who you claim then prove it!" _

_In the blink of an eye, the field was crossed, the girl's hand was wrapped tautly around the red bound hilt of a Katana, three spirals decorated the triangular guard, one at each point. Kazeatari flicked her wrist, the girl leapt back, evading the curved gust of wind_.

_"Reppu-Geki." The girl said reminiscently, eyes falling to trace the crack spreading over the surface of the blade. It broke apart, the pieces disintegrating back into what they once were, pieces of the fire element. Ash. _

_Kei dropped the hilt._

_Kazeatari watched, "why didn't you-?"_

_"Because." A large black bird that had been observing them from a tree suddenly took flight, its wings gleamed, stretched taut over a skeletal bone structure. "I needed to be sure of your identity first." The Demon melded back into the form of a long two-bladed weapon, on either end a diamond-shaped tip. _

_Her hand folded around the tapered guard, "one can never be too careful, after all_ **we** _are not very popular around here." Her smile was disdainful_.

_Mocking to hide what she felt inside_.

"You would smile as fire fell like rain from the sky and laugh when everything burned to ash." Kazeatari murmured. Kagami was wrong. Unity had been their downfall and almost the worlds' as well. And when it was over, they found they had lost something of themselves.

'Kaze...'

She lifted herself up halfway, "Byakko."

The form of a large white tiger stalked to the side of the bed, deep-set golden eyes peered into those of its wielder, a low whine rumbling in the furry throat. Kazeatari extended her hand, running her fingers through the thick striped coat. The white tiger bowed its head, rubbing against her palm.

"Forgiveness...isn't that what we're searching for?"

~Precipice world between the Living and Soul Society~ A month later.

"Only two guards...how negligent."

_That voice..._

Orihime turned.

A figure in white had stepped from a tear in the dimensional fabric of the Dangai. "Though it was convenient for me that the irritating Koryu was disabled. I don't like to be rushed when I'm talking to someone."

_He's a..._

One of the Shinigami whom had accompanied her, challenged him. "Hey! You're an Arrancar?!!!" Sword in hand; she watched him be cut down before her eyes. "Wait! You want to talk to me, right?! Then, let's talk!"

The Arrancar had only to lift his hand and the other was cut to ribbons "That's right, girl. I'd like a word with you."

Her hands flew to her hairclips, "Soten-Kisshun!" Instantly a golden shield encapsulated the wounded Shinigami. Her head turned, her eyes fearful, her hands clenching at her sides.

"Hmm...those were catastrophic wounds. Your healing powers are quite impressive--"

"Excuse me, I'd hate to interrupt really, but you're in my way."

_K-Kei-san?!_

The Arrancar glanced, the air crackled; Kei deflected it easily. A void of darkness blossoming out of the blade of her Zanpaku-to.

"First Phase, Mugetsu."

"Kei-san!" Orihime found her voice to cry.

The Arrancar eyed her levelly, "and you are?"

She wore gray, the same she had worn the day they had traveled to Assiah. In one hand was the scabbard of the sword and in the other, the blade held at an angle. "I might ask you the same question." Evenly she glanced to Orihime, "are you unhurt?"

"Y-Yes." Orihime felt herself tearing up.

"Hmph...by those robes I can only presume you are of the Juppongatana?"

Kei-san smiled at him, "yes. You know of us...that's good. Keiko Yamamoto, Captain of the Fourth Division. I don't believe we've met-?"

"Schiffer Ulquiorra, Cuatro Espada."

There was something in that statement that bothered Orihime, but she couldn't think of what it was, not when Kei-san was telling her to go.

"Run."

"B-But--"

"Run, Orihime-chan." Kei-san blocked his next attack, "Second Phase, Tsukisasu."

The piercing moon shot through his balas.

"B-but I can't--" her tear-filled gaze went to the glowing shield surrounding the Shinigami.

"Listen to me," Kei's voice was kindly, yet had a sharpness to it, "they are already dead! You cannot revive that which has lost its life!"

"I..."

"You must go..." there was faint smile in her voice, "Ichigo _needs_ you."

Orihime released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. _Kurosaki-kun...for him..._

"Go!" More urgently this time.

Orihime turned and began to run. Her fairies flew after her, the shield vanishing.

"You dare-?" The Arrancar quietly questioned.

"Yes." The air swished as it was cut, "Third Phase, Tsukiakari."

_Kei-san..._

"Obscuring this plain will not save you."

"I know." Kei's voice was still bright. "Run, Orihime and whatever you do, don't look back."

Tears fell fast and hard from her eyes, dimming her sight. Up ahead, vaguely she could see the end of the tunnel. Light. Daylight and Kurosaki-kun. _He was there somewhere...and he needed her_.

Kei-san's voice came to her one last time, "close...your eyes. Sixth Phase...Kagennotsuki."

Orihime broke through into the living world. Her world.

Behind light flashed then all became a mass of grayish blackness, the portal sealing.

Orihime spun around with a cry leaving her lips, "Kei-san!"

But everything was gone.

The Dangai. The Shinigami. The Arrancar and Kei-san...

Kei-san whom had stayed behind just so that...

~Tsukikage Castle~

_Aren't you afraid, Kei? _

_You're giving yourself to the enemy_-

Kagami walked swiftly down the hallway.

-_risking it all. Everything. All for the realization of your ultimate objective_.

As expected, a door several doors down flew open. Takara appeared breathless, "Kagami! Arrancars have invaded the living world! Hitsugaya-Taichou and his team have engaged them."

He looked at her unconcerned, "I know."

"But! Kei--"

"Is en route to the Soul Society for the planned private meeting with the Soutaichou. Yes...she is." his smile took the girl aback.

"But, what shall we--"

"Do? Nothing." He continued on, only pausing thoughtfully, saying over his shoulder, "there was interference. The signal was lost...so we knew nothing."

Takara hesitated, "y-yes sir. I understand."

"Oh and one more thing, Takara..."

She waited.

"Gin says to tell you _hello_ and that he wants to see you."

Her smile was faint, her eyes shining, "thank you, sir."

~*~

_The Primera...I see now._

Kazeatari leaned back against the furry flank of the tiger.

_You need someone to protect you and who better than the most powerful Arrancar in Aizen's army? _

She smiled, raising the glass of wine from the flagstone floor to her lips.

_By ending his loneliness, he will watch over you_...

She mock saluted the frozen image on the computer screen. The Inoue girl a blur running and Kei, hand poised above the sideways Getsu-ten. Don't look at it. Kagennotsuki. The waning moon and the shadow it casts.

She tipped the contents of the glass into her mouth

_You think of everything, don't you, Keiko? _

~Karakura Town~

The sword was plunged into his wrist, the tip sunk deep into the asphalt.

Grimmjow cackled, hand extending, a Cero forming at the center of his palm, "don't worry. A Doom Cero from this range will blow your head off--"

"Divide, Kansatsu Tobi-Kunai."

Soundless blades pierced the Arrancar's Hierro. Blood spattered the ground.

"R-Ren?!"

"Who the--"

The magenta-haired Vizard Shunpo'd from the rooftop to the ground, her boots tapping down lightly as she touched down, placidly she observed Ichigo's position and the Arrancar's rage. "Anochecer," her finger slid along the tiny edge of the Kunai she had kept.

"--Fuck!"

A Doom blast. But it was different. The light was more focused, concentrated in a thin searing wave rather than one wide curtain. It nearly sheared the Arrancar's arm off completely. Grimmjow's howl of pain didn't bring any expression to her face.

That seemed to enrage him more. "You bitch--you bitch! You're dead!!!"

The sword was yanked from Ichigo's wrist; Grimmjow held it downward, his teeth gritting, blood trickling from his hairline onto his face. He didn't seem to care, "Eat rocks! Grind--"

Unseen, another had entered their midst.

A pale hand had wrapped over the top of the blue hilt.

"Ul...quiorra..."

It was the same Arrancar from before. The one whom had led the first invasion...the one whom had stood by while his comrade nearly killed Chad! Ichigo longed to move, to pick up Zangetsu from the ground and face off against the two monsters, but he...

"Mission accomplished."

Ren stepped in front of him, her cold hazel eyes staring down the frigidity of the black hair's gaze and the burning wrath of Grimmjow's. "Mission?" carefully she asked. The Arrancar looked back at her unconcernedly, "we're going back."

The sky split apart. Yellow light spilling outward.

_Negacion! _

"The sun has set..." they began to rise up in the beam of light.

Ren's hands clenched at her sides.

"This day is ours."

~To be continued~

AN: thanks for reading :)

No flames-idiotic spammers-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated~! :)

Below is a two-shot completely different from (ShiKai)

Title: September rain

Pairing: HichigoxKei & IchigoxRukia?

"I'm not here to join you...I'm here to use you."

Shinji's smile never wavered, "we'll see."

A small shadow to the left shifted into a crouching position, hand tensing for her sword. Shinji stopped her, "Hiyori don't! Not you!"

The blond-pigtailed girl scowled, "why the hell not?!"

" 'Cause I said so..." the Vizard leader surveyed Ichigo's face, smile widening, "we will wait for **her**."

Another gasped, "not--?"

"Yes. In this case when time is of the essence, a more direct approach is needed."

~*~

They made him wait.

_This other would come soon_, Shinji promised.

Scowling even though he had no choice, Ichigo had seated himself down upon a rock, the closest to the staircase, a clear view of the entrance afforded by it.

Nine then...there were nine--

The doors swung open.

He looked up eagerly.

The bottom half of a girl appeared, olive green cargo pants visible below two armfuls of stuff. The Vizards poured forth; Lisa Yadomaru snatched one smallish white bag embossed with the logo of a bookstore near downtown. A joyful yell followed.

"Did you get my magazine?" demanded the stocky-built Kensei Muguruma. The reply was a muffled affirmative. The girl staggered down the steps, Shinji removed the rest of the bags, shooing the others back. "Ichigo-kun, this is..."

He got to his feet.

"_Kei_," the girl interrupted, knocking Shinji's arm from her shoulders. Her hand extended business-like, her smile neither formal nor falsely bright. For some reason he felt his lips curve slightly upward in response, "Ichigo Kurosaki."

"I know," another smile, this time more of a smirk, "Shinji's been going on and on about you forever. It makes me feel as if I know you already."

The Vizard instantly declaimed any notion to which the girl shook her head at.

"Anyway...since you're here I can only assume you're going to--"

"I'm not joining you guys."

Her smile lessened, "then what--"

"I just want you to show me how to control this thing."

She looked to Shinji for approval. He nodded once; she dusted her hands, shrugging her khaki jacket off revealing a worn butterfly T-shirt, the print faded.

Ichigo felt mild trepidation sink like a stone in his stomach at her approach.

_What was she going to do_--

He expected something.

--_hit me like Rukia_--

Certainly not the girl throwing herself on him.

He saw Shinji's bemused look, arms crossed over his chest. Hiyori's roll of her eyes and the sharp ground jar into his backside, the girl's weight dragging him down.

"Hey--"

Darkness enveloped him.

~*~

"So this...is your mindscape."

At the sound of the girl's voice, his eyes flew open.

"You!" he struggled up, his elbows twisting back to gain leverage. Kei ignored his exertion, particularly the bare blade stuck through the back of his shirt into the building, effectively pinning him there.

"Not very cheerful is it?" she asked rhetorically.

Ichigo tried to reach behind to yank the sword out, "let-me-go!"

"And that..." the girl turned, "must be your Hollow."

The figure of his nightmares, a leering image of himself in white and black; Zangetsu was in its hand and a grin that exposed its long tongue peeled its lips back. "Kiiiiiing! What a pleasant surprise!" Its yellow-eyed gaze flickered to her, looking her up and down in a way that brought a flush of shame to Ichigo's cheeks.

"And who...are you?"

~To be continued~


	31. There is no such place

_Hold on to the world we all remember fighting for,  
There's still strength left in us yet  
Hold on to the world we all remember dying for, _

_There's still hope left in it yet.  
_-Arise, Flyleaf

ShiKai CH.30: There is no such place...

She hated blood. The red flow that gushed from the bodies of the dead and dying all from sword strokes. Cuts and slashes. Pierced bodies folding in on themselves. It sickened her. She preferred the crackling flame, burning from the inside out, boiling the accursed blood in the veins, blackening the skin, smoldering until nothing was left.

No blood.

No red of the dying tainting the field.

Only embers. Fading into beloved ash.

Fascinated though the gleam turned her stomach, she held aloft her palm, the scarlet beads seeping above the narrow cut in her skin.

The door to the white room opened.

"Aizen-sama awaits." Ulquiorra spoke, hands in pockets. Kei curled her hand, the precious blood rolling in a ball of perfect symmetry, a minuscule globe of red.

_No more after this._

Her palm stung mildly, the skin throbbing as she rubbed it for effect over her face, streaking it like war paint. "I see...is Star--"

_I won't remember anything._

"No. The Primera will not be there."

_Else._

She looked back over her shoulder, "ah well, maybe it's better this way. After all he'll see me plenty later on."

A chair was in the center of the room, an oval high-back, a near twin of those in the meeting room. This was to be her room. Her prison.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"Father in Heaven--rats, that's not it. Holy Mary mother of God...damn."

"What are you doing and why are you cursing in the same breath as saying the Holy mother's name?"

He glanced over his shoulder, his hands still folded in supplication. "I'm praying-or _attempting to_," a half smile quirked his mouth, "and you're disturbing me."

Kazeatari fanned her face, gaze rising to the ancient Fourteenth century tapestry of Christ's agony in the garden, almost immediately she bowed her head, reciting in a learned monotone, "Pater Noster, qui es in caelis. Sanctificetur--"

"And what is that?"

"The Our Father in proper Latin. I was born a Roman Catholic, born and bred in Italia after all."

"I was sturdy old English stock, born and bred in mother Britannia--"

"Sadly a Protestant such as yourself would never understand the beauty of the old languages."

"Uh huh...are you looking for a fight?"

"Now you're imagining things. I'm just a little bored without Keiko around." she said, checking her nails.

"...so am I." There was a heavy sigh in his voice. He stood, dusting his robes free of nonexistent dust, "soon I suppose we'll be hearing from Hueco Mundo and either Hitsugaya-Taichou telling us Keiko is believed to be dead or Soul Society. Depends...the battle I'm sure is over so we could go hang out there. I don't know...it might look better if we went directly to check and see if she got there safely, otherwise they might think it was premeditated-"

"You're starting to think like her." Kazeatari said, her eyes closing.

He frowned then laughed quietly to himself, "you're right, I am...but still...I miss her already."

~Las Noches ~

All was quiet.

Only the thudding of her heart and the stillness of the room. Oh, there were others. Four to be exact. Aizen, the long scabbard of his Zanpaku-to in one hand, the other resting against her shoulder as if to keep her motionless. The bind cut into her lips, the design of a tongue of black flame meant as she hoped--Kagami would enlighten the Shinigami, a particular way of binding known to constrain an elemental's power.

It did in a hazy kind of way. She couldn't summon Maouen except to see its agitated form flickering in the lights, lingering near its master. Fire still responded to her touch, her silent commands. And above all...

She struggled, swaying from side to side, the cold floor cutting into her knees. The shutter over the lens pulled back, the eye of the camera was on her face. Red congealed along her hairline, streaks painted her cheeks, tell-tale signs of a battle fought first. One that she was meant to have lost.

_Poor Inoue...how she would feel so terrible seeing this_...

Aizen spoke.

And Kei swallowed the laugh that was burbling up in her throat.

Everything. Was falling into place.

~Karakura Town~ Flashback

_He's going to be executed..._

She looked down at the scabbard in her hand. The black seven star sword. Hokuto-Shichisei. One of Kagami's many possessions confiscated after exoneration became impossible to hope of. Now it fell to her to keep the weapon he had forged with such gifted talent. The other...she recalled the spear-like tang lacking a guard. Disassembled, the other was of no use unless Kisuke could finish it.

_Tomorrow_.

Yoruichi sighed, her hand falling to her side.

_And there was nothing she could do about it_.

"Oh, my...you're here."

Yoruichi twisted around. So silent. The guards...

A girl stood in the doorway, her palm cupped along the lintel. She wore the uniform of a student, hair unbound swept both sides of her face. There was a small smile on her lips. "Ah...there it is. I was sure it had been misplaced somewhere."

Confusion clouded Yoruichi's expression.

The girl lightly touched her cheek in a gesture of contriteness, "that sword. The one you have in your hand..."

_She's here for_--

"--is mine." The girl opened her palm, holding her hand out.

Unconsciously Yoruichi tightened her hold on it. The girl noticed, a slight frown creasing her brow, "please, give it. I do not wish for there to be bloodshed on this night."

"...you think you can take me on, child?" Yoruichi was strangely reluctant to let go of the last thing he had made. Besides that she would be a fool and unworthy of her post if she bowed to the demand of the young girl. _Although she looked_...

The girl shrugged, "always."

_Familiar_.

"Yamamoto Keiko?!" _She was one of them? A monster_.

"So, you remember me." Another smile, pleased now, "I'm honored."

"You're..."

Intense purple eyes narrowed, "I hardly think that is a question I should like answering."

"...a monster like him."

The atmosphere grew oppressive. Vaguely Yoruichi was conscious of the flames filling the pots lining the wall, brightening then darkening as their fire became black.

"People who call others monsters are worse! They're the true monsters!" The girl's voice was oddly strangled, on the point of breaking. _As if she had been called a monster before_.

_Or worse_.

"It hurts to be called something you're not! Something you would never be! I'll never forgive you! Never!" ~

~*~

"--ichi. Yoruichi!"

Yoruichi started out the trance. "Kisuke?" She dropped her face in her hands, "sorry...I must've drifted off."

The blond shopkeeper knelt down at her eye level, "it's alright. There's no need to apologize..." a secretive look, "but you seemed to be dreaming. Your countenance was troubled."

_I'll never forgive you_.

"Yeah...I was...about the night before the execution."

"But it didn't happen," Kisuke brushed a tendril of hair from her cheek, "he got away. You must have been glad."

She bit her lip, her reply hesitant, "I was in a way. But I..."

_I was brought up to believe they who were branded with the marks of absolute power were monsters_.

"I called him one. And her." she said suddenly. His hand was cupping the side of her face, turning her toward him. "What?"

"Monsters."

~Kurosaki clinic~

"Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime knelt at his bedside. His prone form covered to the waist by a thin sheet, his torso and one wrist bandaged. She had been afraid to face Rukia and him...awake. Slipping inside an empty room on the clinic side she had waited in silence and remorse while the family went on with dinner preparations, Rukia going upstairs to stay with him a while.

Eventually Karin and Yuzu had gone up as well.

Their soft snores from the other side of the bed meant they were off in dreamland.

Orihime hoped they had sweet candy-filled dreams.

She herself couldn't sleep.

_Oh, Kei-san_...

The Soul reaper's face flashed through her mind. _"Ichigo needs you."_

_Oh! Kei-san are you right? Does he really need me?_

Something sly and quiet slunk into her thoughts, sowing doubt. **He needs her. Not you...never you.**

"No..." Orihime whimpered, biting her lip so hard it tore, bitterness in the form of acrid blood on her tongue. Fat tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. "I won't listen to that! I-I love Kurosaki-kun and--oh, Kei-san! I'm so sorry!" She buried her face in the bedspread and sobbed quietly for a time...that is until she felt the coverlet shift and someone groan softly under their breath.

"Inoue-?" Kurosaki-kun sounded sleepy, confused, "what're you doing here?"

Her head rose, drops rolling down her cheeks, "oh, Kurosaki-kun! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!"

He tried to lift his wrist to scratch at the side of his hair but winced at the action, "hey now...I can't really forgive you if I don't know what it is."

_Of course...he was always so logical. So perfect_. _When she wasn't_.

"K-Kei-san..." He would hate her now.

"What about-" he sounded more alert at the mention of the Soul reaper's name.

"--was taken! And it's all my fault!" Orihime cried.

~Tsukikage Castle grounds, Second Division office. Time: late night.

_"I'll forge you a new blade, one that will sever the wall between this world and the King's plain. Don't laugh, Sosuke...I will. I swear it."_

Back then. The scabbard was mounted on the wall, he saw it every single day yet had truly not looked at it since... The last sentient blade he had ever made. _The White Night_. At its core was a vein of pure Seki-Sekki stone, melted from Maouen's fire and poured into the hollowed out center. But beneath that...

_"Then have a taste of what she feels!" _

_Rage twisting the girl's face, the newly formed silver tang flashing in the dusky light. Plunging past the barrier, red flowed down the inner channel, the blade absorbing the emotion. And into the bloated stomach of the Shinigami. "Reflect...Hakuya." _

It was completed that day. Kagami raised a hand toward it, the barrier falling away. His hand wrapped around the hilt, lifting it from the wall. It reacted. An electric tingle coursed through his veins like a jolt of ice water. It recognized him.

His hand shook. Clasping it was one thing, unsheathing it like a true weapon another.

"I created you...would you refute that?" he said quietly, the scabbard becoming freezing to the touch, The triangular guard began to shake, the tang clattering against the sides, longing to be released out into the open. Kagami sensed its impatience, smiling a little as the rattle became louder.

_'Three times I've tried forging it and each time...'_

"I failed. Until..."

~Flashback~

'You've made it too unwieldy.' She took it from him, 'watch.' And raised the wide spear-like blade above her head. 'Kazeatari, could you please toss the leaf in your hand and step back?'

The wind wielder shrugged and flicked the maple leaf from her fingers.

In a split second it had been cleaved in half, the air whistling from the descent of the blade.

Kei frowned. The two halves fluttered into pieces like golden confetti. 'See what I mean? With an ordinary sword that move should've sliced them to bits once. It doesn't matter the size of a blade, take for instance Atari's Kodachi. It's considered a very small Katana for someone her height unlike the Wakizashi which were fashioned to the specifications of who was going to be their wielders. Atari's skill however is the determining factor in her case. With a smaller Katana, she's able to maneuver and perform swift, elegant strikes with deadly accuracy rather than aim blindly or charge in as is the case with this Nodachi of yours.'

'... I see...' he looked puzzled, 'I think.'

'You should,' her eyes closed, her lips pursed faintly, 'with the name of Hakuya, I expected something long and slender and graceful. Not something like this.' The tip was stuck into the ground, the broad blade glinting in the light. 'It is very unattractive,' Kei said flatly, shaking her head.

'I can see your point about its lack of er-grace.' He began slowly.

'Mm hmm. And don't forget cumbersome.' Kei reminded.

'Also unsightly,' chimed in Kazeatari.

'Thanks a lot...I did make it you know, I was pretty proud of it...' he trailed off in a kind of hurt voice. Which Kei brushed aside, 'well why did you form it this way? I could understand reinforcing its central points to ensure that it didn't snap without the backing of a Shinigami's soul...and yet,' again she raised it up, staring at the cutting edge held up in the light. 'You've made it much too porous. Stretching the reishii out to cover the width, you've inadvertently weakened it.'

'I have?'

Her eyes rolled, '..yes. Zanpaku-to are formed from the size of a Shinigami's spirit pressure, in effect the more powerful they are, the larger the blade--or so they say.'

Since she had stopped speaking, he figured it safe to remark, 'do you always have the answer to everything?'

She smiled faintly, 'yes.'

'--You're not supposed to AGREE!'

'And why not?'

'B-Because...' he spluttered, unable to think of the right word.

Kei was still smiling, ' it makes me conceited?'

Kazeatari fanned her face, sounding bored, 'try immodest.'

She looked positively delighted to be pronounced as such. It was only when he began to reach for the sword's hilt that she reverted back to the original topic. 'Anyway as I was saying...the more output a Shinigami is generating the larger the sword, but if it's that way then they are more likely to be able to hold Bankai less and even then sustain the density of the blade required to keep it from shattering. Take Getsu-ten for instance. Because it's meant to defend, the reishii that make up the tang is much more concentrated than the average Zanpaku-to. It can resist a Doom blast from a Hollow at point blank range whereas I would be reluctant to wield this one the same.' She glanced over the sword again, appraising it without being critical over the way it looked.

'...Yes that's all well and good and I can definitely see your point on the evils of such a large sword, except what am I going to do about it now? The basic form has been taken, I can't so easily go back and reform it into a smaller Katana--'

'Make it a second release.'

'What?'

'When it's between the Chrysalis stage before maturity, have it lock down into this unwieldy form then when it is ready in time, it'll shed and become the true White Night.'

'O-okay.'

~*~

"...have it become the true White Night. I always wondered why your release command was..._reflect_." He said softly, looking down at the sword in his hand. "Why not_ feel? _Because that's all you do is feel, isn't it Hakuya?"

_Bitterness._

_Torment._

_Our pain._

_That's all you know_.

"I forged you for Sosuke. I've almost kept my promise..." His eyes became hard, "I swore we'd see the Throne room of the Sen'nenoki together."

My first friend...the first one to show me kindness when I was lost in a cruel world. Aizen Sosuke.

When we were young.

I thought we could own the world.

~Karakura Town, Orihime's apartment. Time: next day, afternoon~

_What is it you want?_

"I thought possibly a trade would be in order. Ms. Inoue in exchange for Ms. Yamamoto here." The smiling voice on the screen, glanced down, hand on the shoulder of the bound Soul reaper. "But I don't think so anymore..." Aizen's words dripped poison, "Ms. Yamamoto is quite a prize."

_Kei? _

Everything the Shinigami sub felt, played over his face. Relief that the Soul Society's report was wrong. Deep bitterness that again he had failed, rage at the man whom had taken her and--love. The kid halfway didn't even realize it himself.

_Yes, love. You have it now_.

It was all such a twisted, convoluted combination that Kagami had to step back, move away as the emotions washed over him. Kazeatari glanced at him, an unspoken question in her look.

_I'm alright_, the water wielder mouthed, holding a hand to his temple where a headache was starting. _Strong emotions always do this to me_.

"Kurosaki," warned Hitsugaya; the sub backed down, his rising spirit pressure making Inoue have a hard time catching her breath. _The giant as well_, Kagami noted. The kid was doing what Kei did whenever she was angered over something, without consciously realizing it. He knew of her wanting to punish Karin Kurosaki that way. She had claimed her conscience had prevented it--but just barely. Definite antagonism on the familial front. Kei would have to be extra careful later on not to incur the wrath of the overprotective brother rather than ardent lover.

_Unless she was counting on..._

"You bastard..." the kid hissed.

He would've dropped his face in his hands if the action hadn't drawn attention to himself.

_The kid not believing __**she**__ would ever harm his sisters_.

Aizen smiled at them-the camera. "Good day..." the chink of a sword being withdrawn from its scabbard was heard, the lens focusing on her face. Her eyes. Widening. Fear in them. It was so believable that Kagami felt his heart lurch. Only Kazeatari was relatively unaffected.

"Kei-san..." whimpered the Inoue girl.

"Kei!" From the kid.

Hitsugaya's jaw tightened, his teeth gritting.

The video feed was fading, Aizen's voice growing farther and farther away.

The reflection in her eyes was that of an unsheathed blade.

"Scatter...Kyoka--"

The picture became snowy.

The lined face of the Soutaichou came on. "We can only label Yamamoto Keiko as lost to us forever."

"Wha--No!! How can you say that?! We can't just abandon her!" The kid's voice was rising, his expression torn between despair and anger at such an implication. "We have to--"

"What?" The old man's voice was dangerously soft, "to enter the territory of the enemy would be foolhardy. I will not permit it!"

Kurosaki's mouth opened and closed several times, seemingly stunned.

Hitsugaya's eyes softened when he glanced at the sub, "sir, that girl-Keiko, she is a valuable warrior--"

"Indeed. That is why her loss was a great blow to us," Kagami stepped in, a faint smile playing about his mouth, "I can see the validity of the unspoken point on Soul Society's side. If-which it seems as though the traitor has used perfect hypnosis on her then it would be remiss to assume we would just be facing Aizen's hoards and not eventually expect to come across Keiko herself wielding her sword for his side."

A quiet descended.

"Sosuke..." Kagami sobered, his easy smile fading. "Isn't a fool. He'll use every advantage he can to proceed on his plan and if that were the case then only_ I_ or _Kazeatari _could fight her." _Thankfully, I know I'm not going to hell for lying_. "I don't know..." he began again after a long moment, "how strong Kurosaki is. I understand he fought a couple of your Taichous a few months ago to rescue Kuchiki Rukia-san."

The incident of course was something Abarai had regaled to them; Kurosaki was much too modest. A quality that was somehow more endearing since Kei had none of it. Although he had flushed when she had complimented him on his strength, even while questioning more on Kuchiki Byakuya. _Was he married? Once. Oh, was he happy then?_

_No, his wife had died. Rukia was his adopted sister, in effect the sister of his wife. _

Kei had become rather quiet after that. _Was he even more good-looking than in his youth? _Was what she finally asked. The poor kid seemed a little ruffled and Abarai shrugged. _He guessed some considered his Taichou good-looking-handsome even_. That is until Kuchiki jumped in and said her _Nii-sama was the best-looking man in all of Seireitei_.

Kagami would've liked to have seen this man and suspected Kei did as well. Her inclination was stronger perhaps, leaning towards fondness for the man's form. He did recall a few nights after that conversation, something about an existing wager between the two-? And that thought lead him to make a bolder move.

"I say, sir, lend us," he glanced from the old man to the self-possessed face of Kazeatari, meeting her eyes for a second. She came forward to stand at his elbow. "For one day, Kuchiki-Taichou and young Kurosaki here, and I can almost guarantee you'll be having formal tea with your niece in forty-eight hours."

"Storm Hueco Mundo with such a small force?!" The sound of a wooden cane striking the floor with a sharp rapport made him wince. "Now listen here," he held both hands, palms upward to show he meant no harm, "who else? We can't just sit back while our powers are used in such a way! I won't allow it." His eyes were flinty like two blue ice chips. Kazeatari stood a little straighter but was studying her fingernails.

"It's true," she said, resting the sealed edge of the fan against her arm, "we're the only ones who stand a chance of overpowering Keiko in combat. Any other and I doubt they would survive."

_Overpowering? _He chose to sigh this time, hand rising to his temples. _You make it sound as if we're hesitant to actually engage in full-blown combat_. He managed to smile slightly. _Though I must admit...I am_. "So, what do you say? Just the ones I've named, if you don't want Hitsugaya-Taichou, Matsumoto and Abarai-Fukutaichous to accompany us then so be it. As for Kuchiki Rukia-san, she has no real reason to be tied into this. She's neither Keiko's friend or comrade the way we are. Nor the humans, Yasutora, Inoue or Ishida Uryu. They all will stay behind."

The Kuchiki girl sounded as if she was on the verge of protest, but Hitsugaya stopped her with a look and slight nod in approval to the vocalized declaration.

_It wasn't her they were upset about_.

Kurosaki didn't look so bothered by the fact that his friends weren't going to go with him.

_Their merry little band was being broken apart--all that about fighting at his side_...

Kuchiki and-surprisingly Yasutora seemed a little wounded by this.

He felt his lips curve. _Was being destroyed by another, more deeper bond then friendship_.

_It was as if_ **she** _had more precedence in his mind than them_.

The Soutaichou sighed, it was a heavy wearisome sigh that drew heavy white eyebrows together, withered hands still capable held the staff. His Zanpaku-to was concealed inside. Ryujin-Jakka-_sama_. The first and _supposedly_ most powerful Zanpaku-to...

Kagami still remembered the ancient man in his youth, kneeling at their feet, receiving from the Elemental of Fire one of her servants to aid him in his task. He was humble then, full of reverence for being allowed into the presences of the four great spirits.

_How things have changed_.

"Do what you can." The dismissal was evident.

_Man's memory is truly fleeting_.

"Shigekuni...did someone give you Ryujin-Jakka?"

He sensed them all stare at him. Shocked that he asked such a thing. Only Kazeatari wasn't. He was sure she was remembering the self-same thing and wondering as he did...what the old man's answer would be.

"Do not be ridiculous, boy! Ryujin-Jakka is a reflection of my own soul as all true Zanpaku-to are!" The tone was harsh. Reprimanding. And--

_Boy? _Yesterday is still so far gone, Kagami reminded himself. And tomorrow is still a miracle. _Soryu was a reflection of his soul_, he thought as Ukitake came back on. A little paler than before. It was obvious the Thirteenth Company Taichou had heard the insinuation and been embarrassed by it. That a hint of prejudice still remained was clear, that it hadn't gone unnoticed was encouraging. Kagami was still willing to believe in the hearts of some of the Shinigami, unlike...

"What. Byakko isn't mine because I made a pact before he was--"

"Kazeatari." Kagami warned.

"Sorry--" Ukitake began only to be cut off.

"--I guess that means Kazekiri, Sazanami and Getsu-ten aren't real Zanpaku-to in Soul Society's eyes. The Hokuto Shichisei is more a sword than my white tiger's claws."

"There's nothing for you to apologize for, Ukitake-san. Kaze--"

"Ryu was Suzaku's vassal before--"

"Kaze!" he barked.

Her jaw tightened, her parted lips closing. With Kei they were both up in arms and at each others' throats. With him, maturity was sadly lacking. She would sulk and if Kei were here, _she_ would smirk or smile faintly, taking pleasure in mocking the other.

_Sadly...I'm stuck between_. "I..." he breathed in deeply. _But it's been like this for over nine-hundred years_. Ukitake seemed to understand, "you have a very hard battle ahead of you." The smile had a hint of sadness to it passing from their faces to those of the Shinigami and humans. "I pray only for your success and for no harm to come to you all. I will make the preparations and inform Kuchiki-Taichou--Rukia," the girl looked from Kurosaki to her Taichou. "I think it would be best if we maintained a small force in Karakura, so for now I wish for you to stay."

"Hai, sir." Her response was quiet, her eyes downcast. Kagami could only imagine the feelings and thoughts going through her mind. _Better for us..that they don't come_.

"B-But what about--" Inoue had spoken up finally, sensing her place at the sub's side being taken away.

"You should stay with Urahara," Kazeatari said, turning slightly, a particular glint in the depths of her dark eyes. The girl clasped her hands to her bosom in a familiar gesture of heartache.

_She could only get in their way and knew it, yet would be hurt terribly to hear it come from the mouth of the Soul reaper whose power and capabilities were regarded as on par with Kei's_. All this he discerned and more, seeing the girl's large gray eyes go from Kazeatari to Kurosaki.

_Why do they always look to him_?

_Or is it_...

"I-I don't want to s-stay. I want to h-help rescue Kei-san!"

_She loves him_. Kagami was struck by this realization. _And she could care less about Kei_.

"It was my fault Kei-san was taken a-and I--"

"Listen girl," Kazeatari cut off the girl's tear-filled entreaty, "you're just going to be in the way."

Like always Kuchiki was about to jump to Inoue's defense.

"Her powers are of no use to us." Kazeatari continued evenly, a single narrow look silencing whatever the Shinigami had been about to say. "She may even exacerbate things, if once Aizen knows she's come with us, he might still desire to capture her and make quick of it. If he sent..." those sharp, keen eyes that had the feeling of knives slicing into your body looked at each of them in turn. Inoue flinched and seemed to lose confidence in herself, her clenched hands falling her sides.

"Kei. I cannot be certain Inoue would be perfectly safe."

"But! I want to help..." Inoue persisted. Kagami managed not to sigh. _Her manner was terribly exasperating. How could he not have seen it before?_

"You would be selfish enough to have Kei's sacrifice on your behalf wasted." It was no question. Matsumoto-Fukutaichou approached her, wrapping an arm about the girl's slender waist. "It's alright Orihime-chan." A near glare shot to the offending woman, "Namaiki-san has _a point_. You would be much safer--"

"Besides, I have no interest in baby-sitting a girl whose presence isn't a necessity but rather an indulgence to a spoiled child's whims."

_You said it...I thankfully didn't_. With effort, he put his back to the females, smiling tiredly at the man. "So, how have you been, Jushiro?"

"As well as can be-"

"Orihime-chan isn't spoiled! She works as hard as anyone to--" Matsumoto-Fukutaichou interjected.

"Oh? Tell me then," there was a hint of amusement in Kazeatari's voice, "how many battles has she fought? How many victories has she won on her own strength?"

Matsumoto stared, her light blue eyes wide with incredulity. Inoue was sniffing, tears threatening to leak out. Ishida was looking between the women, holding his hands out placatingly, "now ladies--"

"Well? I'm waiting."

"My, it is quite refreshing to see someone so energetic!" Ukitake said, laughing a little. Kagami's brow rose. _Energetic?_

"Orihime's a healer!" Kuchiki said loudly, stepping forward, her eyes blazing.

Kazeatari's smirk widened, "a healer? Please..." she blew air lightly from her lips. "Do you even understand the definition of one who heals? And I thought you were supposed to be intelligent."

"How nice it is to be young again," Ukitake's smile never wavered.

_I want--I want to sink into the floor!_ The water wielder inwardly cried.

"Why you--!!!"

"Rukia." Kurosaki finally said quietly.

Kuchiki rounded on him, "Ichigo! Say something!"

Kazeatari was quite innocently fanning her face, her glance away from the sniffling girl.

"Maybe we should-" Kagami began uselessly.

"Orihime-chan, don't cry--" Matsumoto cooed.

"I-I'm not crying..." Inoue denied, her voice thick with tears.

"Yes. You are." Kazeatari said dryly, causing Matsumoto to turn on her angrily.

"Don't you start!"

"Start what?" Kagami was amazed at the blandness of her tone. Like she was talking to a child. Patiently. Slowly as if to make them understand. _By Gods...she was worse than Kei!_

"Why should you be angry? I am merely stating the obvious." Kazeatari explained, her hand to her cheek, a slight roll of her eyes to him. "Are we done here?"

"Y-yeah-" with relief, he recognized Kazeatari's quiet surrender. Sadly...some were foolish enough not to see it.

"The obvious? And what might that be, Namaiki?" Matsumoto all but spat out.

Kazeatari's hand flipped through her hair, "oh, I don't know...like the way you mollycoddle that girl. Honestly you all act as if she's some _princess_--"

"She lost her brother! She has no one!" Matsumoto defended; Kazeatari snorted softly, derisive in her look, "we all have no one. Can't you get that through your head?"

Matsumoto's look of skepticism said it all.

"I'm feeling a little out of form..." The air began to swirl and twist around Kazeatari's aura. Her fan slid forward, the cross of Goko-Juji forming at the tips of the currents. "So, how about I practice on you."

"Kaze--" a little worriedly, he watched Matsumoto smile coldly in return."With pleasure." The Fukutaichou's hand went for her Zanpaku-to. Hitsugaya was conversing with Ukitake, having long dismissed the women's spat as unimportant. Kurosaki wasn't helping either, becoming engaged in a heated argument with Kuchiki over something or other.

_Though he seemed to be on the defensive..._

And Inoue was worthless, looking desperately from one woman to the other, unsure of what to do.

_Now Abarai was getting into it with Kuchiki and Kurosaki. But__ he__ at least...was on Kurosaki's side_. _Whatever_...

"We," putting emphasis on the word, Kagami bowed hurriedly to Ukitake and Hitsugaya, "have to go. Now." He grabbed Kazeatari's wrist, her fan pausing mid-rise to the beginning of the sun-rise dance. She merely glanced from his fingers taut around her wrist then relaxed. The wind dying down.

_He was the only one_...

"We'll see you later," he said to the sub, going out the door. "You know how to contact us..." his gaze shifted to the human girl. "Sorry."

Kazeatari rolled her eyes.

..._she listened to_.

~*~

"Matsumoto," Hitsugaya warned as she began to say something. "Leave it. You are an embarrassment to the Thirteen Court Guard Squads."

"But, Taichou!"

"You...stood no chance of winning that battle." he sighed heavily. "Nanatsu knows the strength of his comrade and I'm sure yours. Remember you fought him once and would've been defeated or worse..."

She grew silent, knowing he spoke the truth.

"Now, Ukitake..." Hitsugaya turned back to the man, "what was it you said you had found in response to my inquiry about _the Black army_?"

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading ^^; phew! That was long!

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated :)

~Omake~

Her eyes rolled, "..yes. Zanpaku-to are formed from the size of a Shinigami's spirit pressure, in effect the more powerful they are, the larger the blade--or so they say...or..."

His brow rose, "or what?"

She finished straight-facedly, "it's to overcompensate for having a small--bleep."

He looked horrified. "Girls aren't supposed to use that kind of language!"

"I've heard that," Kazeatari nodded.

~Omake.2~ Present day--Tsukikage Castle sometime before the Shinigami went back~

The day was pleasant. Warm with just a hint of coolness to keep it from being boiling.

Kei sat on the higher tree branch, her legs swinging over the edge; he was on one below, glancing up from time to time. "Hey...Ichigo."

"What?"

"Why do you have such a large sword?" Without giving him a chance to answer, she went on quite innocently, "Kazeatari said it was because your dick was small and that you had to overcompensate for your--"

BAM.

She tilted forward, "--lack of manhood."

Red-faced he had fallen out of the tree.


	32. In all the empty spaces

_No one will ever see  
This side reflected  
And if there's something wrong  
Who would've guessed it  
And I have left alone  
Everything I own to make you feel like _

_It's not too late  
It's never too late _

-Never too late, Three days grace

ShiKai.31: In all the empty spaces

They didn't need Urahara to open an imitation Garganta for them; that was easy enough. Like so, demonstrated Kazeatari, slipping the Kodachi from its sheath. She made one diagonal slash to the air, the slat of the dimensional wall sliding apart like pieces to a puzzle.

It was the same as the Hollows; it wasn't something one could learn however. Only the Elements whose abilities transcended the bounds of the world could traverse these paths with ease. _The rest_, her eyes rolled with barely restrained sarcasm at the addition of the young Quincy and Yasutora to their group, thankfully Kuchiki Byakuya hadn't said a word yet, only looked his aristocratic nose down at them. _Would have to make their own path across the chaos of reishii_.

Since she was damned if she was going to create one herself using wind **for them**.

The Quincy of course, understood and said politely it wasn't necessary.

Kagami had looked strained at her lack of manners and offered very nicely to help Kurosaki and the giant. To which, as Kazeatari remarked a moment later. Weaklings had no business coming with them to Hueco Mundo. Again no shame or humiliation colored her face, rather his in mortification.

But the damage had been done already.

Kurosaki refused all assistance._ If_, he eyed Kazeatari's indifferent expression, _she wanted to test him to see if he was worthy of Kei's affection, then he would prove it!_

Which couldn't be further from the truth, reflected the wind wielder with a quiet sigh, sensing his mind-set.

The giant, eager to keep his place at his friend's side, decided to prove his mettle by refusing Kagami's building of reishii. If Kurosaki could do it, then he could as well.

Fools.

They just didn't understand the kind of world they were entering. She knew, or at least she had glimpsed before the barren vista of white sands beneath a dark unchanging night. Skeletal trees the only type of vegetation for miles around and the Las Noches palace. An immense place of a central round dome and taller towers surrounding it.

It was the very image of dystopian fantasy.

And they-her glance went to Inoue's insipid pretty face drawn with worry and dark circles bruising her eyes _because she was so worried for Kurosaki-kun_. Did not know what they were heading into.

Her hand fell to her side, the slim cutting edge held outward.

A welcome committee was waiting on the other side, that was all that Arrancar Kei was so fond of would say. That's what they could expect.

And it was.

The moment they set foot in the soft sands, the roar of a Gillian greeted them.

~Tsukikage Castle~

_Keiko had been taken_.

He paced around the empty throne room, four walls of stone echoing back his frantic steps.

_Fourth Division was without a Captain_.

The afternoon sun slanted scant light into the recesses of the shadowy corners. Tsukikage was a citadel of night, a sanctuary of cool darkness and moonlight. It was never meant to be filled with luminescence save for the moon's rays at midnight.

_But Lieutenant Elbe has assumed command for now and Kagami and Kazeatari were going to bring her back_. Everything was going to be alright.

Struck by this thought, Kanzaki became motionless.

_Preparations ought to be made for the ascension of a seated officer to the Captaincy of Third. he should speak with--but no. The others weren't here and they needed to be present in case of a tie. Although_...

Agitation clouded his mind again, his feet began moving restlessly about.

_That still didn't mean the Winter war was over. Even if she was brought back, that still didn't change the fact of_...

He stopped at the window, looking out over the city.

_...her promise. The one made a long time ago when all seemed hopeless and they were ringed by enemies on all sides. That was when she told him of another promise broken_.

The day was pleasant. He really ought to go out and enjoy it.

_The one the Soutaicho of Soul Society made and now couldn't remember anymore_.

~Karakura Town~

Rukia watched him go, her hands gripped tightly at her sides_. It wasn't fair-what was being asked of her. To stay behind in safety while he went into assured danger. She could fight dammit!_ _Wasn't that what she and Orihime had gone to the Soul Society for?! To become stronger so they wouldn't weigh Ichigo down?!_

She felt Renji's hand on her shoulder and knew that in his own way, he understood. Ichigo was his friend too and he as well wished to fight at his side.

But duty came first.

It was Ukitake-Taichou and her Nii-sama's wish that she remain here.

Not with Ichigo. She had no inclination for Yamamoto Keiko, no fondness or attachment indeed for the captured girl. Dislike wasn't heavy on either side, Rukia had always been treated with deference and respect as a Noble and not a warrior on equal footing implied.

They weren't, that is equal in skill.

Rukia was proficient in Kido and had only improved since her academy days; Keiko had proved once that she was capable of firing a level 90 Hado discarding incantation. That placed her in the range of ex-Taichou Aizen Sosuke.

Rukia's Shunpo was average, a standard speed for most Shinigami. While the other had no knowledge at all of Shunpo or _Flash-step_, she had a swiftness that surpassed it. Even Uryu who never complimented Shinigami, said she had talent in that area. She had out-distanced his Hiren-Kyaku during that first time and later on, proved she was faster than even Ichigo in bankai.

Her sword...Sode no Shirayuki was said to be the most beautiful in all of Seireitei, but a hundred years ago, Ukitake-Taichou had said that Yamamoto Keiko's bankai...the moon in all its phases: Tsukuyomi, had that honor. _And beautiful it was_, he had sighed softly.

_She wondered what it looked like? _

A sword that encompassed the moon in all its stages...

~*~

She was of no use to him. Orihime felt the stinging in her eyes and endeavored to hide it. Kurosaki-kun had enough on his mind without worrying about her!

_But would he...even if he had noticed? _

Kei-san was all he thought of. His one and only goal was bringing her back. Damn Aizen and the Arrancars! He would find a way...

Orihime knew he would just because he was like that. Afraid of nothing, but she couldn't forget so easily the look on his face when it was surmised that Kei-san was dead. Pain, horrible anguish that hurt her heart to see and made her wish with as much strength to be the one to ease it. And she knew he blamed it on himself that he hadn't been there--not to protect her when the Arrancar came, _but Kei-san_. To fight in her place.

But that wasn't what hurt the most.

Not Rangiku-san leading her away to the space beneath the Shoten.

Not Kuchiki-san saying only to him to come back safely. _He said he would and with __**her**_.

No, none of that. The scene that kept rerunning in Orihime's mind like a broken record was his face and her hand reaching out to offer comfort.

_He had brushed her aside_...

~Hueco Mundo~

_These people were amazing_. The thought came again and again, persistent in its effects_. Like Ichigo_. Blood sprayed the sand, bodies disintegrating before they even touched the powdery grains of the desert.

"Watch out, " said Namaiki. Eyes widened momentarily as she dealt a slice to a Hollow sneaking up behind him and then twisted about sharply, the leaves of the fan spreading apart, "Reppu-Geki."

Another fell apart.

Ichigo had reached for his sword when the battle had first begun, but hadn't been needed as Namaiki and Nanatsu took over. They needed no assistance.

"Hado 33 Sokatsui." Blue energy flowed from the man's palm, "this is getting tiresome. Shall we end this, hmm, Kaze?"

"Just what I was thinking," Namaiki said, appearing in a burst of silent speed behind him, "Suto-mu Kaze!" They crossed blades, wrists intertwining, "Numawatari!"

**They** were amazing.

Uryu wisely stepped back as did Rukia's brother. Mild mist only grazing their faces and his as well. Ichigo was drenched. A small smile quirked Chad's lips at his friend's minor fury.

They **were** way above him.

Even the one Ichigo had come to rescue. Chad didn't pretend to share the depth of sentiment nor comrade in-arms shared by Namaiki and Nanatsu. He was here because Ichigo was here. He would have Ichigo's back as Ichigo had his, the way it had always been.

As for...Chad knew of the growing infatuation between his friend and the Soul reaper. He could not turn a blind eye when he felt it deeply for Inoue-also a dear friend and wish that Ichigo had opened his eyes sooner to her love.

Ichigo had never been in love before.

Was too dense to see Orihime in a different way.

But...Chad had always vowed to stand by and support whatever decision Ichigo made. Even if that meant...hurting another friend.

Ichigo was sincere toward the Soul reaper; his feelings like his determination ran deep.

If he loved her--then nothing and no one was going to keep them apart.

Chad only wished for his happiness; as long as she requited the feeling.

~Las Noches, meeting room~

"Welcome Espadas."

The ten seated at the table turned simultaneously toward the doors and Aizen Sosuke flanked by Ichimaru Gin and Tosen Kaname.

"We have been invaded...but first some tea." his pleasant smile never slipped.

~*~

One side of the large double doors opened.

A shaft of light from the corridor fell into the room, the slim outline of a girl slipped inside.

The door closed.

Her glance swept the dimness. Vacant as she'd thought. Swiftly now, knowing it wouldn't stay that way long, she went to the wide console beneath the large screen, a chair placed in proximity to that screen. _Aizen's private viewing area_.

The keys beneath her expert fingertips soon shown recorded video feed.

_A skirmish on the desert_. "Storm wind," Kei's voice disturbed the quiet, "and...Numawatari."

She panned over the faces until she found the one she was looking for.

Her smile widened, "Ichigo...show me the strength of your precious resolve and I'll prove to you how easily it can be shattered."

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading! :D on my profile is a link to a pic of Kei and Ichigo! Check it out!

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! :)


	33. Beyond the darkness

_There is nothing that cannot be shattered _

_Broken into a million fragments.  
Except fate.  
Our own bitter end entraps us, taking us down the path of darkness  
For no matter how far I look it's all I see...  
no matter how much I want to believe in your resolve to shatter fate, I know._

_My own doom will befall me in three months  
And you cannot stop it. _

-_Will you cry, Ichigo, I wonder? _

ShiKai. 32: Beyond the darkness

_I'm lonely when I can't see you_.

Las Noches was in the distance, a structure of massive proportions against a backdrop of blackness. Five towers rose high over a central dome. The only vegetation of this world, were the few crystallized trees dotting the landscape. Kagami had said it would take them a little less than a day to reach the outer wall, though how he knew, Ichigo couldn't begin to fathom. Not that he cared, running through the desert. All that mattered was what lay at the end of the path.

_Her. _Beneath his breast, his heart pounded. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, he wanted to berate her for fighting that Arrancar, wanted to thank her for protecting Inoue and most of all wanted to apologize.

_I'm sorry...I wasn't there_. It killed him a little more inside the longer he knew she was in the white Palace locked away like a princess in a fairytale. The analogy brought a quirk to his lips as well as a heightened sense of anxiety to his gut. Ichigo tried to ignore the fluttery feeling unfurling in his stomach while in his mind he repeated what he most desired to ask of her.

Ichigo wasn't childish enough to think of the previous simile and think it begged to be asked; _if she was the princess then what was he?_ Kei was much too sophisticated for that and merely would laugh, maybe teasingly reply_; my prince?_ Then laugh some more. She wasn't silly like Inoue dreaming of princes and fairytales, innocent things that a mind whose inexperience of the world deemed everything kind and found fault in no one.

_She_ however, she knew what the world was. Almost to the point of being contemptuous of everything. She was the inverse of Inoue's innocence. Without the brashness of Rukia who more than made up for her short stature by forcefulness; Kei was something else entirely.

_But what was __she__ exactly?_ He couldn't wrap his mind entirely around it.

The look of innocence with the knowledge of deepest remorse.

Power...Yoruichi had called them _those marked with absolute power_. But what did that mean? Did she have a mark of some kind on her body? Was that how the residents of Seireitei found them in the past?

Only to execute them. His mouth went bitter. Sliding his gaze to the side, he caught a glimpse of Kazeatari turning away. _Wind_ had been watching him. _It wasn't fair. What Seireitei had done_. He recalled Urahara's words about 'fire of the hated flame and bitter wind' and all. _It was a load of crock!_ She would never hurt them or anyone without reason to. She was just like that...

His hands tightened.

_I'm coming, Kei...just hold on!_

~Las Noches~

They were coming. The knowledge thrilled her senses. The anticipation made her heart race. She couldn't keep still. Restlessly rising from the chair to the window, she stared out at the mid-afternoon sun. Aizen's fake sun. Maybe it brought him comfort, building a sun for a dark world. Personally, Kei thought it, presumptuous. An arrogant gesture to show off his power to the light-starved denizens of the empty world.

Power. That was all Aizen was. He was a small being in the sea of thousands yet was not content to prove himself as part of the pack. He wanted to lead and that's where his downfall started. Kei knew he thought** their** abilities far above his own and wished for that matter, to control them. Prove he had yet again triumphed and had the most powerful under his will.

_Poor thing_. She sighed; striding to stand beside the chair again, fingers tracing the high oval-back. _He as well as others didn't realize...they were being toyed with_.

~*~

"No action shall be taken against these...Ryoka. Rather, Ms. Yamamoto requested of me to allow them to pass unharmed, a surprise or two awaits them and she has assured me that whatever it is she has planned, will be of great entertainment to us all..." Aizen trailed off, his expectant gaze roving over his soldiers' expressions.

Few if any showed discontent.

The Sexta was one in particular that did. "Fuck that Yamamoto bitch! She can go to hell! I refuse to--"

"Refuse _what_, Grimmjow?" A suffocating pressure descended down upon the teal-haired Arrancar. Aizen's smile remained pleasant.

"Ta..ke orders from a..." The Sexta's words were slurring.

"Finish, Grimmjow. I am waiting."

"N-nothing." He was fighting hard not to pass out, "as you _wish_."

Aizen knew it had cost the Sexta a great sacrifice on his pride to relinquish to a Shinigami. He also guessed it was; _refuse to take orders from a Shinigami_.

"That is all then...you are dismissed."

~Tsukikage Castle~

"Split and Grind, Seishou Hydra." The chain spun in her hands, folding around wrapping only to be released with a swift execution, the dagger-like blade flying.

Metal clanged.

Hana's eyes widened a fraction, without a word she picked up the slack of the chain, returning the sword to her hand.

"You've improved," remarked the baritone voice of Hisrio Shihoin. He lowered the sheathed Houou-hime.

She twirled the chain between two fingers suddenly tossing it once more.

Hisrio side-stepped, the flash of silver sliding from black as the sword was drawn forth. They clashed in a shower of sparks. "Your progress is marked, but I'm still superior to you." He said, parrying her next blow. Hana's jaw tightened, her hand slid along the round ring at the end. Her wrist flexing at the last possible moment.

The heavy chain swung low, catching his feet.

Hisrio landed heavily on the worn flagstones, Houou-hime knocked askance from the sudden motion. Hana flipped the tip of her blade to rest beneath his chin. He glared up at her haughtily. "And this is why I'm a fourth seat and you're a Lieutenant." Her smile was saccharine enough so that the easily infuriated former Noble felt as- he really had been-congenially insulted.

"Retsu! Just because Namaiki isn't here, doesn't--"

"_Captain_. Namaiki." Corrected Hana as she walked away.

Hisrio snarled several under breath imprecations about rudeness to superiors until he realized he was quite alone...

~*~

"That was awesome, big sis!" Kyou cried, his hazel eyes shining. Hana flipped her hand through her hair in a passable imitation of Kazeatari. "Yeah well..." a big smile broke out over her face, "I really showed him, didn't I?!"

"Show some respect," warned an icily cool voice.

"Oh! Sorry, Lieutenant Sakurai!" Hana bowed swiftly to the unsmiling woman whom had flash-stepped to them. Rizu Sakurai stood at 5'4 and was definitely a head or a couple shorter than Captain Kazeatari Namaiki. However, that didn't stop her from being as fierce a warrior in combat more or less one of the few Kazeatari respected on the battlefield.

That was in part due to the ferocity of Rizu's Nekomata. _A nightmare eater_, Kagami called it, meaning it read the minds of its opponents and cast a shadow of their worst nightmare by its roar. All those who heard it, were shown terrifying visions. That ability combined with fleet-footed Flash step made the Lieutenant of Fifth a dangerous enemy.

_Officers of the Juppongatana were ranked from strongest to weakest. It didn't matter if one excelled in one subject but was inadequate in others. To rise one had to first defeat the current officer holding the position one wanted. It was the same with the Captaincy_, Hana thought. _To become Captain, one had to prove they could overpower the person set as Lieutenant. Not to the death, but enough so that they attested their worth_.

_In the case of a tie_...

"Hana! Lieutenant Sakurai and Fourth's Elbe-san have promised to spar with me so I can improve my swordsmanship!" Kyou grinned happily, "isn't that great?"

..._two of the current Captains and one Lieutenant must give their judgment_.

"Y-yeah," taken out of her thoughts, Hana looked from Kyou's anxious for approval expression to the Lieutenant's dignified mien. "That's great...but why now?" She thought she knew the answer even if her heart didn't want to hear it.

"For the upcoming war of course!" Kyou looked scandalized that she had to ask, "don't you remember Captain Namaiki talking to us all right before the treaty was drawn up with the Shinigami?! She said every sword was needed in this fight...if we were to survive we had to be strong or be left behind." Fervent belief burned in his eyes, "I don't _want_ to be left behind, Hana. I want to be able to carry my own weight and make you and Captain Namaiki proud."

_You don't have to do this_... Hana reached out, ruffling the hair that was so like hers, capping the near mirror-image of her face. "You silly...I'll never be ashamed of you!"

She saw his happiness slip slightly. _He didn't like being talked to like a child. He didn't want to be cosseted anymore. She was losing her little brother_.

Rizu seemed to sense her troubled spirit, pausing mid-step when going after Kyou's racing ahead form. "Don't worry, we'll _all _make sure he stays safe. Now get yourself up to the gates, Mimasaka is back."

Hana half-saluted, "yes, ma'am."

~*~

Nothing had changed at least to Ren's discerning eye. The third seat from Namaiki's Division opened his side of the gates for her, standing back without expression as she entered.

"R-e-e-e-n!!!!!!!!!!"

The magenta-haired Vizard paused to scan the surrounding area for the source of the voice.

_From the left_... Ren stepped out of the way as Hana came barreling through. "Retsu..." her eyes closed, "you are as noisy as ever."

Hana's jaw fell open. "I am NOT!!!"

With maddening calm, Ren looked at her, "yes, you are." Sliding her hand to back of her neck, she unclasped the chain, folding the cool metal in her palm, "I have the spirit device ready for your brother to examine."

"Oh..." Hana glanced back to the edge of trees concealing the Castle of Tsukikage and the sunken gardens behind it. "Kyou is...training with Lieutenant Sakurai."

Discontent radiated from the girl's aura, Ren touched her shoulder in passing, "is there something wrong with it?" Hana turned to follow her, walking slowly up the beaten down footpath that turned up into the main road to the castle. Here and there some of the trees bordering the path bore the scars of Doom Cero. Hana trailed her hand over the rough uneven bark of one of these survivors, her eyes downcast, "he thinks he's not good enough. That me and Captain Namaiki are disappointed in him somehow. Which isn't true!" she burst out, coming to a stop in the middle of the earthen lane, stamping her foot down.

Ren said nothing.

"I love Kyou and would never think anything bad about him and I know Captain Namaiki does too! Even though...she doesn't show it much."

Ren chose also not to remark on this. Kazeatari Namaiki was a very difficult woman to understand, least of all to be viewed as affectionate. The surprising thing was, her capability to inspire loyalty in the officers of her Division. Ren had heard of the infamous _stand-your -ground-I-have-no-use-for-soldiers-who-won't-obey-their-orders-I -don't -care-if-you're-exhausted-stand-up-now-or-so-help-me-Gods--I will kill you where lie_.

It had succeeded. The few Shinigami that later made up Fifth broke through the lines of the Hollows at the edge of the gates, pushing on to regroup with the main force up at the castle.

The wind drew the tips of her hair along the nape of her neck_. Such a peaceful place, it was hard to imagine anything had really transpired there_. Ren raised her free hand to hold back the short strands lifting in the breeze. Not that anyone had really been forced to struggle between life and death in the paths and woodlands.

"He is...young. He doesn't know yet what it's like to be on the battlefield, save as a medic tending to the wounded," Ren began after a moment of reflection. Hana's eyes fell, "I know that too. That's why--"

"Hey, your Zanpaku-to are dual as well, aren't they?" Ren knew well that Seishou Hydra resembled physically nothing of Reiki and vice versa. The fourth seat touched the black hilt over her shoulder, "yeah...when they're combined the absorption field is increased. Reiki by itself takes in the fractured reishii surrounding a person's wound and transmutes it into healing." _However it is by the gold circle dangling from the released Zanpaku-to's hilt is where the real damage can occur_. Hana thought. _If united with mine, the circle splits into three, caging the victim until they're drained dry_.

"Hm..." Ren watched a bird take flight, "I always wondered why you didn't contest Seijin Maru's claim to the position of third seat. You had already been evaluated at that level yet you took the lesser instead. Why?"

An impertinent frown crossed the girl's face, "and why didn't _you _pursue Akashi Osore's seat? You're a Vizard, a Shinigami with the powers of a Hollow. Very easily you could've defeated Nikoli, I'm sure of it!"

It was Ren's turn to be evasive, "I had no wish for such an arrangement. True," her hazel eyes narrowed, "Kagami Nanatsu attempted to talk me into challenging Osore." She smiled faintly, "he said the same thing you did_. I was stronger_; _it_ _didn't matter if I hadn't learned Ban-kai_. I was the more talented officer...in the end it fell to Keiko Yamamoto. She came to me and said I didn't have to accept if I didn't want to, it all came down to my own mind and my own feelings. If I felt that I couldn't be a third seat officer, then I was free to choose whatever I wanted. Hmph. And I did just that."

"Huh...it was almost the same thing with me," Hana scratched at the side of her hair, the short strands slipping through her fingers, "I was qualified enough to be the rank of third seat with Kyou as fourth-what I am now, but there was another...one of the ones who had joined us on the battlefield when we spilled past the walls of the city. Maru Seijin, he called himself and he wielded-well it's still his sword, Soekimaru. Captain Namaiki..." they began moving up the path again. "...wanted me to challenge him to decide who was the better candidate for the vacant seat. But I..." she bit her lip, looking away. _I saw what he could do--I saw the damage that Zanpaku-to could inflict_. Hana laughed nervously, "call me a coward, but I was actually a little afraid to face him!" Ren made a noise of understanding. _I was...really_. Hana quickly sobered, "it took me a day to approach him and even then, I was being pressured by Lieutenant Sakurai and Kyou to reconsider." _My sword...my blade, it steals spirit energy. So, ideally the type of opponent for me would be..._

"I gave up though." she shrugged. _Someone like Ichigo Kurosaki, who just leaks spiritual energy constantly_. "Soekimaru was the wrong type of opponent for me. Not only one who was dangerous, but one I stood hardly a chance of defeating once Soekimaru was in its Ban-kai release."

"I see," Ren nodded, "an opponent with his specific ability would be difficult to overcome. As would Keiko Yamamoto. She is the most formidable adversary I could ever imagine if our positions were reversed. An Espada like what they said overpowered her, would be impossible."

"Wha-what're you saying, Ren?!" Hana exclaimed. "That Captain Yamamoto--"

The Vizard continued on mordantly, seemingly unaware of the interruption, "not for one once deemed as worthy of the Second Division Captaincy." _The Juppongatana are ranked in power, from highest to lowest. From Quincy/ Shinigami Kanzaki Raven who defeated the three Elementals in combat, to Keiko Yamamoto._ _She __was the one meant to have Kagami Nanatsu's place_. _Second only in power to Kanzaki_, _and yet_...

'Second? Nah! I'll take Fourth! That way everyone will think I'm less powerful then what I really am!'

Ren shook her head slightly; Keiko Yamamoto certainly was a strange one. Instead of embracing her own capabilities, she chose to hide it. Blend in as a lesser then as a superior warrior. But then...maybe she wanted it that way. So, she wouldn't be feared...

~*~

Takara sighed. Paper rustled as she set aside another document in the growing pile. It was now most of all that she felt the loss of the former Captain. It was perhaps in deference to his memory that the others had moved so slowly in procuring a replacement. Kei especially had taken the loss hard. She had been there, over a hundred years ago on the closing of the second day of bloodshed. Hasumi...was his name. An odd, child-like man whose strength had earned him the rank of Third's Captaincy. Few had known however, since formal proceedings had yet to acknowledge the Captains class.

_"His spirit pressure is gone! He's dead--"_

Interaction had nearly been impossible during those early days. They were too busy fighting for their lives to converse freely with their future superiors. Takara regretted not speaking more than once to him. _Maybe if she had stood at his and Keiko's side_...

"Lieutenant Shimizu?"

The girl gave a soft _oh!_ in surprise. "You're..." she blinked up at the brown-haired man fidgeting nervously before the desk. "Keith-?" She winced inwardly, realizing it had sounded more of a question then anything else.

"Yes, ma'am." he looked pleased that she remembered his name.

_My fourth seat_. _I should've known that by now_. She groaned mentally. "What can I do for you?"

"Um...well actually I was uh..."

Takara lifted up the next document, scanning it with a chagrined eye. It was a request from Second's Lieutenant to have permission to excavate the flowerbeds outside their offices and for another sliver of land to the north for planting purposes. _Where was Kagami when you needed him-_?!

"--with me?" Keith finished hopeful.

Silence fell. Takara aware he had stopped speaking and was seemingly waiting for a reply, looked up blankly, "what?"

"I was wondering...if you had..."

Her eyes went back to the document. _How was she supposed to reply? Shouldn't this have gone to Kanzaki's Division? _ Scowling, Takara read it over again, "no, this isn't right. How can I do this?"

"I-I'm sorry, L-Lieutenant, for bothering you!"

"Wha--"

The door would've slammed shut on the whirl of gray robes had not another entered at the same time. "What was that about?" questioned her third seat, Toya Amakusa, a perplexed expression about his face.

"I've no idea," Takara answered truthfully.

~Living world~

_Maybe..I was a little harsh on her_. Rangiku lowered the laundry basket piled high with Orihime's clothes in it, on the floor. Until Ichigo came back, she was going to stay guarded by Urahara Kisuke. Which left her apartment unoccupied. Rangiku had quickly volunteered to inhabit it in her absence. Hitsugaya had been less enthused but had been persuaded to take a small bed roll and unfold in it the living room.

Aware of his quiet snores, Rangiku moved softly about, placing things where she thought they might go. As she worked; she reflected on the Soulreaper.

_What were her intentions?_ Rangiku could hardly call her warm toward Ichigo, at least not like Orihime. Orihime simply radiated love. For a time, Rangiku had thought Rukia was the object of Ichigo's affections, but that was eventually proved wrong by Ichigo's sudden attachment to the Soulreaper.

_So fast..._

_Her company was all he wanted...no other_.

_It was as if he had known her before, formed an emotional attachment then lost her_...

For some reason she grew chilled. Rubbing at her arms briskly, Rangiku endeavored to lose the sudden gooseflesh breaking over her skin. "Nonsense!" she muttered to herself, her gaze rising to ceiling, imagining the heavens above, "Orihime-chan is going to get her prince and nothing and no one is--agh!"

The bedroom door had slammed shut.

"Matsumoto?" Her Taichou's sleepy voice came from the other side, "is something the matter?"

_And no one had done it_.

~Subconscious inner-world where the spirits reside~

'You are...Haineko?' great golden eyes observed the misty form of the Zanpaku-to spirit bend in the approximation of a human bow. 'Yes, my Lord.'

'This is that bimbo's sword?' Inquired a new, different voice. Touda alighted beside the white tiger's large paws. 'It is more regal-looking then I'd have thought for such a whorish woman.'

'Watch your tongue,' Byakko growled softly. The Demon bird cackled unpleasantly, 'why, Byakko, I did not know you were such a hypocrite. Why, just the other day I could have sworn you were swearing imprecations that you wanted to rip that woman's face off for insulting your Kaze! Besides, that woman has since dared insult my Keiki to the point of--'

'She would be angry if she heard you address her as that.' The tiger's eyes closed, thick lids sliding over yellow ocher orbs. The feline made of ashen mist awaited in silence, daring not to impose censure on the more powerful spirits.

'True.' The bird cocked its head at an angle, 'I suppose I should go, as much as I thrive on your disdain, Byakko, I have other places I must be now. I really must speak with Zan-kun...' Touda phased from sight, simply imagining himself on another level of the subliminal consciousness.

The white tiger exhaled a throaty sigh of relief. Despite the black Phoenix's status as one of the remaining spirits of the world controlled directly by an Element, he was insufferable in his inverseness. Touda _dancing snake_ was one thing both Guardians of the West and East agreed upon. They really could not stand his presence and as such could not wait until his pact with the Fire element was absolved. Even though they knew what that day portended.

~*~

_So, this is...Kurosaki Ichigo's mindscape_.

The bird, a black stain in the stormy world, descended, skeletal wings gliding low. Far down, he saw his objective standing, the ragged ends of the coat fluttering in the whipping wind starting up.

Touda recognized the inward signs of discontented chaos roiling in the massive cloudbank deadening the skies. The scent of rain was in the air. _How he despised the rain!_

Mindful of this now, he hastened to set down behind the Zanpaku-to spirit, who had begun to turn at the sound of the flapping wings.

"You..." Zangetsu began.

"Yes, me." The bird twisted its head in a clockwise rotation, the blue of its eyes a rotting, phosphorous gleam. "I've come to remind you of your concordat with me. In case it may have slipped your mind, Kurosaki Ichigo is not your master. _I_ am."

~Hueco Mundo~

"Ready, Kaze?"

Her hand tapped the hilt with the tip of the fan. "Whenever you are, and it's _Namaiki_." Kazeatari corrected with a dryness to her tone that indicated she found his familiarity with her name, impertinent.

The large white outer wall of Las Noches was before her and the slender blade of the kodachi slid from its sheathe.

"Reppu--"

"Let's do it!"

The wall caved in from their combined attack. Kazeatari surveyed the resulting cavernous hole in the masonry with dispassionate concern. "It's clear."

"How can you tell?" She was surprised to hear the Kuchiki Noble's voice since he had hardly spoken a word the entire way. Although with company like the two humans and Kurosaki; she could hardly blame him. They did not move in circles comparable to the echelons of society nor were-to her mind very competent fighters.

"My senses read nothing in the near vicinity." She tapped her fan against her chin pensively, "it's strange though. One would think that this area would be swarming with Arrancar since I'm sure our entry could not have been undetected."

"Perhaps they're waiting to see what our next move will be." Ishida interposed, pushing his glasses up higher in an action that meant he too was unsure of the reason why they weren't being overwhelmed with enemies right then.

_I know why_.

Kurosaki forged ahead, unmindful of the darkness pouring from the gaping void. Kagami shrugged to her, muttering over his hand a small Kido spell. Soon illumination bounced in arcs over the walls of the passageway; Ishida and the giant followed closely. Kuchiki hesitated-no that wasn't right. His slight aristocratic features furrowed, and she knew then that he did not rely on her discernment, rather his own. _Toffee-nosed git_.

_She has something planned for us_.

Satisfied that it was as she had said previously; Byakuya stepped through. Kazeatari looked after his broad back, the white haori framed by the shadows. Lightly the wind wielder touched the fan to the hilt of the Zanpaku-to, the transfer of power complete once again.

_I can't wait to find out what it is_.

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Please review! :)


	34. Know your enemy

_There are things that you can never tell anyone.  
Feelings that are aberrant, unbearable to the peace of one's mind.  
For to acknowledge such feelings is to destroy the world._

-Takara Shimizu 

ShiKai CH.33: Know your enemy

"You wonder why I have come-? Merely to remind you of this concord, I think not."

Zangetsu looked away, lifting his shaggy mane to the sky, "it doesn't matter what lay in the past between us. It is over. Ichigo is my wielder now."

Touda made a gurgling noise of agreement in his feathered windpipe. "Indeed. I wouldn't think of..." his voice changed. A softer cadence issued forth. The older man's breath caught, "Kei-"

"...it being any other way." Purred Keiko Yamamoto in the bird's place. From kneeling on one knee, she rose, the pleated gray skirt gliding higher along a creamy thigh with the movement only to fall into place as she stepped forward. Her tongue flicked obscenely over her petal lips, the tip delicately pointed.

"Touda..." the Zanpaku-to spirit hissed, displeased at being made to show weakness.

"Again, _indeed_." jeered the girl, her lips peeling back to reveal a set of white teeth. Bright blue eyes glowed impishly, one winking suggestively at him. "But...whatever is the matter, Zan-kun? I don't believe I have done anything worthy of receiving such a look from _you_."

His jaw worked angrily; the imposter stalked about, hips sashaying in a flirtatious manner.

"Your present mood has me confounded utterly! Truly...unless," hand above cocked hip, head tilted back so that she could look into his face. "My current appearance has-shall we say..._aroused_." The lascivious flick of a tongue; a dull red flush crept up his neck. "...alien feelings in you."

~Las Noches~

"Five paths..." Kagami shone the glowing ball of red down each one in turn. "Who knows where they lead to."

"Who cares?! I'll take--" the Shinigami sub started.

"Hold on! You're not seriously thinking of splitting up, are you!?" he exclaimed, shocked. Ichigo looked over at him as if to say, _so what?_ Swearing under his breath, Kagami began, "look, there are only six of us, now some like Kuchiki-Taichou and yourself can go on your own, but--"

"I'll thank you, sir...but I also do not need a companion," the Quincy spoke up.

"Neither do I." The giant added quietly.

Kazeatari looked unconvinced, "have either of you ever faced an Espada before--" right then Yasutora was about to interject; "and won?"

The Quincy said nothing and Yasutora looked down.

"I thought so," Kazeatari closed her eyes and sighed, "I will go with Yasutora. Quincy-kun, you're on your own."

"That's fine."

~Assiah, Tsukikage Castle~

"This is the most comprehensive record of every single officer of the Juppongatana." Toya held up a plain CD data disc encased in a paper sleeve. Takara took it from him, turning it over in her hands, "thanks. You don't mind if I check it, do you?"

"Go right ahead."

Smiling, she pressed the push button on the side of the Laptop, the ejection tray shooting out a second later. Laying the white side up, she double-clicked the CD driver on the mainframe display. "Seireitei requested information on us about a month previously...Captain Yamamoto thought it best to tell them it would take that long to gather it all up." She watched the hourglass icon turning counterclockwise on the corner of the screen. "Toya...what I'm about to do mustn't leave this room." Her intent blue-eyed gaze slid to his face, her hand rolling the mouse pointer over the RUN menu.

"Do you understand?"

His expression clouded, a slight rigidity adopted in his stance made her nearly come to the conclusion that he wasn't to be trusted with such knowledge that could be potentially harmful to their supposed alliance with the Shinigami. With this disheartening realization, Takara poised her hand above the folder containing the disc's files, making no move to open them.

"Toya-?" Her voice was cautious now.

He visibly relaxed, "Lieutenant...is this part of Captain Yamamoto's averment?"

She felt the disappointment drain away, relief taking its place. "It is." She had forgotten he _had_ been there, one of the few whom had heard _her_ embittered words. A faint smile curved his mouth, it didn't reach his eyes, rather a faded sadness touched them. "Wow...I really didn't imagine that she--"

"No." Takara lifted her chin, her gaze steady on him, "_we_. That we would be standing on the cusp of attaining our long-forgotten dream."

He smiled fully now, his eyes lightening, "that's right."

"For us and for them..."

~*~

"Well..." Hana crossed her arms over her chest, a hint of impatience in her tone. Ren watched the girl's twin study the dented surface of the locket, his dark brow creasing. "Anything?!"

"Just give me a moment, please, Hana." The boy said placatingly to his sister. Rizu silenced the girl's next comment with a look. "Ms. Ren," Kyou turned to her, "did something happen?"

Ren closed her eyes briefly, "actually, there was something. I wished to speak of it to Kagami, but we were in the boy's company so I could not. It happened on the last day of his training, he had shown remarked progress in controlling the Hollow, so I judged it right to spend the last few hours engaging in swordplay. His aptitude for learning is startling considering his human mother. However, it was only basic Kenjutsu, a few techniques from the Kamiya-Ryu style. I don't know..." her expression darkened, "how I could have been so careless. One moment I had simply blocked his strike, my hilt was descending but before it could land...I was thrown back."

Hana's eyes widened and even Rizu looked a little surprised.

"The ground shook, I know it did even though my body did not fall. Something shot up from the improvised rocky floor and pierced my body. They were like rods...black, cylindrical and radiating with power that I didn't recognize as his. That," a faint humorless smile twisted her mouth as she gestured to the pendant dangling from Kyou's fingers. "...as you can see, was around my neck when I was perforated. I don't know like I said, _what it was_. Kurosaki couldn't tell me either for he had passed out and it was left to Urahara Kisuke and these two children he has employed, to tend to me. He of course said not to say a word about it to anyone...but he couldn't tell me what to do since he wasn't my Captain."

"Why would he not want you to say anything in the first place?" Rizu shook her head, "that's what doesn't make sense. Unless..."

"Unless, what?" Hana asked.

"Urahara wanted to keep Kurosaki Ichigo's new power under wraps." Kyou finished Rizu's unspoken thought. Ren nodded slowly, "could be. He must not trust us to a certain degree. Originally it was planned that Kurosaki come and train _here_. But Urahara upon hearing this, immediately volunteered us the use of the underground training area beneath the Shoten, saying Kurosaki could still be close to his family and all that crap. His friends agreed and we didn't press it. After all we weren't supposed to have any other motive then wishing to be of service to them so it wouldn't matter one bit if I was under Urahara's watch while I taught Kurosaki."

"So, he saw everything?!" exclaimed Hana, "that _git!_ I've never met Kisuke Urahara before, but I already don't like him!_"_

"Watch your mouth," warned Rizu, her dark eyes narrowing on the Fourth seat's vehemence.

"Kagami taught it to me." Hana dismissed flippantly; Kyou tittered a bit while nodding in agreement. "He is one," Ren found herself smiling unpleasantly at the near accurate description of the shopkeeper.

"Who's a git?" questioned a fourth voice, mild amusement contained within it.

Everyone turned toward the steps; Takara and Toya who stood a little behind her were there. Between two fingers, she waved a paper sleeve, "did you know that Captain Yamamoto's Ban-Kai is only comparable in magnitude to Lieutenant Shihoin's Houou-hime's shikai?"

"You..." Rizu took in the blond's smiling face.

"And when Kagami releases his sword, it isn't the great God of the sea, Soryu that descends, it is a lesser Dragon?"

"They're...not going to believe_ that_."

"They've never seen Tsukuyomi." Ren said quietly.

"But still! Won't it be ob--"

"Lieutenant Sakurai, with all due respect..." Hana began, laying guileless eyes on the woman, "Lieutenant Shimizu did not tamper with the data that is to be given to Seireitei; she merely how shall we say..._corrected_ it."

Comprehension sharpened the dark-haired woman's severe gaze. "If it is proved altered--"

"Rizu, please. You know me by now," Takara interjected, "I make _no_ mistakes."

"Exactly!" Hana chimed in.

~Las Noches~

He had been walking for some time. The darkness of the corridor had given way to white walls and cavernous ceilings. This was the realm of the Privaron Espada and he had yet to meet any of them, well, again. Seeing as they had been introduced already.

He wondered how the others were faring?

Most likely still traversing similar halls devoid of enemies and indeed any sort of life. They were probably saying to themselves _was this really Las Noches?_ _Where were Aizen's hoards, where were his prized Espadas?!_

I'll tell you.

Swiftly Kagami crossed the gallery in one execution of a flawless flash-step. Beyond the closed door he had caught it; the faintest scent of cinders.

He flung it open, seeing--

~*~

"It feels like we've been walking for hours." Kazeatari remarked. Yasutora said nothing as she knew he wouldn't. "Not much of a talker, eh?" To this, he merely grunted which seemed to be an all purpose answer to everything. Kazeatari sighed; trust her mouth to get her stuck with the least talkative of Kurosaki's friends. One, that as far as she could tell. Couldn't hold a conversation to save his life.

" This isn't getting us anywhere. I'm going on ahead." Jerking her chin toward the narrowing of the corridor, she didn't wait for his reply. Traversing the length of the passageway by Shindou, she stood before a different doorway, one that she was sure lead to the first tower of Las Noches.

_Alright_...her senses picked up on the faint smell of burnt things. _Keiko...let's see_--

The door swung open. She stared, "you--"

And saw nothing.

~ Subconscious inner-world where the spirits reside~

"I do not know what it is you speak of." Zangetsu said almost angrily, shoving aside the form of the girl whom had dispelled the distance between their bodies, a slight smile tugging at the downcast corners of her mouth.

"I feel therefore I am, is it not?" Touda teased, "then would you refute your existence?"

"I exist because of my wielder, no one else."

"Truly?" Touda took a few steps forward, hands folded at the small of her back, her chest thrust forward. "And who is it who gives you your power? Who can give..._as well_ as **take**?"

"You..." the old warrior's eyes hardened, "you wouldn't dare." his voice ended above a hiss.

"Anytime." assured Touda, matching his harsh glare, "_any_where." She paused a moment before continuing, a sardonic hint to her tone, "a blade is a Shinigami's pride is it not?" Zangetsu followed her movements as she paced in a circle around him. "How would it be...if one day poor little Ichi-berry reached for his trusted sword..." her lips pouted then split apart in a sadistic smile, "and it **shattered**. Into a million fucking pieces."

~*~

'Do not disappoint me, Haineko.' The white tiger flicked his rough pink tongue over the pad of his paws, the white and black length of his tail tapped a staccato beat against the darkness of the ground. The ashen cat responded by dipping into the near approximation of a human bow.

'Go then. Attend to Matsumoto Rangiku until the day I have so named.'

~Las Noches~

"Is that..."

Gin turned, looking over his shoulder to the figure of the Espada standing motionless in the doorway. "Ah, you scared me." He gestured mildly to the keypad, "it is. I'm surprised though. You rarely ever speak to me," a grin crept onto his face, "I thought you hated me."

"Please." Ulquiorra closed his eyes briefly.

Gin observed him quietly for a moment longer before speaking again, "Ms. Yamamoto uh-how shall I say this, asked me to do some rearranging with the corridors. Take for instance..." his slit-like eyes traveled to the fourth window on the screen. "My dear old friend Nanatsu-kun has just come across a most unexpected find."

They watched as the man on the screen walked purposely down one hallway, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword; while at the end, one of the Ryoka wandered through the adjoining one.

"Oh, Kagami-sa--" it was the Quincy.

"Suiha-Nanahoryo." his voice was devoid of emotion.

Seven Dragons erupted in the wake of the surf that momentarily blinded the camera's view.

"And...Kazeatari-san." Gin tapped a few keys on the keyboard, the command changing the screen to an overhead view of a large high-ceilinged room. Suddenly one wall exploded outward, the body of the human, Yasutora flying through. In the gaping hole left by the gale, stood Kazeatari Namaiki, a strange, almost vacant expression on her face, laxly at her side she held the shikai release of Kazekiri in the form of the ornate fan.

"They're..." Ulquiorra looked upon the two different scenes

"Yes," Gin said smiling, "they were set upon their allies with the assumption that it was the opposite. Enemies! Isn't it to die for?!" his laugh lessened when he glanced to the Espada, "Ms. Yamamoto promised it would last an hour each, and it is during that hour that you are to meet Kurosaki Ichigo-kun."

~Tsukikage castle, First Division offices~

"You fool! Your negligence has allowed a major security break in our firewall!" Hisrio gesticulated angrily to the computer in standby mode. Mai Matsukaze stood her ground, inhaling sharply to gather air into her lungs, "sir, if I may?" Hisrio had stopped speaking, rubbing the tanned skin of his jaw forcefully.

"Permission granted." He said curtly. Kanzaki had stepped forward, opening his mouth to intercede but hesitated as Mai began. "Sir, the flaw came from the Fourth Division, an after effect left from the virus that had knocked out our systems previously. Shimizu of Third repaired the mainframe to operating capability but that did not clean out all the bugs left in it."

Hisrio, as she had been speaking, had lowered his hand from his temples, his mouth twisting into a scowl, "so, you are trying to acquit the blame on yourself and place it on another person-like Shimizu Takara who is-need I remind you acting as Third Division's Captain and Lieutenant in place of a Captain!?"

Mai hung her head, "no, sir."

"Your duty," Hisrio enunciated each word with venom, "is to keep our computers and operating systems and defense systems in running order. Do you or do you not understand the importance of this?!"

"Shihoin," Kanzaki interrupted, his tone masking calm anger. "It was an honest mistake. Cut Matsukaze some slack, please?"

The man's eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

"Mai, you will not be reprimanded." Kanzaki met the other's hard look, "please leave us now."

The girl bobbed her head in a brief bow, "yes, Captain. And thank you, Captain..."

The door closed. A heavy silence descended. Kanzaki walked over to the large Mahogany desk, a heavy brass footed lamp with a green glass bowl shade was at the edge, the light spilling over the globe paperweight Keiko had given him some years back. He would never know where she got those kinds of things, inside the little world gray flakes rained down like a shower over a medieval castle. He shook it now, envisioning a much-changed landscape with the clanging of swords and...

"I would rather..." Hisrio began, "you not challenge my authority in the presence of our subordinates." The man's tone was haughty, unrepentant.

"I'm sorry. I just did not think that Matsukaze had done something worthy of castigation." Kanzaki replied mildly. Hisrio gritted his teeth, "if you do not exercise proper restraint and control over the lower officers they will become as disobedient as Keiko Yamamoto!"

"I happen to trust Keiko very much and admire her spirit." Kanzaki lifted his gaze to the other's livid face. "Also, if I recall correctly your Zanpaku-to is under her dominion, is it not?" Knowing very well that it was, he smiled faintly, saying, "I suppose it must irk you something terrible to know that the intensity of your Phoenix princess can be swayed by no little then a word or two and _she_ will bow at Keiko's feet without another thought or pride to what her wielder desire's."

"Enough!" snarled Hisrio. He clenched and unclenched his hands in a visible effort to calm himself. Kanzaki watched him, albeit somewhat absent-mindedly. "You--" Hisrio started when he had regained his powers of speech.

"Hn?" Again the small world was shaken, harder now so that the flakes spun faster, dancing through the viscous fluid that filled it. The castle was almost blur now in the pounding rain. He could nearly smell it. A dampness in the air mingling with the scent of burning, the atmosphere itself smoldering around the beating of powerful wings.

"You know...I'm getting really tired of your attitude." Beneath the base that the glass orb rested on, it read simply: Remember. "Either accept me as your Captain and remember your place as second to me or..."

Hisrio was as still as a statue, his jaw taut.

"...get the hell out." Kanzaki finished.

~Las Noches~

She hummed a little under her breath. A pity she hadn't thought to bring a music player for this wait. The transcendent strains of _Moonlight Sonata _would've been pleasant to break the monotony of the white room and silence. Kei didn't favor silence much. When all was quiet, it made her think, reflect on things she would have rather forgotten.

_Things that made her angry._

_Things that made her grip her hands so hard the blood drained from them, the ache in her throat an urge to scream at the world_.

Little by little she eased her racing heart, the eyelids she had screwed shut, opened slowly, dizzyingly to the empty room. It helped, the shift of the stiff fabric of the Arrancar uniform, she tugged at the tight sleeves fretfully, disliking the way the clothing clung to her bodice and taut, flat tummy_. Damn Aizen and his hideous choices in attire_.

The trivial thought elevated her mood and soon she was back to her previous spirits. She didn't need to concentrate hard to find Ulquiorra's spirit pressure descending into the lower level, half a mile away from Ichigo's current position.

Soon, she would have to go herself and act the mindless doll they all thought she was.

The one thing that was surprising was the fact that Touda had been so quiet as of late. _Huh_. _Maybe it was a sign of their bond weakening_. _But no matter_...Kei stroked the curved edge of the crescent moon. _She planned to use Getsu-ten anyway_.

~ Subconscious inner-world where the spirits reside~

"Defy me again..."

Zangetsu felt the invisible reins of binding, those which fed his power and connected him to this loathsome being wearing the face of innocence.

"And...I will not hesitate to break you." The girl smiled, lifting two fingers to her lips to blow off a kiss and a wink before fading from sight.

He hissed disjointedly as Hichigo landed where the black Phoenix had stood. "I smelled the Queen..." the Hollow said, sniffing the air the way a dog might. "Was she here?" Zangetsu heard the eagerness and widening of golden eyes, the fluttering in his own chest finally ceasing. "No, I'm afraid it _wasn't_ her." He hated this weakness. The weakness that was shared by Ichigo, his Hollow and himself.

The weakness called **love**.

~Las Noches~

Ichigo stopped in his tracks. _That reiatsu! Uryu--and_--his eyes widened._ Kagami_..._what were_ _they_-- He turned fully around. _Chad as well-?! What was going_--

"So, I see you've sensed it also." The Espada's voice cut through him like a knife. He spun around toward the flight of stairs ascending to a higher level.

"You're--"

"Will you turn back, Kurosaki Ichigo?" The pale skin and dark green eyes marked him as the same one whom had invaded Karakura town and...

_It was _**him**.

"Nanatsu Kagami and Namaiki Kazeatari will not stop until they have stained the sand red with the blood of your friends."

**He** _was the one_...

"What the hell did you do to them?!" _So, that was Kazeatari's reiatsu_ _he had felt_.

"They are not conscious of what they are doing." The Espada's maddening calmness infuriated him. "Perhaps if you left now, you might still be--"

_Believe in them_..."Are you..." Inoue's words ran through Ichigo's mind. _Green eyes. Black hair. Skin without color_. "...the one who fought Kei to get at Inoue Orihime?"

The slightest of smirks touched the Arrancar's bi-colored lips. "And if I am, then what--"

"Getsuga-Tenshou!" Ichigo yelled, his hand clamping down upon Zangetsu's hilt, the bandages unraveling as he hurled the black crescent wave toward the Espada.

"-will you do?"

A flash of light, a blur in the atmosphere.

The Getsuga-Tenshou vanished, swallowed up in the darkness of the slice of void before the Espada. A figure crouched, the trailing folds of a cloak and hood hid the features. Ichigo felt something plummet inside, his eyes taking in the abyss that had blossomed from the tip of the gleaming sword.

"K-Kei...?" Ichigo whispered.

~To be continued~

AN: Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated :)


	35. Break me down

_What if I wanted to fight  
Beg for the rest of my life.  
What would you do?  
(Do, do, do)  
You say you wanted more.  
What are you waiting for? _

_I'm not running from you (from you)  
_

-The Kill, Thirty Seconds to Mars

ShiKai CH.34: Break me down

"Are you unhurt, Ulquiorra-sama?"

Ichigo froze. The voice was hers. But in another way, _it wasn't_.

"Kei..come on." He was aware of the roaring ocean that was his heart pounding in his ears. "Hey, don't do this to me."

She rose gracefully; the Espada placed his hand on her shoulder, pushing back the hood, freeing the tawny mane from the confines. Her eyes were cold purple jewels, hard, perfect and lifeless. He felt anger rising from the darkness inside, the roar that poured from his mouth not so unlike a Hollow's, "what the hell have you done to her?!!!!"

~ Tsukikage Castle ~

_"...get the hell out." _

Kanzaki's ultimatum seemed to hang in the air, echoing in the minds of the two men.

In Hisrio, his pride combated with rational sense. They had crossed swords once, fought together after that and then became what they were now. The latter sense cried to bury the hatchet as it were and forget ever having such rebellious thoughts. The former feeling however was the stronger force.

To Kanzaki, it was a much-needed humility that was lacking in the man's persona, that he had the most difficulty with. Hisrio was the most competent vice captain one could ever hope to have and though he commanded with an iron fist and tolerated no leniency for any shortcomings; he was still a worthy officer.

And neither wanted to give.

"You could transfer out, trade with one of the other Lieutenants." Kanzaki offered after a long, tension fraught moment. Hisrio made no reply, which could've been either good or bad. "You'd have to gain the permission of the Captain and the assistance of the Lieutenant first. Though it wouldn't be too easy," _no one would want you_, he thought but said instead, "I'm sure it can be done."

Hisrio after a time of silence, began at length, "give me some time..to think on this. I would much appreciate it..." the word slipped out with difficulty, "_Captain_, if you would go now and find out what happened to Mimasaka. I asked her specifically to present herself upon her return, but as you can see, she has not."

"Alright, I'll find her." Kanzaki agreed easily, setting the paperweight down upon the sheaf of papers to be filed away. Passing by Hisrio, he paused, sighing softly, "I'm sorry..I meant no affront previously. _Lieutenant_..."

~ * ~

"That may be.." Rizu said carefully; Hana rocked on the balls of her feet, her anxious expression going from one Lieutenant to the other. "However you must make allowances for those such as Karasu Kanzaki, the head Captain himself was a former Senzaikyu guard as well as Hisrio Shihoin. Their Zanpaku-tos and names are in the Soul Society database, along with many others."

Takara became somber, "I know, that's what was rather challenging actually. Showing a growth of power while simultaneously pretending there wasn't."

"They can't know," Ren added, "just how much the world of Assiah's reishii-rich atmosphere fed our own individual strengths. Even the Hollows of Assiah were significantly more powerful than their living world counterparts." Kyou nodded, "it's true. If one were to compare the chemical composition of Hueco Mundo to Assiah, they would find that the two worlds were similar in structure. Legend has it of course, that the empty and material realms were meant to resemble each other in their irrelevance while the living world and Cayo Hueso represented the Godhead-or spiritual side of nature."

Hana ruffled his hair none-so-gently, "where the heck did you learn all this when I don't even know it?!" She sounded a little irritated. Peering at his twin through displaced locks, Kyou said, "it was from a book in Kagami-san's library."

"Oh, really?!" scoffed his sister. Rizu closed her eyes, her brow furrowing with agitation, "that's enough, you two." Takara blinked, looking a little surprised, "a book? I don't recall...Kyou-kun, do you happen to remember what it looked like? The dust jacket, I mean?"

Kyou attempted to fend off Hana's noogie attack; instead of replying saucily to her superior she preferred taking her annoyance out on him. "Um--I think it was-reddish colored and the pages-it was really unusual! It looked hand-written, like someone had--oww!"

"Hana--" Takara began. Ren held up a hand, "let me."

Two minutes later, the fourth seat was pinned to the low garden wall, five Kunai preventing her from lunging for Kyou's unlucky head. "Thanks..." he said, flinching under her glower. "No problem," Ren replied, a spare Kunai folded between her fingers. Takara raised a brow, her lips twitched into a smile. "You know if Kan--"

"Where are those lazy Squad members-?!! Argh!" the aggravated voice of none other than the very man she had been about to speak of, resounded from a nearby passageway two turns east.

_Speak of the devil_, mouthed Rizu.

They all exchanged wide-eyed glances.

~ * ~

"-agh! Huh...I could've sworn I just heard voices from around here..." Kanzaki muttered to himself, glancing around the second level of the sunken gardens. Which were devoid now of errant officers and only a few scattered leaves blew across the carved stone instead of a tumbleweed.

~ * ~

"That..." Rizu fixed her glasses, her eyes sharp with disapproval, "was not very polite."

Takara shrugged, "eh, it beats having to answer why we were all gathered in a remote spot."

"Kanzaki-san isn't like that," interrupted Toya, setting down a struggling Hana. "Remember, Captains Yamamoto, Nanatsu and Namaiki answer to him first. Something about the bind between them-?" he trailed off, unsure. Hana elbowed him in the gut and he released the scruff of her robes.

"Don't you mean, bond-between-them?" Rizu corrected dryly, withdrawing a soft beige cloth from her pocket to rub at a stubborn spot on one of the lenses. "Actually..." Takara had moved to the first row of book shelves lining the wall, in the gap between that one and the next one, a seascape of the coast hung. The sea was a swirl of blues and greens. "I think he's right. If I recall exactly, Keiko did refer to it as the bind between them. Not bond."

"That's because a bond..." Ren closed one side of the light sand-colored French doors gently. Just beyond the large veranda and steps, one could still hear faintly Kanzaki's ill-tempered mutterings. "Is commonly defined as a union or attachment to someone or something. In this case, I doubt Captain Yamamoto would've willingly chosen to have a bond with Kanzaki Karasu."

"Karasu?" Kyou looked mystified for a moment then brightened, "oh! Yeah, that's right. Raven is the Romanized version of Karasu!"

"Not quite," Rizu had finished wiping her glasses and replaced them back on the bridge of her nose. "Karasu means crow, but it is also within the family of the rooks and ravens. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that head Captain Kanzaki had said one of his old fellow Generals had given him the nickname of_ Raven_. He died during the Quincy war and you know what happened to them..." her tone dropped off. Everyone fell silent, knowing of the atrocities committed by Seireitei against the Quincy race.

"It's awful," Takara said after a moment, "what they've done." She turned to face them, her hands open, palms out beseechingly, "not just to us, but to the Quincies and the Vizards and even to the Konpaku of the Rukongai. Soul Society was created to take care of the souls and guard sanctity of death, not just have a few like the Nobles enjoy their afterlife!"

Rizu sighed, "it's always been like this. Why try to change the system when it hastens its own decay day by day?"

"Not with Kurosaki Ichigo." Takara said, her eyes turning steely, her jaw set, "he will never let the Soul Society fall into ruin...never." She gripped her hands to keep them from shaking, "not until he tastes betrayal ...and bitterness and is hunted down like an animal only then he will understand.."

~ Las Noches ~

" Third Phase, Tsukisasu," she commanded emotionlessly. The piercing moon beam shot with frightening speed, cleaving through the darkness like a knife. He leapt back, missing only by inches the attack meant to slice him apart. She observed this, tilting her wrist at an angle. A moment later, he realized what she was doing. The arc of light bouncing off the floor, with just seconds to spare, he deflected it with Zangetsu. he felt a hint of the searing heat emanating from the light before she retracted it. The Espada looked on, his expression impassive, his hands in the pockets of his hakama.

"Do you see now, boy, how futile it was coming here? Yamamoto Keiko is one of us _now_."

Ichigo glared and vowed to crush the Arrancar for daring to assert possession over _her_.

Now, he had a reason to fight him.

_For harming Kei_.

~ * ~

_What am I doing? _ He bent, thrusting the tip of the blade into the sand, "Suiharyujin." _No, that's right, the Quincy is my enemy_.

Ishida fired one arrow ineffectually into the blinding vortex that was rising from the parched desert. "Shit..." his clothes whipped about his slender frame, the wet droplets lashing his face as they flew, drawn to the eye of the storm . _So, this was the power of an Elemental_. _Amazing_. _But still_...he reached for the seele schneider. _There was only one way to end this without_..

_He's the one who took everything from me_. The knowledge momentarily stunned Kagami by its wrongness. _No, someone-no, it was him. It was all him-him-him_. Repeating the hateful refrain in his thoughts reminded him briefly of a Lewis Carroll nonsensical assonance. Looking up, he caught the glint of a white blade and moved. Landing a step behind the Quincy, he laid bare the boy's back. "Too slow."

The Quincy grunted and spun about, agile reflexes bringing the sharp whistle of the improvised weapon in a sweeping motion inches above his chest. "Seele Schneider. That's no blade." The boy's eyes widened for a moment behind dripping square frames. "Surprised?" Continued Kagami, smiling faintly, "I know all about Quincy warfare and tactics. Kanzaki Karasu told me everything there is to know about his race."

Ishida was momentarily stunned. _Karasu? He must mean_--

"It's over, Quincy-kun." Still smiling, Kagami retracted Sazanami's water form from Ishida's body, he began falling fast, unable to catch his breath. "I've stolen sixty percent of the water from your body. Did you know a human's body is eighty-percent water? So, I wonder how long you will survive with a lot less than half of it remaining inside you." Kagami paused, tilting his chin at an angle, observing through the mist rising from the desert, Ishida's fast paling face.

"Ah, well, it's not like I care." He drew Sazanami's stained blade across the air, the slats of Hueco Mundo sliding apart like pieces to a puzzle. The sunshine of the early afternoon in Assiah weakly hit Ishida's face. "Wa...it."

Kagami paused, glancing over his shoulder, "what is it now? I really have no desire to watch you die, so, I'll best be going now."

"...bout Kei-?"

His expression stiffened, "Keiki knows what she's doing. She can take care of herself." Something in his tone made Ishida wonder at the cause of such emotion.

~*~

Kazeatari stared down into the bloodied and beaten face of the human. He hadn't even had a chance to lay one blow on her. _Pity_. Her lips curled in an unpleasant smile. _This certainly was a weak one. Not even worth having life_...

"Kokyuu Suchi-ru," she whispered to the fan.

White mist poured from his bruised mouth and nose, spiraling upward into the scabbard at her hip. "How does it feel to have the literal breath stolen from your lungs? Not very pleasant, I'm sure." Impassively she watched him gasp, wheezing for air in the suffocating embrace of the Kokyuu Suchi-ru.

_It was only what he deserved, this knave_.

_The one whom had made them suffer so much_.

~Unknown territory beyond the three worlds~

The water rippled beneath the woman's fingertips, thick honey colored coils of hair clung damply to her shoulders. Her reflection sighed with her.

"You know, it is all a matter of opinion, but I would say, Mara-san, that you have no desire whatsoever to carry out Ukiyo-Dono's will." Intoned a sly voice.

"Kotoko..." the Thirteenth General murmured. The gathered droplets clinging to her fingertips fell, casting ripples across the watery image. He half-bowed, one arm clasped about his middle as he straightened, the crescent moon peeked out from the close-collared gray Kariginu, the stiffened sleeves rustling with the movement. Mara slowly took in his appearance, a faint smile quirking her lips, "you still wear that incongruous hat..."

Kotoko touched a hand to the black eboshi capping his silvery lilac locks, the string tied beneath his slight chin. "Yes, my Lady Keiki made me promise not to change." Mara _hmmed_ then turned cerulean eyes the color of Soryu's scales to the image of sand and bleakness, the body of a human male clothed in tattered white lay prone where the elemental of water had left him. "I do not censure her for this, she has suffered much reversal in the past. Although as it may be, I do not perceive why our Lord has chosen this course of action for these..._things_." She pronounced the word as if it brought bile to her throat. Kotoko peered as well into the pond rimmed by a circle of large pebbles. "Ah, yes...that is another Terran. Yasutora-something or other. My Lord Kazahaya did quite the number on him, though I am surprised he did not finish off the rabble."

"Kotoko, my lord is now my lady. If you might recall the last cycle of rebirth, wind chose to be born a woman as well as Lady Mizuna became a man."

"Hmph, well I'm most certainly glad that Lady Keiki has stayed a woman. Even though she would've made a beautiful man."

"True." Mara assented with closed eyes. The other smiled but soon it faded, "I presume you know the identity of..**him**." There was a faint tremor in the boy's lips. "Yes, but I am bound by the same laws that hindered the Elements during their previous lifetimes. But that thankfully, has all changed for them." Her eyes lowered to the images of Kagami, Kazeatari, Keiko and Kanzaki. The four of them in a forest, three knelt while the fourth stood, his crimson eyes wide with confusion.

"_Swear loyalty and the wielding of your power in the name of..._"

They watched the scene play out in silence. Until he broke it again. "I don't suppose you could give me an allusion to whomever he has become now, could you?"

Mara took in the boy's affected smile of guilelessness, shaking her head so that the curls fluttered slightly against the white sheath dress she wore. "I know you, Kotoko. The moment I speak anymore on this matter, you will attempt contact with Keiki to tell her all that you have learned."

His smile never faltered, "bloody hell, how did you guess that's what I had planned?"

"_Bloody hell_, is a British euphemism. I don't think Kagami will take it kindly knowing you have learned such a phrase from him. And besides, we have slumbered the past millennia in this place. Do you not think that I know how you have been watching over them from the start? I'm sure Lady Keiki wouldn't have minded however I know too how terribly frustrating it was to be so close...right there." Her fine jaw clenched, her coppery lashes fluttered over her eyes, "and not able to do a thing to stop their fate. That is why..." with effort she spoke again, "I hesitate to revive these humans."

Yasutora and Ishida appeared again.

"Knowing what part they will have to play in the final act."

~Living world, rooftop of Karakura High school~

"No luck...Matsumoto?"

She lowered the soul pager from her ear, "no, sir. There seems to be no answer."

Hitsugaya's brow furrowed, "that's strange. They had said someone would always be there to handle the calls, I believe it was Third Division whom took care of it." He looked out over the rooftops in the distance, his look somber remembering the things Ukitake had told them, "well, keep trying."

"Yes, sir."

~Tsukikage Castle, east wing~

"I wonder if his friends would follow him." Rizu murmured, her glance lowering to the large Coffee table type books on the low end table. "The Inoue girl might and most likely would. She's in love with him." Ren commented, studying the painting on the opposite wall.

"She is?" Hana asked aloud, "which one was Inoue anyway?"

Takara replaced back on the shelf an older copy of The Tale of Genji translated by Royall Tyler, replying, "the orange-haired girl."

"That bimbo to be more precise," insisted Ren with a slight snort. Toya clucked his tongue, "now, that wasn't polite, Mimaska-san." Kyou moved over to the bookshelf Takara was going through, to try and help her. "While I may think it, you said it." The blond Lieutenant said without looking up.

"What's a bimbo?" Tired of standing around, Hana flopped into the nearest seafoam-colored chair, crossing her arms and legs with a pout. "A very offensive term and one that I do not want to hear you repeat," warned Rizu, flipping through _The Haunted Realm_. "It describes a woman or sometimes a man who while being attractive is considered unintelligent and very shallow," Takara answered when Hana was about to open her mouth again.

"Exactly." Ren took another look outside to make sure Kanzaki wasn't on the prowl, "and that describes Inoue Orihime to a T."

"Oh..." Hana chipped at the pink nail polish on her thumb, "I thought maybe it was the dark-hair you were talking about."

"Uh-uh. You're thinking of Rukia Kuchiki, a very ill-mannered sort of girl." Rizu corrected, finally setting aside Haunted Realm in favor of the illustrated New Yorker. Just where the man had acquired such books from Western civilization, was anybody's guess.

"Definitely," Takara agreed. "To have been adopted by a Noble clan, Kuchiki was surprisingly lacking in manners."

"Maybe it was because she didn't respect us." Suggested Ren. "Hitsugaya-mini-Taichou seemed to have no problem with her."

"I'm positive he wouldn't like being called mini." Rizu said then tilted her head back, her eyes narrowing suspiciously in Takara's direction. "Say...don't you and Amakusa have work to do in your Division?"

Toya's eyes widened but he quickly looked to his Lieutenant for their excuse. The blond merely shrugged, her expression unconcerned, "not really. At least nothing important. The critical thing was the correcting-" here she flashed a wink to Hana, whom the fourth seat caught and grinned behind her hand. "-of the compact disk to give to Soul Society. Otherwise I can't think of any really-really important things that have to be done. I left Keith in charge of the office and the disk itself is in my keeping, so, no. I don't have anything to do."

Fifth's lieutenant made a noise of doubt in her throat, but gave up on trying to corral them in. Turning the page to an old ad for a mercantile store, Rizu asked offhandedly, "so, what are you looking for?"

Takara ran her hand over the thick, cracked spines of the third row of gold-letter bound books. "The one Kyou-kun mentioned. Anything relating to the old lore of Assiah I always find interesting, and because Kagami-san isn't around right now..."

"You're snooping." Rizu said under her breath.

"We prefer to call it curiosity." Kyou piped up; his Lieutenant favored him with a grim look. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction..." Takara strained on tip-toe to snatch at a book lying between two others on its side. "..brought it back." Triumphant, she held it out. Kyou scanned the cover eagerly, crying, "that's it!"

~Hueco Mundo~

The light blinded him. Gentle hands rasped along the bleeding edge of his cracked lips. _Kazeatari?_ The touch was a woman's. "Shh." That wasn't the wind wielder.

"Wh-" he tried to speak.

The edge of a ewer bumped his mouth. The woman worked his jaw open to soothe the liquid inside. "Kaz--" he immediately started choking.

"Only a fool would attempt communication whilst swallowing," criticized a soft male voice.

"Kotoko." A woman's, said warningly.

_Kotoko? _In the haziness of Ishida's thoughts, he searched for any remembrance of a Kotoko and found none_. Isn't it a girl's...name?_

"It isn't, Terran." Sneered the same male voice from before.

_He heard my thoughts-?! _Ishida thought with alarm_. _

A snide response came, _'of course I can't, foolish Terran.'_

"Kotoko..._stop_." There was a singular element of force in the woman's tone that he could respect and wished he could see the face of his savior. As if sensing this, he felt a cool hand lay itself over his eyes. "Shush, rest now. When you wake up, it'll all be better."

A soothing melody began playing, like a lullaby sung to a frightened child cowering in its mother's arms. Ishida's eyelids fluttered but before he went under, he caught a glimpse of the woman who knelt beside him; bone gills adorned either side of her long swan-like neck, coppery curls only a shade or two darker then her bronzed skin.

She was beautiful.

His heart skipped a beat.

But she was an Arrancar.

~Las Noches~

Their blades clashed.

And clanged.

The sound reverberated through the air, increasing with each wave.

"Homura dama," she said, rasping the edge of her sword against the black of his.

The scream of a thousand burning souls ripped into his eardrums and tore at his heart.

It was just them now; the Espada had left with assurance that he need not sully his hands with the filth_. She_ would take care of it. _She_ would destroy him. _She_ would prove herself worthy of Aizen-sama. The name of the traitor spoke by her reverent tongue, made the blood boil in his veins. _It was better_, he reflected vaguely, retreating a few steps from this latest assault_, to have something to be angry at rather than let his baser desires command his attention_.

Ichigo, though it was a very male response, couldn't help but admire the way the clingy white jacket clung to her torso, all but emphasizing her subtle curves. The short hakama tied by a flowing black sash, swathed her hips tightly only to allow freer movement as she swayed to a tune only she could hear, her Kenjutsu reminiscent of a dancer's swift grace.

_Odoriko no ken_. He thought, feeling lumbering and clumsy as he tried to keep up with her elegant flow. Looking into her face, he saw her single-mindedness. The dull desire in her empty eyes for his death, to see his blood staining her blade, for him to fall to the black void of oblivion.

_Kei...is this what you really want?_ Her attack become fiercer, her body twisting, her sword arm flexing, the sword flashing and keening with each strike he parried. _It's like I don't even know you_. His feet skidded back, sweat poured from his brow. _No_...

She raised the blade over her head, "Second Phase, Tsukiakari."

_I don't. You're not her, you're someone else whom I don't know_.

He watched detachedly as the black rainbow flowed outward, casting a net of illusion and dream-like darkness. A multitude of colored orbs in reds and greens and blues washed over him in fantasia-like splendor.

_And that means_...

"That I don't have to hold back! Ban-Kai!!!"

~*~

_'You're such a fool...Kurosaki Ichigo.'_ In the scattered handfuls of Ignus Fatus that were left from the performance of the inverse Maouen, blue eyes glittered in the midst of purifying red. _'You think you know the world and revile face-value wisdom and happy lies even though the truth is...in front of you. And this...'_ Touda watched as a single red drop spiraled down her wrist, her hand wrapped tightly around the smaller Ban-Kai Tensa Zangetsu.

"You..."

His amber-colored eyes widened at the sound of her voice. The emotion choking it.

"...don't believe _in_ me."

_'...was the worst mistake you ever could have made.' _

~To be continued~

AN: Terran is a demonym, a term commonly associated in science fiction with humans. Mara calls Ishida and Chad _humans_, Kotoko uses the term _Terran_. This isn't a mistake on this author's part, it only shows the differences in the characters. I've been trying to figure out how to post a link to a playlist I've compiled for ShiKai. In actuality they're all songs I associate or inspire me with certain parts. ;) at this point it's (Again-Flyleaf) for Ichigo and Kei.

The thing about Kagami and Kazeatari blaming their respective 'enemies' is all part of the mind-hypnosis thing that they were put under, which coincidentally will sort itself out next chapter. The characters of Mara and Kotoko will figure greater in the future as well as the world of Cayo Hueso and the book Takara and the others found.

Thanks for reading and :) also shadowgouf thank you as well for worrying about me. But I'm alright. This chapter was a little over four thousand words after all. :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated :)


	36. No one sees the tears

_We kiss each other one more time  
And sing this lie that's halfway mine  
The sword is slicing through the questions so I won't be fooled  
By his angel light..  
_

-Sorrow, Flyleaf

ShiKai CH.35: No one sees the tears

_Belief. It's the rarest and most treasured thing another human can do for another._

_But I don't have it from you_.

~*~

"Fifth Phase, Gesshoku." She said.

He leapt back.

"Third Phase Tsukisasu." He screamed when it made contact, shooting through his shoulder. It was his sword arm, it would seem he wasn't ambidextrous , she surmised, watching his black blade falter and tremble at the backlash that followed.

GA-SHAK.

He weakly parried in response, wrapping his bandaged right over the left, holding tautly the hilt. She smiled, _that was the determination she wanted to see_. _Ever sweeter when it changed to despair-_

Shock registered in his expression as she alighted.

_So, fast?! _It was written on his face.

But, like always he wasn't immune to the touch of her hand upon his cheek, the subtle urge of her fingertips easing his head down. Kei tilted her chin up, grazing his lips gently, lightly with a patience for his fumbling inexperience.

This _was_ his first kiss after all and she wasn't about to let that idiotic Matsumoto push Inoue into taking it from _her._

Even if it was a silver kiss meant to betray.

A moment later, she pulled away from the arms that had snaked up to embrace her.

Looking into his face, she was pleased to see confusion and another, deeper emotion. She shuddered at the depth of it, her cheeks flushing with the heat that seemed to have sprung from a coil in her belly. For a single second, she forgot what they were, where they were in the echoing room of the white palace.

She forgot the promise and simply wanted to _be_.

The desire was so strong that she was again, that girl. The one whom had played the piano and smiled with innocence because she was. Innocent. Not pretending to be.

The same girl who was in love-

-and happy because he loved her too -

Then it was gone.

"It's too late," Kei whispered to herself, her eyes screwing shut. She wasn't sure who she was trying to remind. Behind her eyelids, she sensed his shadow and movement, rough calloused palm extending toward her. _Don't come any closer_.

"Kei.." he said.

_Don't taunt me..with something I can't have! _"Sixth Phase.." Getsu-ten rose in her hand, her whisper left moistened lips. _She halfway wished he wouldn't look at her_. "Kagennotsuki."

The light pierced everything.

Bathing the entire room in moonlit night.

Then darkness fell.

Like the dark of the waning moon, it cast everything into shadow and took the sight of everyone who looked into its luminescence.

The change was almost imperceptible. Lowering the long black staff in her hands, the long chain of circular moons chinking as they sunk to the floor; Kei watched him fall to his knees, his face buried in his hands.

"I-I can't see?" he sounded confused, his head tilting up at the echoing sound of her footsteps approaching. "I'm sorry," she said, laying her hand once more on his face. His lips had been chapped, dry but warm and he had tasted faintly like strawberries.

Unconscious of the feeling within her own heart, she whispered again, "I'm sorry...Ichigo." And raised the half-moon scythe above her head--

~*~

He couldn't see. The sensation was frightening and confusing at the same time. _Why had she--but then_-- Ichigo couldn't wrap his head around it.

Why had she kissed him and then--then--

_"It's too late." _It was too late for _what_?

He raised his sightless face at the sound of her footsteps drawing close. He wanted to say he cared for her and it didn't matter what had happened in the past.

He didn't care about what Rukia-or what anybody thought. It had irritated him, the midget's challenging of his reasons for going after _her_. Why he was seemingly _abandoning_ his friends for hers?

_But he wasn't! Didn't they see that he too needed somebody?! _

At least Renji had been supportive in his own way. Toshiro as well in the brief moment Rangiku had left the room with Inoue. _Take care and good luck...with her_.

Good luck because the little Taichou knew they wouldn't accept her?

For the first time, he began to become angry with them; Inoue, Rukia and Rangiku. _Their prejudice was what was driving her away from him! That was why_--

Momentarily he was distracted by the weight of her hand on his cheek. Even the proximity of her presence was soothing to him. Ichigo without hesitation, leaned into her touch. "I'm sorry," she said softly. He could smell the scent that was purely hers, charred and burnt things beneath a dampness that came from rain.

It was strange. He'd never noticed it before; the damp earth smell clinging to her skin. It nearly drove him mad, the slight caress and stroke of her thumb pad. "I'm sorry...Ichigo," her quiet voice came from above, but he wasn't disconcerted as her hand left his face. Only missed it when the cold rushed against his flushed skin.

"I...believe in you." he wasn't aware the words had slipped past his lips until they echoed quietly in the darkness. It just seemed right. "I'm sorry too, I said I believed in you, but I-I didn't..." he knew she was listening. "Open my heart to you."

Tentatively he reached out, his palms sliding against her legs. It was a strange sensation being blind. "Kei, a-*_anata to issho ni itai_."

(*Phrase means: I want to be with you)

~*~

_I want to be with you_.

Her breath caught, her hands shook. The equilibrium of the blade was tipped for a moment. _How long had it been since someone had said that to her?_

_Years. _

_Centuries. _

_Not since_--

She refused to allow her mind to speak his name.

_How very different and yet alike they were_.

Ichigo and _he_.

The corners of her eyes prickled, a moistness weighed down her lashes. Irritated, she longed to rub away the drop that threatened to fall. _Tears weren't a weakness and yet..._

_...why was there this pain in her heart?_

_"So, um would you...walk with me out in the garden?"_

_"You do realize it's raining out there, right?"_

_"Yeah, so what?!"_

_"I thought you didn't like the rain."_

_"...I don't. But you do. So...I just thought we could go out there and you know maybe see those moon flower things that Shimizu said were going to bloom tonight."_

Killing Ichigo would be like..killing _him_. All over again.

Because of her, her first love had died. It was as if she had plunged the spear into his body just as she had been lowering the sickle blade to Ichigo's neck.

"I can't...do it." The knowledge frightened her, that she had become so emotionally involved with Ichigo Kurosaki as to be unable to sever his life from his body.

She hated herself.

She utterly loathed the painful, aching emotion that swelled up like a cancerous growth in her body. _Was this what he had felt?_ She was struck by this new, horrifying thought. _Was that why he had submitted to the darkness to give into his want?_

"Brother..." her voice barely disturbed the quiet. Ichigo nuzzled his face against her legs, his arms sliding up, curving around her waist. She could feel his heart hammering against her thigh. It was a very childish position. One meant to seek comfort as he finally laid his head against her middle.

"Ichigo..." she rested the tip of the Tsukuyomi downward, bending her body over his. Sliding her free hand through his orange hair, she felt his chest heave with a sigh. "You came," Kei cupped her palm against the back of his head, "and I'm glad." His chin tilted up at her words, she leaned in and brushed a kiss to his forehead, then slowly pulled back, whispering against his lips, "but I'm not good for you, Ichigo."

She slanted her mouth against his, thrusting her tongue deeply into the hot, wet cavity.

~*~

It was passionate. If she had allowed herself admittance or even thought. She would've known that what she felt was passion and that like him as deep as his resolve went, that they were alike.

Strong personalities and passions possessed them both.

Even if it was the burning of deep-seated hatred that consumed her and the desire to protect that drove him.

~*~

Kei let go.

Like always, she let go first.

_Too much,_ she knew_, too much of him and she would lose sight of what was most important again_. She had almost lost all reason and now strove to regain it.

_**Everything**_**....**

She stepped back, he fell forward, palms meeting the cold floor.

_**Rests**_**...**

"Kei?" he sounded almost scared. "Don't worry, I'm right here." She replied, her voice steady.

_**On**_**..**

"Where? I can't see you!" Ichigo turned to the left then right, but of course unable to see her standing there. "I'll always be with you," she said quickly.

**This**.

And plunged Getsu-ten's shikai blade into her side.

~*~

The blackness left his vision. Blinking the last vestiges away, he stared at the lines of the tile before raising his head, filling his sight with her body falling, her hand sliding from the hilt.

"Kei!!!"

~Hueco Mundo~

Mara laid her hand above the dark-skinned human's brow, brushing aside curly brown locks. "Kokyuu Suchi-ru," she said quietly, identifying his asphyxiated state. Kotoko looked upon with her with thinly veiled disgust, "I suppose you must revive this one too?"

Her reply was merely a narrowed glance, her hand dropping to the gourd at her hip. "My orders come first before my feelings. However, bitter they are, I must place them aside as you must, Kotoko."

The fourth General pursed his thin lips, his look like a petulant child that had been reprimanded. Mara disregarded his discontent as unimportant. Her own lip curled slightly, the gesture of repugnance her one show of rebellion to the commandment given to her. Unstopping the gourd, she lowered it to the human's mouth.

The trickling of a few droplets was all the sound heard for a time. She kept count, her lips silently moving.

Then she felt _it_.

No, **they** both did.

A reiatsu fading away. Dying in the distance.

Kotoko's eyes widened, his gaze swiveled toward the fifth tower in the compound. "It-it's.." his voice shook, "..my lady!" and broke at the end of the sentence.

Mara's eyes filled, her head dropped. "It's alright..it can't be.."

She was startled by his hands grabbing her shoulders, the gourd shook and droplets splashed the sand.

"Damn you!" Kotoko spat then thrust her away. "If you won't go then I will!"

She spun toward him only to find he had vanished from sight.

"Damn him," Mara swore quietly. But deep in her heart, she wasn't quite sure whom she was speaking of.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"Somebody made this." Takara said, gently easing the frail cream-colored flyleaf over. Rizu, despite her previous qualms peered the back of the armchair the blond Lieutenant had sat in. "It appears so," Rizu commented, studying the faded ink characters written in a fine hand. "That looks..."

"Familiar?" Takara finished with a faint smile. Kyou tilted his head, his brow furrowing at the name, "hey, isn't that..."

"Keiko's writing. It is...this must've been hers a long time ago."

~ Subconscious realm where the spirits reside ~

"You..." Soryu growled.

Kyokasuigetsu stared unrepentantly back into the snarling face of the Dragon of the sea.

"I am...done here." It said, slithering across the darkness, a light blue sheen reflecting off its scales.

"She sent you...didn't she?"

The Zanpaku-to spirit of mirage and illusion, flicked a forked pink tongue in a soft hiss to the Dragon, "I do not know what it is you are insinuating, Soryu-Kami."

"Yamamoto Keiki!"

~*~

'That's quite a technique you have there,' the white tiger purred, his massive paw hooking around the snake's slippery body, 'did _she_...heighten it for you?'

~Assiah Eastern coast~

"Take care of herself..that's not at all what I meant!" he buried his face in his hands, obscuring the beauty and raw power of the surf from his eyes. "Sorry..." his jaw muscles tightened, his breaths became ragged, shallow. "I was there...I knew but I couldn't!" He flung his hands to the sea imploringly, "I tried! Gods, I tried! But I-I..."

~*~

_Failed_.

The ground was cold beneath her cheek. Sand-colored tresses spilled over her face, clinging to her lips. "Koto..ko." she said. _Don't_. The silent step of the last of the thirteen was like a hammer falling to the bell.

_Our death knell_.

"Ple..ase. Run..Kotoko!" her voice was lost to the murmuring cry of the carnage around her. Wind to her left, moaned for the unbearable pain of his shattered bones. Ashura, tenth of the thirteen, choked in the ruin of his own insides. Mara...dear sweet Mara breathed shallowly, her fingertips pressing to Shigekuni's, her lips moving, repeating a spell to save his life.

_I am a failure_.

"Kirikorosu, Mozu no--"

She was lifted, dangling before earth as a broken shield.

"N-No!" In vain she twisted against the tendrils of Aka Bara. Sixth's face weakly registered loathing to the man behind her but could do nothing to stop his power being manipulated in such a way.

"Would you, Four, now have Mizuna become your sacrifice?" The cruel amusement in his voice sickened her. Kotoko, she saw was wavering, the hand that had reached for the curved handle halted then slowly dropped to his side. "Kotoko..no..no, not for me, please." It was useless pleading. The Generals had sworn to protect and serve the elements below their lords and though one of the two before him was now an enemy he had been ordered to restrain; the other his conscience wouldn't allow more harm to follow.

Earth smiled; the tension slowly draining from his body.

_He had been worried. _

_No, afraid. _

_Afraid of Kotoko's power..._

"Only you can defeat him! Please! Kotoko, ignore me! Finish him! Do it now! Please!!!"

~*~

Slowly Kagami lowered his hands from his eyes.

_Where had that come from? The Quincy boy hadn't been--_

His gaze dropped to the sword of water leaning against the boulder he sat on.

"What have I--"

~*~

The fan flicked lazily back and forth over her face, the tendrils of dark coffee colored hair sweeping ticklish over her forehead and sometimes into her eyes.

"I love her, Kazahaya." He wore a black coat, cut wide, so that the sides hung back. A cutaway coat, it would be called now. _But then it had no name_, thought Wind, on his lips the words he knew must be spoken. "She is your sister."

"I've loved her so much," he continued as if he hadn't heard, "ever since I lay as Mara and Ashura once did. Deaf, sightless and without life."

"She created you. It is a sin!" Hissed Wind ever more urgently.

"It is wrong to love the one who gave you life?"

The question stilled Wind's vehemence for a time, unable to answer yet unable to forsake the commandment given to him, he tried again and Earth did not hear him.

_Ever_.

"Yes, we all love Keiki, but it is a soul love. An affection born of our shared bond. You must--"

_Again_.

The ground shook. "Among the humans it is customary to consummate your love by physical copulation..."

_He...he's..._Wind started back.

Spears shot up from the land impaling him.

"Brother Kazahaya," solemn eyes of dark earth turned and laid themselves on Wind's pierced and bleeding form. "I do not love Keiki as you do. I love her as a woman and I will do anything to possess her."

_Insane_.

~*~

Kazeatari snapped her fan shut and rested the closed edge against her forehead.

If she truly thought about it, _the one who most resembled_...

"Damn..." she smiled unwittingly up at the blue sky above her.

_She really had messed up big time, hadn't she?_

~To be continued~

AN: thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	37. Enjoy the silence

Now and again we try  
To just stay alive  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
it's never too late

-Never too late

ShiKai CH.36: Enjoy the silence

~Flashback~

_Think of Keiki_.

_Her words wounded him deep like a lance piercing his soul. _

_As the last General and guard of the Tsukikage castle keep; Kotoko knew his sole duty was in making sure unto his last breath that the enemy of his Lords and Lady was defeated. The task however, had seemed insurmountable to the previous Twelve, Lady Mizuna and Lord Kazahaya notwithstanding. _

_They had all been overwhelmed. _

_Defeated. Mara, with her siren's song of destruction; Ashura with his might, Angelo with his thorns and Shigekuni wielding the boon Keiki had provided him with: Ryujin-Jakka. _

_All by the Earth Element._

_Kotoko perceived the man's slight smile. Knowing all this and yet, Kotoko couldn't. Mizuna beseeched him, even though her pleas fell on deaf ears. Ignore me and kill him. _

_I can't. Kotoko closed his eyes. The knowledge was sobering, everything Keiki had had was poured into his making. The weight of the pike on his back, was formed by her careful hands, its power manipulated skillfully to respond to his soul. _

_I'm sor--_

_"Kotoko, please..." Mizuna's voice broke, her lashes weighted down by droplets lowered, "I'm begging you!" Her hand slowly unfurled at her side, a javelin of water clasped indistinctly between her fingers. "End this...Shinryu-..sui!" Kotoko watched breathless as she stabbed backward, the lance piercing the vines to skewer Earth._

_With a roar, she was flung to the ground; his hands scrabbled over the blunt-tipped end of the lucent weapon, desperate to pull it out. "Engulf him, my Dragons, Shinryu-Saisui!"_

_She used--_

_Her breaths came out harsh and short, her hand clawing at her chest even as the water vanished into Earth's body. _

_"You--" his eyes were wild, "-are you mad?!! You'll die--"_

_..her life as proxy. _

_"Kotoko!" her fierce gaze spun to him, "go! Leave this field of death! Go to her now! And please.." her eyes filled, the lids scrunching shut as wave after wave of intense pain rippled through her. "..protect Keiki."_

_He nodded once to indicate he understood her will._

_An ear-splitting crack rent the air as he turned, his step taking him half a field away. _

_The ground rocked, black shot up from below directly behind him. _

_Kotoko felt the tip of the thing draw against his spine, the electrical charge danced along his skin. The very air crackled. _

_"Oh, Mizuna..Reio-Dono..please help us." The words slipped past his numb lips even as Mizuna's body was cast aside like a broken rag doll. _

~Las Noches~

_"Think of Keiki! She's the one you need to protect! Please..."_

The girl's shrieks faded away into the babbling consciousness of others thoughts. Kotoko drifted for a time, simply listening to the inane drivel that constituted human views.

Time was immemorial to him. He didn't keep it locked away in the tune of a quiet melody like Mara, to be played like a sorrowful song. Hers was music, his was the silent word. The thought, the unspoken words were all branded into his consciousness like a scroll or papyrus to be read or perused at leisure.

Kotoko closed his silver eyes now, letting his senses drift along the flow of energy spiraling around the fifth tower.

_There..._

His eyes opened slowly.

_...she was in there. _

~Tsukikage Castle~

"It's quiet..the time of night when naught but the beat of one's heart and the crackle of the flame are discernible." Takara's voice was low. Kyou knelt at her feet, Hana beside him. Rizu leaned against the bookcase, pretending to be immersed in an old Harpers Bazaar, but Ren could tell she was listening as intently as the rest of them.

"The night air gutters my candle and I cup my palm about it, whispering soothing words to my little one."

"Little one?" Hana looked confused.

"She's the elemental of fire, remember?" Rizu said patiently.

"Ah--" understanding came into the Fourth seat's expression.

"Quiet," snapped Ren.

"The flickering stops, all becomes still once more. Beyond my window a velvety blackness cloaks everything in its veil. Midnight is upon us, the hour of the deepest dark of night is when the castle most comes alive. Couriers bring tidings of my Lords' children, foundlings they are, of whom Shigekuni is a part of."

"_Shigekuni_...why does that name--" Hana began again.

Ren fought to control her irritation, "because. That person happens to share the same name as the Soutaicho of S.S. "

"I doubt it's _shares_," Takara said, using the distraction to flip a few pages ahead, "I think they're one in the same."

"You're kidding!" Rizu exclaimed, her eyes wide behind the glasses.

I usually don't." The blond Lieutenant muttered grimly, "listen to this part. I glimpsed them together in the garden. The sun gilded Mara in a kind of golden radiance, he was entranced. I find myself filled with happiness. How, my Lords will take this most unexpected development, I do not know. One of the Court Guards and one of the Thirteen Generals--"

"You don't mean..." this time it was Rizu who interjected.

"In his youth, the Soutaicho-I mean Shigekuni Yamamoto was in love with an Arrancar." Takara's eyes rose from the last page, "the keeper of the key to Tsukikage castle. It says..he made a promise--"

"Yes," the voice startled them coming from the opposite direction. Kanzaki stood in the doorway, leaning on the heavy brass handle, "a thousand years ago, he made a promise on his honor and never kept it."

~Las Noches~

_This couldn't be happening_.

_This wasn't--dammit! _Ichigo stared at the large blood spot blossoming against the white. Kei... his hand extended, fingers folding around the blade, the cold metal folding against his palm. Ichigo felt a tingle, the faintest contact of her foreign reiatsu. _It was fading fast_. In vain he tried to recall all he had ever heard Urahara mention on healing Kido.

_No incantation_..._but..damn it! He couldn't remember the fundamental basics of the lesson! _

Ichigo sighed, plowing his fist through his hair. _He'd never been good at stuff like that and without--_

"What_ever_ are you doing just sitting there, Terran?"

He twisted around, his hand shot toward Zangetsu.

The boy had effeminate features. The kind you could call _pretty_, fine pointed chin, narrow perfect nose, small lips twisted into a snarl, oval orb mirrors in silver with a thick dusting of lashes making them seem heavier than they were.

Despite never before in his life harboring a thought or envy toward another man for his looks; Ichigo felt something akin to jealousy clench in his gut at the sight of the boy.

"Who--"

"I might ask of you the same." The boy rhetorically said, cocking his head at an angle, the feathered tips of his hair brushing closely the collar of the dark gray Kariginu he wore.

"Are you with that bastard Aizen?!"

"Such ill manners." The boy jeered, completely ignoring his question. "Are all Terran who lack mothers such vile things?"

"Why you-" in the corner of his mind, it dimly registered how could he have known? But it too was soon forgotten as the boy's strange almost mirror-like silvery pools alighted on the unconscious form of the girl before him.

And disregarded all else.

_His costume was ancient-looking_. Ichigo was reminded of a picture from an old seventh grade history class_; it was of a Heian courier from the royal court_. _The wide belled sleeves that small impossibly delicate hands vanished into, to the billowing trousers of tucked in hakama_.

The boy knelt, bent on one knee at her side like a knight of old.

"My Lady..."

Her hair hung in a dull gold sheet, her head tilted back, the long stretch of her throat visible for a moment; the boy's arms were low around her waist, her body bent back.

In the blink of an eye...they were both gone.

_Not again. This wasn't happening_...

"Ke--"

_She had been taken from him yet again_.

~In another part of Las Noches~

_Mara was here. _the thought both frightened and relieved him. She had been the one to revive Ishida and yet...

The Quincy's questions about who she was, perturbed him. The Shinigami weren't supposed to know precisely of the Generals' existence; the only saving grace was that her memory reversal had worked to some extent. Ishida didn't recall who it was whom had placed him in such a state, only that he awoke with the Hokuto-Shichisei glowing blue while slicing through his body.

The Quincy accepted Kagami's vague explanations about an attack and being forced to separate as true. Only...he persisted in asking about her.

_Had Kei planned this? _It seemed highly likely that she had, but he couldn't easily believe she'd have left so many flaws in a venture that demanded extreme risk be taken. Unless...she had intended for them to eliminate Ishida and Yasutora and then later claim it was--but no. That couldn't be it, since there was Kuchiki-Taichou and Kurosaki left to...

He could've screamed in frustration_. She never told them anything of her plans and then expected them to be carried out to the letter!_

Ishida must've noticed his preoccupation, "is something the matter?"

"Not at all." Kagami managed to say with a grimaced smile. He could tell that the bespectacled Quincy didn't believe him this time. "I'm just--" out of the blue, a savage stabbing pain asserted itself through his left lung. Kagami gasped, clasping his hands over the spot. _The pain was excruciating and it meant only one thing_. "What is it? Tell me!" Ishida exclaimed, with concern.

Kagami grimly looked toward the fifth tower. "It's Kei..." he winced as the assault began anew. "S-something's happened to her...!"

~*~

Kotoko saw the Terran's face.

The resemblance boiled the blood in his veins.

Right before him was the mirror-image of the man he despised more than life itself.

_Kurosaki Ichigo_. The name felt like acid on his tongue. Mara had spoken-thought it in passing after speaking with Water. Strangely Kotoko suffered no guilt from listening in on the thoughts of his comrades. Mind-reading came as easily as breathing or opening fissures in Time-space continuum. Not that Mara approved of that either.

_But._.. Kotoko allowed a small cattish grin to grace his boyish face.

_He didn't have to answer to Mara. Or to anyone...unless he chose to_.

~In another part of Las Noches~

"Oh!" Kazeatari's sharp inhalation caused Yasutora to look back at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, seeing as she had placed one hand over her side as if in great hurt.

"Y-yeah." She flicked the fan open and waved it briskly in her free hand, "let's continue."

Once he had turned back to the path ahead of them; she made a face. _It hurt, damn it_. _It hurt almost as bad as when __she __had stabbed herself with Suzaku's divine blade_. _Kei...damn you. You'd better not die on_ _me_... Kazeatari thought harshly. _If you do...then I'll drag you back from the Meido itself!_

~To be continued~

AN: thanks for reading.

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^


	38. Eyes to see

When you close your eyes to see  
The truth that's inside me  
May you hold your breath to breathe  
your empty reality.  
-Flyleaf

ShiKai CH.38: Eyes to see

_A gray world_.

Kei knew she wasn't dead. She had died enough before to know what it tasted like. Yes, taste. A bitterness, an amalgamation of unreleased resentment tinged with sorrow and fear at the moment of death. Then, cleansed for a time.

She liked that feeling. Of being light, without a care in the world. It was of being insentient to the outside world, being born again anew. With the same hopes and dreams that it wouldn't happen again. That those horrible things wouldn't be said and everything would be kind if only...

_"I'll be a good girl, okaasan, otousan."_

They were smiling down at their frail child.

_"I promise I'll never destroy anything. Just please..."_

The smiling people were gone and the rain was falling hard. Others were approaching, she was the only one left. "I promise I'll be a good girl, uncle. Just please..."

The old man faded.

She was standing before a mirror, the reflection was that of a pale, starved creature, dark hollows created shadows beneath the dulled purple eyes. Waist-length black hair hung unkempt and limp. The mouth moved as hers did, "that's-"

'You.' A small elfin-like girl was reflected in the mirror. Pale hair clung damply to her shoulders, an unhealthy pallor tinted her skin. The sickly girl stared balefully into the mirror and it felt, straight into her eyes. 'You haven't carried out your promise to me.'

The hand that clamped about her wrist burned with a raging fever.

"L-leave me.." her voice shook, but she was unable to get the words out. _Alone_.

"I will be in control from now on." Keiko Yamamoto said.

Eyes flew open.

White walls, shadowed high ceiling and the face above her.

There was a moment of lucidity.

"Ichi-" The blood froze in her veins. Something was inside her, clawing its way to the surface.

She felt afraid, terribly so. It was like losing her sense of self. The more she resisted, the stronger the pull became until she was slipping, further and further under. The darkness was deeper, the lull, an abyss past the precipice she was falling off of.

"Ichi..go." her hand was outstretched toward him.

His voice seemed to come from a great distance away. "I'm here, Kei. I'll never let you go--"

She felt the mouth that was no longer hers, smile.

"-again."

That was all Keiko Yamamoto wanted.

Was to be loved.

-_Something's wrong_-

The insistent pulse and beat hammered at his heart and mind.

Over and over again.

-_I can't feel_-

Kagami forced his flash-step to the reaches of his ability. Shindou and Shin-Soku had never been his, Shunpo to match the speed of a Quincy however had been considered his forte. Not that the Shinigami ever knew _that_. Kagami irritated, slowed his step to allow Ishida to catch up.

"You need to work on your speed, laggard!" He regretted it once it had left his mouth. That was something only Kazeatari would say. Fortunately the Quincy didn't seem to take it personally. "Something's really wrong, isn't it?" The light reflected from his glasses, perspiration stood out on his brow. Kagami had once felt ashamed and yet still amazed at the depth of the Quincy's perception.

_Have to watch myself_... "We have to hurry." he said simply.

_She's gone_.

Kazeatari felt the plummeting sensation deep down inside. The loss cut through her like a knife slicing a limb away. The feeling was strong that physically she felt sick. Swaying, she caught at the wall, gripping at the smooth stone with clawed fingers, the other pressed to her chest. Beneath her breast, her heart thudded with adrenaline. Every sense was alive. She was acutely aware of the human's look of worry; the mute vibrations in the polished rock from containing the massive spirit pressures inside it.

_Just a little more ahead_. Kazeatari closed her eyes, she knew Kurosaki was just beyond the small stretch of the hall and the doorway. She knew what she would see lying there on the floor. Her hand tightened around the sealed fan. _And if it had remnants of his spirit pressure remaining there...damn it all_.

_She would make damned sure he didn't leave Hueco Mundo alive_.

Kazeatari in a sudden impetuous burst, used Shindou to phase from sight.

In the gloom of the room she looked into she saw him as expected beside a...

_Body? _

_This was_... Yasutora rumbled quietly behind her, "Ichigo."

"Impossible." Kazeatari whispered, instead of feeling relief, a rush of boiling anger filled her. "This can't be!" Through the blur that was the room, she felt her hands grasp at the thin white clad shoulders and shake violently, "wake up, damn you! Wake up!!!"

_This wasn't_.

"Kaze--" she ignored Kurosaki's feeble attempts.

"Wake up, I said!!" her palm met the girl's smooth cheek.

The sound of the slap resounded in the room.

Then as she raised her hand to deliver another blow, firm tanned fingers wrapped around her wrist. "You won't touch her.." Kurosaki's voice was dangerously low, his eyes flashed and she recognized the subtle elevating of his reiatsu as a more tangible warning.

Kazeatari would've laughed at his weak intimidation if she hadn't been deeply confused herself.

As it was she broke his grip with a rough jerk, rising to her feet, her eyes falling from his taut expression to that of Kei-no-the girl's peaceful, almost serene face.

_Kazeatari had never seen the fire wielder with such an expression_. _Ever_.

"That's not Keiko." she said with certainty in her voice as Kagami and the young Quincy burst into the room.

_Damn him_. Somehow even her anger seemed duller as if her emotions had been taken long before. As if she were heartless and incapable of feeling like the pitiful white uniformed creatures with identical horned masks. Gloved hands rested above the alike sword hilts.

"Ryoka. Do not attempt escape."

Mara laughed quietly at this representation of the Hollow species if it could be termed as such. The eye holes were vacant but a dim malevolence similar to that of a dumb animal emanated from them. Clearly they didn't appreciate the absurdity of the situation. Her eyelids fluttered shut, a slight smile forming on her lips. "Does a child dare to speak untoward to its elder?"

"You-" Their hisses were full of venom.

Undisturbed by the clack of gleaming blades withdrawn from scabbards, Mara placed her left and right palms together. "It'll be..."

They began to charge.

A sphere of pale blue light formed in her hands, the energy spilled from between her fingers diffusing an ethereal glow to the bone-white faces and colorless desert.

"Like I was never even here."

The light exploded like a supernova.

~Tsukikage Castle~

_"You must learn to not only sense..but feel the reiatsu of your enemies and allies. Know when the release of a Zanpaku-to happens even if you're half a mile away. Learn, Takara. You must!"_

She swung her feet back and forth, sitting on the wider part of the veranda railing. Without closing her eyes and even throwing her senses to the surroundings; she knew Fourth's Lieutenant had released her Zanpaku-to.

A faint drop in the air.

A coldness dancing along the fine hairs on the back of her neck.

A deadening.

Kyou had released his as well.

Like his sister's Zanpaku-to, the abilities of Reiki mirrored that of absorption. That was why its release command was _Assimilate_. And as much as Hana disliked the knowledge that his advancement of skill was to place him on the vanguard as it were...

Takara felt the sudden plummet of Zoe's spirit pressure. He still wielded the same amount of deadly capability for draining the opponent's power. The Lieutenant was pulling back. Kyou was pressing forward. Zoe's rapidly decreasing reiatsu shot up again.

"Ban-kai." Takara murmured.

_She was going to try and entrap him with the energy he had stolen_.

Nearly succeeded too.

A swift performed Kosokuken left the match-just that. At a tie.

Takara phased from sight only to touch down on the opposite railing, her feet spaced apart on the narrow balustrade, "that wasn't very nice..Jinteki Erimyasho."

The man held up his hands in surrender, "sorry. I've heard about your Captains class reflexes from my captain and just had to test them myself."

"Oh, really?" Her afterimage hadn't faded by the moment when Haretosora was poised beneath his chin. "And how do I measure up?"

"Like a true Lieutenant. One as strong as a Captain." he said, smiling up at the sky as if the tip didn't graze his throat, drawing a tiny droplet of red beneath the afternoon sun. Takara watched unrepentantly as it dripped onto his collar. "I suppose." She slid Haretosora into the scabbard without looking, "but then if I wasn't, I would be a failure."

_And I would've failed them...those who are the most important to me in the world_.

_"Lift your sword." Hand folded around a slim Wakizashi._

_"Never look back," a wink from an eye the color of the sea lapping at the golden sand along the shore._

_"Pride is for weaklings. Forsake it and stand..." the gleam of black and the fire within her eyes, "we fight this night."_

"You have a lot of pride in your abilities." Takara said distantly, her eyes toward the far gates. Jinteki hadn't sensed it and most likely very few had. _The approaching reiatsu of two Shinigami. Hitsugaya-Taichou and Matsumoto Rangiku...damn_. "That's why.." _they had halted at the gate_. She inhaled sharply, "you'd never make a good Captain."

She flash-stepped from sight.

_True worth comes from trusting another and not just believing but knowing your own power_. Her eyes closed against the rustle and whip of the branches stirred in the wind. The guards--Fifth's Seijin Maru and Kazura Ichinomiya of First had crossed their swords. True to their oath never to allow anyone from the outside world within the hallowed ground of the city.

_They would lay down their lives to defend their positions_.

Takara could heard Hitsugaya yelling: "this is ridiculous! Don't you know who we are?!"

The unyielding, emotionless tones of Seijin, "Hitsugaya Toshiro and Matsumoto Rangiku of the Soul Society."

"Then why won't you let us in?!" Hitsugaya stamped his foot childishly and Kazura's facial muscles twitched just the slightest. Seijin's didn't change. "We have not the authority to grant such access."

Takara watched from afar; Hitsugaya's face redden with anger and Matsumoto look from her Taichou to the Juppongatana officers. It was clear they didn't know what to do. "Look.." with effort Hitsugaya controlled his tone, modulating it to extreme politeness, "just call the nearest Captain and they can resolve this-this security issue!" he threw his small hands in the air, glowering at the stony Fourth seat.

"That would be impossible." Seijin said perfunctorily, "Captain Raven Kanzaki is not to be disturbed at this hour."

Takara bit back a giggle. The auburn-haired Kazura managed to wipe the amusement from her expression as Hitsugaya's narrowed eyes went to her.

"And why not?!" the white-haired mini-Taichou cried.

"Because." Takara swung from the tree, "he is attending to his duties as First Division Captain. Paperwork and grievances with Hisrio-etc." She smiled sweetly to offset the suspicious looks from Hitsugaya. Seijin stepped back, Kazura as well with a respectful murmur of, "Lieutenant Shimizu."

"We are as you know, short on available Captains," Takara continued, making sure that the glittering embroidery on the Lieutenants band caught in the sun. "I am only a Lieutenant," she said before Hitsugaya had a chance to remark on it, "we have several currently seated candidates contending for the vacant Captaincy of Third-"

"They all will have to pass the Thirteen Court Guard companies' inspection." He said, with an eyebrow raised. Takara bit her tongue, instead giving a decidedly acidic smile, "well, I'm sure you'll find that we do things differently here. We have our own methods-proven successful for choosing worthy Captains. One must fight against the current-or otherwise person set at the Lieutenant level for the Captaincy and prove that _they_ are superior to the other."

She saw Matsumoto's appalled face. "Not to the death. Just simply to demonstrate their skills to the adjudicators. And if death ensues for the Lieutenant..well then the so-called victor would be put to death themselves by the attending Captains, and from the other entrants a new Captain and Lieutenant are picked out."

Matsumoto was silent for a moment then asked carefully, "what happened to your Captain? I mean when we heard there was supposedly a full five Divisions, we thought--"

"He is deceased." Takara interrupted flatly, "the Captain of Third died during the great battle over a hundred years ago. We only knew his first name, Hasumi and the name and power of his Zanpaku-to Aohien Ageha."

_Light washed over the field, a thousand butterflies all the colors of the rainbow eradicated the Hollows in the vicinity. It was a beautiful yet heartrending sight for the wielder of that power was caught within the eye of the blast._

_"Hasu-"_

Takara saw the butterflies floating over the field once again and the bitterness that accompanied it. With effort she kept her voice even, "Captains Nanatsu and Namaiki will be back shortly. If you would be so kind as to await their arrival in the living world, then please do so. We are all heading toward the brink of war, social occasions will have to wait for a time when the worlds aren't on the verge of destruction." She looked Hitsugaya in the eye, through the iron bars of the gates. "Good day, Hitsugaya-Taichou."

Ren couldn't easily forget the words Takara had read aloud. It was there in the back of her mind, following Kanzaki through the halls and finally doors to the northern wing. There, he received a few murmured greetings of 'Captain' and even she got a couple of, "welcome back" from the other officers. Ren barely heard them.

_The old man in his youth_...

Ren herself wasn't a very romantic person not by a long shot.

Maybe that was because she just couldn't see giving a part of herself to any person. Not wholly so that she would die or feel the loss of that person. Sure, she felt. But it was in a kind of dulled way. Harsh words doled out by Hisrio that might reduce some to tears, merely glanced off of her. Joy at simple things felt by Second Division's Kimiko, Ren didn't understand them_. It was only a plant. A flower that happened to be beautiful. So what?_

She guessed she was just insular and always had been.

But, Fourth's captain...now _she_ was different.

Keiko had two sides to her. Both were like night and day.

The extroverted, compassionate side.

And the quiet, brooding side which showed wistfulness for things long gone.

Yet they were alike in their determination-no that was wrong. It wasn't like that orange-haired kid's 'resolve' it was still different. The same energy, the same fortitude...

_Was that why-?!_ The answer was so simple, that for a moment Ren was lost and didn't hear Hisrio's question. _The breaking of the...!_

_That was the cause of everything?!_

~Assiah~

"Are you sure that was the right thing to do?"

The sea wind whipped at her hair, snarling the dark strands. Kazeatari impatiently shoved the hair from her eyes, "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?!"

The wind gust blew even harder reflecting the torment of its wielder.

"I just said, I don't." she turned to face him, a sardonic look on her face. "I don't like the thought either of Urahara getting his hands on her. But...as of this moment I cannot find it in me to acknowledge her anymore... as one of us."

~Mindscape~

_The ruined citadel of the moon_...

Touda alighted on a broken statuary, his curved beak gleaming a phosphorescent purplish gleam. The mindscape of a Soulreaper reflected their inner self much the way a Zanpaku-to was part of their soul. His hellfire pure blue flame eyes appraised the hollowed out ruins and battlements. The bleak, dead air carried the scent of decay. A dead world, Touda thought, twisting his head upside down.

Nothing bloomed...

Except. He suddenly took flight, soaring to the center of the stone labyrinth at the center of the sunken gardens. Beneath a diseased ivy creeper blackened with withered patches, a single lilac branch emerged from the crumbling wall, a tiny conical array of light purple buds hung low.

But beneath it in the grasses was a yellow Chrysanthemum in full bloom.

"I accept the way things must be, my heart belongs to another and yet...the first stirrings of love. You have awakened new emotions in me." Touda said to himself, then chuckled quietly, "oh, wielder. Your heart is in turmoil, isn't it?"

~Living world, Urahara Shoten~

_This feeling_.

The girl's eyes opened to the room full of people.

_It's like...being born again_.

The same concerned boy's face from before, was closest. His shock of orange hair was the brightest thing she had ever seen and she stared at it long, wanting to run her fingers through it_. Was it natural?_ _It seemed almost fake so vivid was the color_.

"Kei?" A suffusion of pinkness dusted his cheeks.

"Who?" the girl said, sounding quite confused, "I do not know who that is."

~To be continued~

AN: I really have way too much fun with this ;) I was working on a video for YT, the third of its kind featuring pics of almost every JP Soulreaper. This latest one had Orihime angsting over Ichigo and whole lot more IchiKei than the previous ones!

Thanks for reading!

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! :3


	39. The girl in love

_'Cause you remind me of a time when we were so alive  
Do you remember that? Do you remember that?_

-Paramore

ShiKai CH.38: The girl in love

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

_This man was..irritating_. With some mild annoyance the girl glanced to the hand the sandy-haired man with a green-striped hat perched atop his head, held up. "You're not holding any up." she said, indeed his fingers were all folded, thumb tucked in beneath them.

Urahara laughed out loud, "she's still as smart as a whip, that's for sure!"

"Kisuke..." murmured a dark-skinned woman in tight clothes.

The girl liked this woman _Yoruichi_. She could tell _she_ was_ nice_.

"Mr. Urahara! That wasn't nice!" Cried indignantly a soft voice from the doorway.

_Inoue_. The girl's eyes passed over the human's rounded cheeks and buxom form clad in a gray pleated skirt and light brown sweater over a shirt. School was out for the day. That meant...the girl eagerly scanned behind Inoue's shoulder, ignoring her inanity.

He was there.

The moment their eyes met, her heart began beating faster.

"Ichigo." The girl said as he came in.

~ Tsukikage Castle~

"Executive order.1296: Second Division will assume official command over the Fourth Division as Present Captain Keiko Yamamoto recuperates in the living world under the care of Kisuke Urahara." _Damn Hisrio_. Kagami cursed mentally, _and his protocol_. The small elite force of six men and women stood facing him with various expressions of confusion and bewilderment.

_Here comes the questions_. He thought grimly.

To his surprise only the Lieutenant asked softly, "The Captain was injured? Beyond the healing capacities she has-?"

He thought of the fire melding her flesh, erasing wounds, scars. He remembered the burn of the Cero fired by Aki Shikouten. Kagami glanced and caught the Arrancar's eye. The look was grim, it was clear their thoughts were on the same wave-length.

"Er-yes." He regretted admitting it even when it wasn't the whole truth.

Kei had been on the verge of death.

Kotoko one of the Thirteen Generals had manipulated Time to restore her body back to a time before injury had occurred.

And yet in doing so...

The murmurs of unease filled his ears. The tension made his nerves tauten even though he told himself over and over she would be fine. It was ineffectual consolation. Kagami could still feel every emotion running through the minds and hearts of the Fourth Division officers like they were his own.

_It was making him sick_.

Catching the eye of Takara, he left as she took his place.

_I pray..._

_For you. Murasaki_.

Kazura Ichinomiya's hands skated neatly over the keys. Never fast, nor as skilled as Takara from Third, in a trade off with fellow seated officer Mai Matsukaze; Kazura was left with the task of organizing the month's records for First Division rather than standing guard at the main gates.

_On this day_...

She didn't mind the seat she had been given. Kazura knew her abilities paled to those of the higher-ups despite their various births. _Had she retained her status_...but she would shake her red mane, the brush of a tiny braid swinging across her cheek. Such wistfulness suited Hisrio and his remembrances of splendor. Kazura had vague, if not nebulous dreams of _sweet perfumes, soft hands and the rustle of many silks. A beautiful red-haired woman holding her tiny hands and twirling barefoot in cedar scented rooms. _

_That was the extent of it until a darker crimson stained the memories._

_Kazura shied away from these. The sobs, the cries of the serving women begging for mercy. The words spat in their faces. Treasonous dissenters deserved nothing better. _

_She remembered the frightened child left behind to starve in the empty manor._

_The face of her mother screaming, crying, begging them not to be so cruel._

_But they were..._

_Kazura felt the dusty road through her slippers. Felt the harsh, mocking stares of the commoners. And..._

_Falling._

_Crying silently in humiliation. She had lost the only thing they had left behind_--

_A voice and a hand. It was a woman, her face was in shadow. But, Kazura knew she was kind. She had the brocaded bag the boys had stolen and she said her name was_...

"Murasaki." Kazura whispered. In the dimness of the room, the light from the computer screen cast a bluish tint to the tiny world. _On her way to the Seireitei to answer the summons of the Soutaichou_.

Her hands stopped their sweep across the board.

-_I pray for you, Murasaki_-

The woman had one violet eye and one the color of flame and she smiled without pain. Kazura remembered that now.

-_that you live long and find_...-

Not the way she did now.

"_What it is you are searching for_." Kazura finished quietly.

The child's simple wish had ended over a hundred years before.

Murasaki was Keiko Yamamoto almost a thousand years ago.

She had lived briefly and died in a dark forest hunted down like an animal.

It was upon learning this, that something tiny died inside of the last Noble of the great house.

Kazura stopped believing the Shinigami had a right to exist.

~Seireitei~

*Dream*

"I don't care!"

Slashing and blood like falling rain in the forest of the night.

He was behind the tree, watching the scene play out. Unable to voice his rejection and unable to assist in the slaughter.

"Even if the rest of the world was against me-!" Red opened in a merciless row along the girl's flesh. He saw the pain in her eyes and the defiance raging in her purple eyes. Her hand was unsteady wrapped around the sword even though she had made no move to attack, Yamamoto circled her like a hawk, white haori flaring in the sudden Shunpo forward.

Ga-shak.

It laid a path through her sword arm. Her skin was bared open, pink cords of muscle exposed to the cold air. Jushiro stared aghast at the violence of Shigekuni's anger.

"Even if..." her sword hung lax, trembling in the spasming fingers. "Only one person believed in me.." her breaths were harsher now, her bloody hands pressed to her breast, her heart, "then that's enough for me!"

Ryujin-Jakka sliced through the night.

Jushiro covered his mouth with a shaking hand, his eyes prickled with burning tears.

The girl fell to her knees, her chest carved across. Yet she still lived.

"Please.." Jushiro wasn't conscious of speaking until his voice cracked on the dry, thin winter air, "please stop this."

Yamamoto grasped a handful of the girl's stained yellowish brown hair, her eyes rolled upward to his face, her chin lifting, her lips parted.

"She's dying!"

The blade sunk in between her shoulder and neck.

*End of dream*

Jushiro awoke in the semi-darkness of the room, staring up at the far ceiling.

His sight was blurred.

_He hadn't thought of that night in centuries_.

Raising a hand to his face, he wiped away fresh tears.

~Tsukikage Castle~

Mai Matsukaze stood beside the gatepost, staring off into space. It had been quite a long time since she had taken out the crest. The fabric, a light autumn orange had glided over her hands, the red mon of the Matsukaze family on either end of the scarf. _Matsukaze: Wind in the pines_. Mai closed her eyes, the frail voice of the woman whom had raised her, floated through her mind.

_Be strong, Mai_. _Be proud of who you are, last daughter of the vassals of the Kuchiki clan_.

Her hand slid down to Tomoshibi-Shashu. The round bronze guard flashed, the red scabbard clanked against the black of Soekimaru. "Withdraw. Entry to your kind is forbidden."

_Twice in two days? They're really getting persistent_.

She'd heard of the Taichou and Fukutaichou's previous attempt from Kazura, during the exchange at Noontide.

"Who are you?" The boy's voice was fairly challenging.

"Sixth Seat of First Division, Mai Matsukaze."

"How come I don't recall your name?" A woman's voice.

Mai stared down at her hand enclosed about the short hilt. Unshaken. Unflinching. "Did you take note of every face and the knowledge of every stranger on your previous admittance? Can you name by voice every single officer behind these walls?"

"Well--"

"What is the meaning of this interrogation?!" Matsumoto Rangiku's tone was indignant.

Mai turned her head slightly to the right, catching the woman's profile.

"We demand you let us in now!"

"Matsu-" even the little Taichou was surprised at her vehemence.

"This is ridiculous! Such incompetence!"

Seijin didn't move, didn't speak a word of warning as the scabbard fell from his.

"--stupidity! We're-" Matsumoto was still going on her rant.

"What part of _you are forbidden_ to enter this place do you not understand?" The bow string stretched tautly between her fingers, the curved bow was held at an angle perpendicular to the gate slats, the copper tip of the Ketatamashii* was inches from the woman's stupid pretty face.

"What the hell?!!!!"

~Living world~

"What is an eishohaki?"

"A destructive chant or powerful Kido." The girl fought down her annoyance.

"Explain to me, what Kido is." Urahara persisted.

"Way of destruction. Bakudo," she added before he could start again, "is way of binding."

"Very good." he fanned his face cheerfully smiling with each flick. "Now," he lifted something out from a box on the low table, holding it up for her to see. "Who is this?"

She stared at the burnt-edged photograph of the fair-haired girl, blankly, "I don't know."

The shopkeeper sighed, then replaced the photograph with a small hand mirror, "take a good look."

The girl did as he asked, seeing the same hollowed out cheeks and pallid color. Someone on the verge of death or recovering from the brink of it. "That isn't me." she maintained flatly. This time it was Kisuke who sighed, eyeing the fair-haired young woman in the bloom of health. He still marveled at the absolute resemblance between the picture and the real thing. It was as if she hadn't aged a day since it had been taken.

_Or_...struck by a sudden inspiration, he asked, "what color are your eyes?"

Without hesitation, the girl said, "blue."

"Have they always been that way?" he saw the lids close over the intense royal violet just like the girl's in the picture.

"Yes."

"And who has...purple eyes?"

"That woman."

Puzzled, though he tried to keep his tone mild, "which woman?"

"The one who lied to me."

"What is her name?"

"I don't know."

"When did you first see her?"

"It was..dark." The girl's face scrunched up as if she was trying to remember something she had desperately wanted to forget. "The maids had left. I was alone. My body felt like it was burning, like I was boiling alive. I remember staring into the darkness and praying. And then.."

"Then what happened?" Kisuke prompted gently.

"I-I saw--" _Her_.

The door banged open.

She turned swiftly from him, her face lighting up, "Ichigo! You're back!" The girl managed to give a small grin to Inoue who always seemed to be trailing after Ichigo's shadow. "Did you miss me, Kei?" he said easily, his smile only for her. She wanted to be alone with him, not with Kuchiki entering or Inoue smiling nonsensically at everyone. She also didn't like him calling her by that name, even though she could see it gave him some amount of pleasure to say it when all the rest said: _Yamamoto-san, or Keiko-san._

She knew he wanted her to like the clothes in the bag. Clothes he said he had been keeping for her. She looked at the first blouse, a black T with bronze stud detail along the side, gathering the fabric in a small wave across the abdomen. Another was in a vibrant splotched crimson color with lighter hues ranging all over the fabric. She didn't like the color, something hurt inside to look at it. Laying it aside she studied another with a skull wreathed in flames-_looked strangely familiar_, and the last one in pinkish tones declaring: Be a Pepper.

She chose the _Be a Pepper_ one.

After dressing she was forced into a chair, Yoruichi and Inoue fussing over her hair. Combs ran through her long tresses. They said-well Yoruichi did, that she was going to get to go out.

_Was Ichigo going to be with her?_

A look of misery had clouded Inoue's expression, but_ she_ didn't care.

The human was ridiculous, being so pretty and healthy pining after what would **never** be hers.

The girl thought Inoue was just selfish and not at all kind-hearted like that busty fool whom had left with the short whitey to that other place, claimed. Matsu-something or other. _She_ remembered the woman pushing Inoue toward Ichigo with a shooing motion.

_"Give him a b.g hug!" _

For that, she didn't **forgive** her.

"I'm sure you won't even have to ask." Yoruichi sounded mildly amused, "that boy doesn't want you going out of our sight let alone leaving the Shoten unaccompanied."

She felt a rush of warmth at this knowledge but still had to ask because she could barely believe it. _That he_... "Does...no, do you think.." she bit her lip, grimacing when a slight copper taste leaked onto her tongue. "He likes..me?"

She was surprised at Yoruichi's laugh.

"Like?!"

_Secretly she was afraid of hearing the answer. Oh, how she wanted-longed for this_...

The woman flashed her toothy grin, "why, honey it's closer to love, he just doesn't realize it himself!" Then Yoruichi chuckled some more to herself, layering the hair Inoue had neglected to finish.

The girl saw with some pleasure that Inoue had quietly left the room after Yoruichi's answer.

~Inoue's p.o.v~

"Kurosaki-kun..."

"Yeah, Inoue?"

"You're going back to her?"

"Of course." He turned toward the Shoten, his thoughts already on the girl still inside.

"..Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime reached for him, Rangiku's words echoing in her mind. _Show_ _him. Prove your love!_ _Flash him your boobs! But somehow..._

Kei's large, child-like smile so bereft of the distance of before, drove a stab of guilt into her heart. _What kind of person would she be if she tried to get between them now? The very worst!_

Orihime swallowed her words and stayed still when he looked back at her, his brow furrowed in question."N-nothing." she couldn't keep her voice from trembling. He didn't even notice. "Oh, well, see you later." His tone lacked feeling, as if he was already far away and just in passing remembered to say something.

With hurt shining in her eyes, she watched the door fly open and Kei step out.

The Gigai resembled the Soulreaper in all ways, save for the different colored eyes. One the color of fire, the other deep violet. Kurosaki-kun stared at her for the longest time then back to Urahara standing in the doorway. The shopkeeper shrugged, "they take the form of the soul's reiatsu. That is what hers truly looks like."

"Do I look strange?"

Orihime could see Kei on the verge of tears.

"Of course you don't." Kurosaki-kun cupped her face in his large hands, rubbing circles on her cheeks. He was smiling down at her. Orihime had never him smile so tenderly for anyone.

Not even Kuchiki-san.

He was looking at Kei-san as if she were made of glass. So fine. So fragile. So precious...

_And she_...

Orihime couldn't look anymore. Quietly, slowly, she began to walk away.

Away from them.

The boy and Soulreaper in love.

~Tsukikage Castle~

Kimiko was repotting another plant when it happened. Her hands slipped, the pot fell through them, smashing into a hundred orange shards. Soil splattered the floor, raining down on the hem of her robes and sandals.

-The air was close-

-The silence that lay against the stone walls was broken irrevocably by the scratching, shrieking, whining of the creatures as they swarmed to entrap those inside.-

-She was stumbling along the dim corridors, others like ghosts flitted scared in the shadows or huddled in corners.-

-Voices came from the open door-

-She recognized Kagami's urgent, sharp tones, but was surprised to hear him speak in such a way.-

-"This is forbidden!"-

-"I know."-

-"Think of the consequences! Think of what this will mean to _them_."-

-"I am _doing _this for_ them_."

-Keiko Yamamoto was holding the glass-like sphere of Phoenix tears, her look hard to the man beside her.-

-"In a hundred years from now..how will they be able to live in the world we will give them?"-

-He was silent-

-"Two hundred years exactly from now, Kagami. We will both die. That is the unchangeable fact. This...this is the only thing I can do to sustain them. No matter if it is wrong or you consider the price of equivalent exchange high. I will do whatever it takes to stop time...-

~Second Division office~

"...damn Kurosaki. Wonder is she's woken up yet..." He had his face buried in his hands.

"You know talking to yourself is the first sign that you're going insane."

_That voice_..Kagami started in his seat, staring at the figure standing in the doorway.

"K-Kotoko?! What the hell-"

"Uh-uh. Language." The boy waved a slender finger back and forth in a chastising manner. Eyeing the ancient Vasto Lordes' approach with some apprehension, Kagami cleared his throat and waved briskly at the vacant plush-padded chair in front of the desk. _Thankfully Kimiko hadn't come back yet from the shed_, he thought with some relief.

The stiffened fabric rustled as Kotoko sat. Demurely folding his hands on his lap, the large sleeves dwarfed his child-like limbs. Kagami marveled at the still youthful face, _why the boy looked just-just the same! As when...he had first awakened_.

Blue eyes lowered, the sigh full of weariness, "what is it you want?"

"Oh, nothing!" The answer was far too breezy, too cheerful for him to believe the impish smile nor mischievously flashing silver eyes meant exactly the opposite.

"Look, Keiki isn't here-"

"I know."

"Well, then if you know, then why-?" Kagami saw he was being ignored. Kotoko's gaze was focused intently on a part of skinny brightly colored paper tubes in a glass cup. A small hand snaked forward and snatched one, holding it up for closer inspection.

"That.." silently he cursed Dani for leaving the things on** his** desk. "Is what the humans call a Pixy stick."

Kotoko ran his fingers up and down the smooth rounded paper tube, murmuring with his eyes half-closed, "_Dextrose, citric acid, Blue1 Lake, Blue2 Lake_...what is this, candy or purely chemicals?"

Kagami recognized his own thoughts from when the third seat had first shown them to him-_by order of course. She had tried to hide them originally_. "Stop scanning my old thoughts dammit! It's candy! Candy! Human children eat it by the bagful and rot their teeth in a few years..." grumpily he sat back, flicking his hand dismissively as the Vasto Lordes looked undecided on the sweet. "Go ahead and try it. They have enough of them as it is..."

The boy turned it over in his hands for a few more minutes, then tore off one end, raising it to his nose to sniff delicately, "it smells.. sweet-?"

"Of course it smells sweet! It's Grape flavor!" he snapped.

_Shfting_ sounds sounded for a time while Kagami rubbed at his temples and the tiny purplish grains tilted into the Vasto Lordes' mouth.

"No more?" Kotoko stared sadly at the flattened tube between his fingers.

"That's it. They're rather--" he caught the longing looks directed toward the rest of the uneaten paper cylinder pixy soldiers_. Dani's going to be mad..._ "Help yourself." Kagami watched as Kotoko dove in. _He really is...like a child_.

"You never answered my question."

"Because I thought my presence here was self-explanatory."

"...You're going to choke." Kagami predicated dryly.

Kotoko did choke on a sudden influx of Cherry but quickly recovered, laying aside the half-eaten stick beside the claimed pile of reds, blues, oranges, and purple candies. "I know..." silver eyes rolled up sardonically beneath the heavy dusting of lashes, "what it is you're after. Why you've done this unspeakable thing to these Terrans."

Kagami felt the blood drain from his face, but with effort controlled his expression even allowing the faintest hint of a smile to curl the corners of his mouth, "and I know what it is you've done to Keiki."

~To be continued~

AN: thanks for reading ^^

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	40. Sky is falling

_An arrow can pierce._

_It can cut._

_It can set a fire to your flesh._

_But it cannot hurt more than your words._

_-Mai Matsukaze_

ShiKai CH.39: Sky is falling

_That woman_..

The sunshine was bright along the downtown boardwalk. Humans of various ages milled about on street corners or sat at tiny tables talking. She took it in with wonder. It was like the world she had only glimpsed in passing. Ichigo laughed at her expressions even though he didn't understand why she should have found all those things concerning everyday life fascinating; even though he did scowl a little when a couple of guys stared a little too long and little too hard at her. He got the distinct feeling they were undressing her with their eyes.

Then, he grabbed her arm and tugged her the opposite way.

_Sure she was a_--

Ichigo kept her close to him, glancing every so often to the profile presented to him.

_..beautiful girl. Uncommonly so_.

For it was a fineness that one didn't notice upon first glance.

In fact one could say she was even plain.

On a second look however, one would rescind that idea. There was something delicate to the turn of her nose, the curve of her lips whether in a smile or a frown.

She was smiling now.

_Inoue was pretty_, Ichigo knew many considered her to be. But, it was a different kind of prettiness. He didn't know how to explain it. Even Rukia was cute in her own tomboyish way. Rangiku was the most feminine of them, especially when her boo--

Kei pulled away.

Taken from his thoughts momentarily he looked at her surprised.

_Frowning? _

Crossly she glowered back and it struck him then..

_Did she hear my thoughts-?_

"Kei?" Ichigo tried to slid his fingers around her upper arm.

They closed on empty air.

Ichigo couldn't believe it; she had shied away from him!

_Pouting! _

"Hey, what's that look for? C'mon, Kei!"

She ignored him, deliberately averting her face.

~A while later~

Her mood hadn't improved.

She was sulking. But, not in a self-pitying way, it was more the she-was-pissed-at-him-for-some-reason-Ichigo-couldn't-fathom.

_Women were certainly strange_...

One minute, smiling and happy and the next, be all huffy and angry.

_But, what exactly she was mad about_,_ he had no idea_...

~Her p.o.v~

She didn't know why she should've felt that way.

The emotion stemmed from something insecure, doubting that pointed out there were lots of other pretty girls around, prettier, oh so much prettier than her...

Enough so, that she snapped when he made another attempt to clasp her hand. "Why don't you just go to Inoue already and leave me alone!"

She saw the effect her words had.

Incredulity. Shock. And his expression softened in some understanding.

"Why would I want to be with Inoue?"

"I don't know.." she mumbled, looking askance.

His hand slid along her chin, lifting her head up, "Inoue's just a friend, Kei. She's not you."

"But, she's pretti-"

His lips on hers, ended her unfinished sentence.

(*~*) His p.o.v (*~*)

Ichigo tried not to mind her hesitant response.

Her lips were as soft as he remembered, even if they were a little unyielding.

He knew people were staring. Some chuckling quietly at such a very public display.

"Get a room!" someone mocked; his ears burned. But not because of the insinuation; but because of all the things he wanted to do to her.

_Intimate things. _

_He wanted her to be the one to take his virginity_.

"Now, do you believe me?" he whispered against her damp lips. He felt her nod jerkily, her cheeks fairly flushed. Being so close, he could feel the heat radiating from her body. "Good," Ichigo closed his eyes, his head still pleasantly spinning from the kiss.

"There's someplace I want to take you." This time, she let him take her hand.

;.;

He was glad the cemetery was empty.

Climbing the steps, he was reminded of another, very different time.

_It was Rukia with him then. _

_And that was also the day he learned his mother had been killed by a Hollow_.

Ichigo pushed away the negative thoughts.

In the past there was pain, hurt that only Rukia's arrival had stopped. He would be forever grateful to her for being that person; but...

Kei was looking over the stones. He clasped her hand tighter, feeling her respond by glancing back to him, some indefinable emotion in her eyes.

Right here and now was what mattered.

They continued on until they were before his mother's memorial.

"I want to be alone." He looked down at it, gently releasing her hand.

Kei seemed to understand, quietly walking away.

He did miss her presence at his side and he found himself looking after her bowed head and slightly slumped shoulders. Ichigo hoped it wasn't that she was hurt he was sending her away and halfway considered calling her back.

Then, shook his head slightly.

No, for right now, it was better he was alone.

Turning his gaze down to the familiar light gray stone, he began almost cheerfully, picturing his mother's reaction if she had lived. Then he would've taken _her_ home to show off his treasure to his parents. "Mom, I've met somebody..."

;.;

Her frame of mind had fallen the moment they had set foot inside the cemetery.

She was barely conscious of his hand in hers.

Her eyes lingered over the rows of gray monuments, lined in perfect rows so many deep. But, in her mind she saw a perfect circle of thirteen wooden sticks thrust in the sickly splotched ground. Her body sinking, falling inside those graves while the rain fell hard and the sky crackled with lightning.

She longed to drive the image from her head.

Ichigo was insensate to her feelings.

He took her deeper into the resting place of the dead.

Only stopping before one bearing the name: _Masaki Kurosaki_.

Then, he said, "I want to be alone."

To her relief, he let her go.

She could sense him watching her as she walked away. Only the slimmest thread of restraint remained; the part that knew if she ran, he would follow and make her stay. So, she forced her legs to move slowly, carefully, until she had branched off from the main row and was descending the stairs, then and only when she knew he couldn't see her anymore, did she break into a run, crashing through the undergrowth and trees.

For many minutes only the hammering of her heart and hair catching between her moistened lips were the only sensations of feeling that remained in her benumbed body.

_Thirteen_.

_Markers._

_All._

_In_

_A_

_Row_.

She broke into a clearing, gasping sharply as if she had been run through with a blade. She sunk to her knees, so intense was the pain.

_There...weren't her own memories_.

_They were_--

Her eyes alighted on a fallen branch near her.

~Tsukikage Castle~

"Pray tell..what did I do?" Kotoko was good at feigning innocence.

"You tried to restore Keiko's body to a time when her power was at its maximum level. We both know she was fully awakened in her previous human life. The mark of absolute power-as it were was the two different colored eyes, the ones she looked at me with on that day of my execution on Sokyoku hill."

There was silence.

The boy's silver eyes darkened with fleeting anguish. "I-I'm sorry." His head bowed, his lips compressed tightly. Kagami saw the small shoulders tremble and knew that for once he was seeing the boy's true self. Not a facade.

_Bitter pain and helplessness knowing you couldn't do a thing to shield the ones you cared for the most_. _Maybe in that way_... Kagami briefly lowered his gaze to the desk, "I shouldn't have said that. Forgive me." _Kotoko and Kurosaki were alike_.

"There is nothing to forgive **you** for." The boy was once again able to speak, his head was tilted at an angle and the light reflecting in his eyes was refined wrath, "however, there is no way in the worlds they can be either."

He felt a shudder ripple up his spine. _This was_... with effort, Kagami shrugged, "it's your turn."

"Ah, well then...the body of an Elemental stops aging the moment they reach absolute dominion over their power. You three have passed that level on the day the red sun rose, burning with the fire of the red Phoenix." Kotoko still had the same smile, just a mere curve of amusement on his delicate features.

Anyone else might've have thought it was a sweet, innocent smile. But Kagami knew the boy was anything _but_ innocent.

"But. I am willing to avowal the differences of age as another factor. How could one not become old while the rest aged...but even then a simple explanation would've sufficed. However, you couldn't risk them becoming feeble in old age. So, you did _it_." The gleam in the boy's eyes was of supreme enjoyment.

For a moment Kagami was unsure of how to answer so he replied with a smirk, "have you come to punish us?"

"That depends."

"Depends on--what?"

Kotoko leaned back, cradling his small chin in his hand, "on whether or not this suffices to amuse me.** They** don't know, you see. So your secret is safe."

_Mara_. "How can you be so sure?"

Kotoko waved his hand dismissively as if it wasn't important, "because she was watching that bastard Shinigami Shigekuni at the moment when you sacrificed for equivalent exchange."

"Oh?" Kagami pretended nonchalance on the matter.

"He was debating," again the smirk and flash of something in those eyes, "on whether or not the worlds' were truly safe with you in Assiah. Or if he should send some weakling Ninja-types to start the cycle over again."

His eyes widened. _Start the cycle..our deaths_.

"Of course they are quite foolish," Kotoko was shaking his head deprecatingly, "they should realize that there _would be_ an inequity in the worlds once the very foundations-the elements were destroyed."

"I suspect they didn't think of the consequences. They just _did_."

"But...there always has to be a price."

He assented briefly, his gaze falling to his hands, "you know..." he smiled faintly, "what hurt the most I think, was not being able to defend ourselves. Even animals have the right to fight for their lives when cornered."

Kotoko looked at him somberly. "You **are **lower than animals to them."

*At the gates*

The bowstring was stretched tautly, the crimson tip of the Kouen-ya pointed ahead. Mai adjusted her aim, tilting upward elegantly. Rangiku Matsumoto bore a cut along her cheekbone, her Zanpaku-to was withdrawn from its sheath and Hitsugaya was staring wildly from his Fukutaichou to the Juppongatana officer.

"What the hell is--"

"Retreat." Mai ordered calmly, her coffee brown eyes narrowed at the target.

"No. The realm of Tsukikage is within the jurisdiction of Soul Society. You cannot dare to suppose you have sole authority over these lands." Matsumoto said coldly.

"Dare?" breathed Mai in a soft hiss. "The only one whose insolence shows lack of an incredible amount of discipline is you!"

_They want our lands_.

Mai tightened her fingers around the bowstring.

_They want our home_.

Seconds before she was about to release the arrow of fire; a voice shouted in the distance--

~Mindscape~

Touda peered out through the dome enclosing the small world, below he glimpsed the buildings and blue sky line of Ichigo's mindscape. _Connected_. No doubt Zangetsu had noticed by now the undeniable proof of their wielders' attachment. _For the two mindscapes to be linked_...

It was impossible to say the bird smiled for its beak merely curved the slightest to suggest a hint of what it was feeling.

Moments later it stepped through the barrier, descending on skeletal wings before transforming into_ her_.

)Hollow's p.o.v(

Shirosaki was bored. No, that wasn't possible. He was always bored. There was never anything to do in the King's mindscape, just the same old clouds and crazily tilted buildings and grumpy old man to annoy. _Just the same_--hold that.

Lately there had been something new.

A round dome like floating plateau traversing the sky.

The first time he had seen it, he'd leapt up after it, but never quite reached it no matter how far he climbed. It was there-infuriatingly, like a mirage, taunting-teasing...

_It was so annoying!_ Shirosaki made a small noise in the back of his throat.

_And to top it off that greedy-stupid weakling King was_--

Movement.

His sharp eyes caught the slinking figure far below. Shirosaki crawled to the edge of the building, watching intently the figure peer around and dart to the next corner. _Something familiar in the way they moved_...

An insane grin cracked over his face.

"Oooohhh, Queeeeeeeeeeen!" The Hollow cooed

)Touda(

It was quiet. Touda wasn't surprised. The last time he had checked it had been late afternoon where his wielder was. Like a normal human she was keeping hours relevant to their time. Touda was satisfied that he wouldn't bothered in his quest for Zangetsu. _Now where was that old_...

_She_ stopped.

It was quiet-too quiet.

With a sinking sense, a small unease knotting in the pit of her stomach. Touda rightly recognized this as trepidation. _She_ could feel someone watching her.

Slowly, ever so carefully, Touda turned, the hood concealed a greater part of the world, so that only a sliver of a leering albino imitation of Ichigo Kurosaki was visible. _Oh, shit_...

Her feet left the ground.

_It can't catch me_.

The edge of the building was ahead.

_Shunpo doesn't equal Shin-Soku_.

_Her_ body hurled into space, wings bursting from her back.

Safe..I.

"Got ya!" Came the gleeful cry.

A harsh yank and her equilibrium was unbalanced. Vertigo-lightheadedness from the stupid wielder's own subconscious fear, made the world spin out of control. Desperately the sole wing flapped while the other was caught in a vise-like grip.

That suddenly twisted.

Touda cried out in _her _voice.

"You can't escape **me**, Queen."

The voice came from all sides._ Silky. Caressing. Playful_.

_Her_ back hit the cement. Immediately she flipped onto her side and delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen. The Hollow showed no signs of feeling the blow. She gritted her teeth, bracing herself for the jolt. _Again_. It stumbled back, the crazed grin hadn't left his black lips, if anything it was even more excited by the sight of her flailing legs and angered expression.

"You get my blood boiling, Queen!" It cackled, grabbing her ankle and using it as leverage to drag her closer. Touda felt the cement sear a burning track along her backside, "bastard.." she hissed, bracing her free foot down. _He pulled hard enough to dislocate a joint. _Not that **It** cared. Her foot was sliding, the strain of the muscles becoming almost painful. It had been a long time since any_thing_ had caused this much of an incursion on her pain threshold.

_Bastard...doesn't_ **It** _realize I am not_...

It sent her sprawling.

_Keiki_.

Laughing insanely as she stared back at it, the hood fallen from her face to lie crumpled clasped still about her neck. _No...our reiatsu is the same_. Touda scrambled to her feet spacing them apart, fisting her hands slackly in the standard position for Hakudo.

_This body..it knows these moves_.

She punched him in the jaw, executing at the same moment a nearly flawless roundhouse kick.

The Hollow staggered.

_Hit. Deflect. Loosen. Tighten. Repeat_.

It was being pushed back, but it was still grinning.

_Lift. Swing. Connect_.

Touda grasped the tip of one thin bluish black feather, flinging it through the air like a projectile. There was only a momentary sting when the bone detached from the curved structure but even that was tolerable. Touda watched with some satisfaction as the feather pierced deep into the Hollow's shoulder, sinking into its flesh. Most likely Kurosaki would feel a sudden stabbing pain in his upper bicep. _Pity...those were very well-defined muscles that she did wish to get better acquainted with_.

The feather elongated, plunging far into the cement.

Effectively pinning the Hollow down.

_In control again_...she smiled slowly at his bewildered expression. _Poor thing_. It raised a hand to tug futilely at the bone protruding from the feathered tip. "Sorry, I'm just not into the whole Hollow-thing," she strode past him, stretching her wings to the full span, "don't take it personal."

The Hollow twitched at her words.

"No, wait. Do. Take it personal, I mean. I just don't favor albino freaks like you." Touda smiled to the sky before taking a running-leap off the building.

*Hollow p.o.v*

_I don't favor_...

Hichigo's sight blurred, With his free hand he rubbed at his eyes, irritated with the sudden lessening of his vision. _From anger_, he told himself, insensible to the moisture on the back of his hand. He tilted his head up in time to catch the full flow and lift of the skeletal wings denuded all but for a few raven black feathers clinging to the naked bones.

Like something unholy.

Something fallen.

The sight of her would've taken his breath away had he had any.

And she was escaping.

Now, Hichigo couldn't have that. Like any bird in a gilded cage, one had to **tear** its wings off so that it couldn't fly away. A maniacal grin twisted his lips into a sneer, "Getsuga.." beneath his hand, Zangetsu formed, the cutting edge tilted up to the sky. "-Tenshou!"

~Tsukikage Castle~

_Not _**were**.

The difference the usage of one word made was startling.

"What do you-"

A rise in the atmosphere. Two different spirit pressures clashing.

His eyes widened momentarily. _Rangiku Matsumoto and_--

"You stay here!" he jabbed his finger in Kotoko's direction, before flash-stepping outside.

Kotoko looked after him then shrugged, beating the water wielder to the scene with a much faster step. The ancient Vasto Lordes snorted, clapping his tiny hands together, "oho! I smell Terrans!" Even as Kagami cried, "cease fire!"

What they had come upon of course was Mai Matsukaze and Rangiku Matsumoto on the verge of a duel. _If this alliance lasts_...Kagami thought, striding toward the two guards. Seijin had made no move to stop his comrade. In fact only placidly observed his superior's approach.

"Are we being attack--" Takara charged forth from the other side of the forest, her hand on Haretosora. Once she saw Kagami, her tension drained away.

"Matsukaze!" Zoe with Kyou at her heels, burst out from the trees on the path to the main road that lead up to the castle. Kagami saw that like Takara; Fourth's Lieutenant, had her hand resting on Shirahime's light blue hilt. But unlike Third's Lieutenant, did not immediately remove it once she had visually identified Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. "Shinigami..." instead, the wielder of the _White Princess_ murmured, the slightest hint of distrust in her cultured voice.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kagami demanded of Mai. _Why does this always fall to me?_

The fifth seat had lowered the shikai release of Tomoshibi Shashu, looking not the least repentant. "These Shinigami were adamant upon us opening the gates for them, Captain."

Matsumoto glowered darkly her way.

"We have not the authority to make such a decision, yet they did not understand the importance," here Mai stressed the word with particular care, "of our hierarchy and persisted until I kindly asked them to leave and the Fukutaichou of tenth company pulled her Zanpaku-to on us!"

"Now, wait just a--"

Kagami sensed another catfight around the corner and stopped in its tracks by glaring fiercely at both the Shinigami and Soulreaper. "Mai, you are hereby relieved of active duty. Please wait in my office and I will call Kanzaki down to assign proper punishment to you. Hitsugaya-Taichou, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience." He looked to Matsumoto, "and I have to administer criticism upon you as well."

The blond was fairly shocked. "But, she-"

Kagami held up his hand, "it is Executive order.5 that no officer of the Juppongatana is under no circumstance barring the approval of a Captain, to admit any Shinigami within the walls of the city. That **is** part of the oath every single officer takes prior to accepting a seated appointment."

"If you'll excuse my opinion on the matter.."

He started and stared at the smiling silver-eyed boy, "you! I thought I told you to stay-"

Kotoko pushed him out of the way, gliding up to the gates themselves, his small hand sliding along the cool metal, searching for any stray thoughts, "might I suggest.." A thought. The honey blond woman's. "Hitsugaya-Taichou. That you and.." again he sought for the white-haired boy's. "Matsumoto Rangiku, choose a suitable place that is within the bounds of both worlds yet not violating any treatise or sentence that prohibits Kagami -san from entering your world?"

"A neutral territory.." Hitsugaya said aloud, his brow furrowing, "you mean." After a moment he went on in more suspicious tones, "and who exactly are you? I don't recall ever seeing your face _before_."

"Wouldn't you like to know." Kotoko said with a maddening grin.

Kagami was sure he saw a tiny horn sprout up on either side of the ridiculous black eboshi the Vasto Lordes persisted in wearing. Which just furthered his point on the innocence the boy affected as being a big fat lie.

"Yes, I would!" snapped Hitsugaya, a vein twitching above his eye.

"In that case...guess! The first part is the word between a woman's stringed instrument and one of the definitions of a noun." The boy said cheerfully.

"Of all the-" Hitsugaya was interrupted by Matsumoto, "..Koto!"

"Correct." he beamed from the white-haired tensai's glowering face to the blonde's in suspense. "Now..the word for innocence and transgression."

_Ko_...**child** _or_ **sin**_. Just like 'Kei'_ Kagami thought, looking away, past them. **Punishment**. **Fire**...

~Mindscape~

The first waves of black reiatsu pulsed.

Touda began to turn slowly back toward the far building where the Hollow was.

"Getsuga-"

_Oh, no_. _no. no!_

"-Tenshou!"

Blackness flowed in a large crescent toward her.

There was no way to avoid it.

The scream that shattered the air was more human than before. Touda began a dizzying descent back to earth, charred feathers falling away from blackened bones.

With a sickening thud and blackness washing over her vision, she met the very building she was trying to escape from. Unsteadily, as her gaze rose, head lifting with a wetness trickling down the side of her face; a hand grasped at the roots of her hair.

_The Hollow_...

"I'm gonna show ya, Queen." Its breath was hot grazing her earlobe. Its tongue flicked long and lingeringly over the shell of her ear. "That ya belong ta me."

Touda screwed shut the human-like eyes, bracing for the slamming facedown...it never came. With dawning horror, she felt the hand sliding over the rigid backbone and span of the twitching wings. "No! No! No-!"

~Hollow's p.o.v

Rhythmically Hichigo tore layer after layer of the clinging feathers away. Sometimes, the bone simply crumbled at his touch, other times, he had to yank viciously to get the hard ridges to break. With each he was rewarded by the howl of anguish from the woman beneath him.

Oh, yes.

He was straddling her now, sitting on her legs, holding her in place with one hand poised directly against the spinal column of the wings and the other, tearing them off. Hichigo hummed to himself. Such a pleasant task.

~Touda~

**It** was almost done.

With each rip, blood streamed down her side, making the shirt cling wetly to her skin.

The pain was unbearable.

Ripping, burning, it felt like it was her flesh itself that was being torn off.

Touda longed to lose consciousness. Wasn't that what humans did when inundated with such horrific pain? But, _she_ couldn't...

Not when the Hollow cried, "all done!" Lying its body full-length against her own, bloodied hands stroking her about the crown of her head and neck, "ya see, Queen. I can't just let ya go, not when **I l**o**v**e ya so much."

Touda felt tears stream from eyes that stared wide-eyed into the slice of blue sky ahead.

"He-Help me..please.."

The Hollow pressed a soft kiss to her hair. "It's alright, Queen...no one is going to come-"

"Zangetsu!" Touda shrieked, "help me!"

~To be continued~

AN: thanks for reading!

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^


	41. Kindred of paradise

I don't know who I am anymore.  
Not once in my life have I been real, but I've never felt this close before.  
-This Close, Flyleaf

ShiKai CH.40: Kindred of paradise

The crow hopped on spindly legs, peering into the furry face of the great cat.

"What an unattractive proboscis this feline has." Shoukyaku muttered to itself, bobbing its gleaming feathered head twice in agreement. "Want death, birdbrain?" Nekomata snarled lowly, paw slapping the bird about the side. Shoukyaku skittered a few feet away, rolling to a stop at the dainty feet of Houou-hime.

"How boorish." Pouted the young phoenix, her hand slipping through her long silky tresses. They cascaded down her back, rippling in the moonlight.

"Uncouth though they maybe, we all share the same element." calmly interposed a smallish girl, pale in both dress and countenance. In her tiny hands she twirled a blue crystal-topped scepter and on her head was a petite crown made of glittering ice crystals.

"Shira.." Houou said.

The white princess acknowledged her fire counterpart, with a brisk nod of well-bred dignity then gave a not so decorous jerk to Houou's feet, at which Shoukyaku still reposed at...not being inclined to move because of the fine view he had directly up her skirts.

"Baby, I got your numberrr..." crooned the cheeky crow.

Shirahime watched the many colors Houou's face took on.

Nekomata slumbered on.

"DIE!" The red phoenix screamed. It was harder to say which was redder, however. Her cheeks or the flames from her summoned sword. Shoukyaku only chuckled squeakily, rolling his tiny feathered body from the blade the enraged phoenix thrust down.

"Now, this_...is_ boorish." Shirahime said, as Houou chased the offending crow around the terrace, waving her sword. "Terribly so." Agreed a frail child's voice. The princess turned slightly, "Haretosora. _You_ are late." Shira frowned disapprovingly.

The Zanpaku-to spirit sat on the high wall, swinging her thin legs back and forth. Like always she was clad in a shapeless shift garment and too big glasses were perched on a tiny nose. "True. But, why should I put myself out to appear on time? Houou has an ego and pride the size of Soryu-Kami's. You, Shira, are cold and unsociable like the castle you live in. Shoukyaku is perverted and Nekomata is always asleep!" Haretosora paused in this recitation of the spirits' faults only to find Shirahime was looking up at the sky.

"The moon is lovely tonight."

_Grr..she's so self-centered! _

The sound of footsteps approaching halted any further thoughts from Haretosora.

Houou stopped as well and stared at the newcomers, "you..."

Benihime in all her finery stood beneath the sunken archway, calmly surveying the gathering of dark fire type Zanpaku-to.

"What is a _defector_ like **you** doing here?" Houou demanded, straightening to her full height.

The crimson princess glanced to the phoenix, replying evenly, "what was in the past was beyond my control. Do not dream I wished to be used against the author of my being."

"But, you still were." Haretosora said evenly, blinking owlishly at the woman's stern-visage, eyes softening. "Yes..I was. Kisuke was often mistaken in his beliefs."

The crystal scepter had stopped twirling. Shirahime had become still, tiny lips pursed. It was unspoken, but the shameful knowledge was still there. Her wielder had dared to raise her sword against the Fire Element and that, no matter how Shira might atone for, could never be erased.

Nekomata finally broke the uncomfortable silence, large maw splitting open to reveal the blackened insides, lustrous white fangs lined the top and bottom. "Has anyone paid their respects to her eminence?"

Haretosora hopped down, reaffixing the too large glasses to her perch on her nose, "no, I haven't, but I assume also that you two," she directed her question to Shira and Houou, "were awaiting the arrival of the rest?" Not to be left out, Shoukyaku came rolling out, once seeing that the red phoenix in the sudden appearance of Beni, had quite forgotten her anger toward him. "What're we waiting for? Her ladyship was always the beauty, of course Houou thinks she's all it as the reigning--!"

"Shut it." hissed the red phoenix, her eyes flashing.

The crow scuttled behind Haretosora, hopping up onto her thin shoulder. "Houou thinks she's so pretty and everyone should admire her for being the last phoenix. But, we know she isn't. Her ladyship--"

It was more than a glower sent the bird's way.

Haretosora was forced to leap back as flames scorched the place where she had been standing.

"Like always." Nekomata muttered philosophically, tail swishing back and forth. Shirahime calmly revolved the crystal tip downward, closing her eyes with mild irritation, "Muhyo-"

Another voice, a brusque male's intervened, "Suisei-shou."

Water enveloped the fire, enclosing it in a crystalline cluster. The Fire spirits turned simultaneously, even Benihime whom had been observing the squabble detachedly, sunk to her knees, "Soryu-dono."

The Dragon of the east stood in full ceremonial dress as a man of imposing stature. Of bluish-green hair that framed his stern, commanding visage, to his piercing blue eyes the color of the ocean, "your childish pettiness disgusts me."

"Oh, Soryu! Don't be so hard on them!" To the guardian of the East's left, was a slighter man in white and gold robes. His hair was streaked with stripes of black and white like his fur and fell raffishly around his ears. He winked impish golden eyes to the gathered Zanpaku-to spirits. Houou in particular clasped her hands together, forgetting deference, saying with a happy sigh, "his lordship, Byakko-sama..."

"Now, those are stupid cow eyes." Haretosora muttered deprecatingly. Shoukyaku chuckled and Nekomata rolled its eyes, not bothering to disguise its yawn.

"Soryu-Kami, Byakko-Kami, have you come to see her eminence?" Shira asked. The white princess was the only one whom hadn't sunk into an immediate bow.

"Astute as always." Soryu said, favoring the tiny girl with a look of regard. "However that is only one reason of many for us coming here." The Dragon swiveled his gaze around, "where is Touda _dancing snake_? His presence is a requirement for this unpleasant task."

(*~*)Mindscape below the floating world(*~*)

Zangetsu recoiled sharply.

_That voice that yet wasn't a voice_...

His eyes scanned the distance, the tinted frames caught the light, glinting once in the movement.

_Help..me_..

Zangetsu started_. He wasn't imagining it_. The voice was in his mind.

Again the pull. But, it wasn't the psychic link he shared with Ichigo, it was much deeper.

_That could only be_-

Within seconds he was there. The Hollow had only been confined to the mindscape, unable to overwhelm his host and incapable of speaking directly into Ichigo's consciousness. Zangetsu didn't know how that magenta-haired woman had done it. She had used a spell he had never heard of nor seen performed before. It wasn't a Shinigami spell.

He had the feeling it was _Makurodo. _

In any case, it had done what full suppression would've.

Ichigo had access to the Hollow's powers and the Hollow couldn't bother him anymore.

Except it still had full run in his mindscape.

The Hollow looked up at his approach, face uncommonly serene, his pale hand intertwined in light hair stained red, "yo, old man."

There was no hostility present or aggression in the Hollow's tone. In fact **It **even sounded somewhat civil. Zangetsu assumed this was in part due to the body lying face down beneath it. As far as _he_ could tell, she still breathed.

_Touda, the black phoenix_...

He gently unfurled his fingers at his side, the familiar weight of the long hilt formed between them. Zangetsu took one step forward then another, vanishing behind the Hollow. He then brought the black cutting edge in a narrow swath across the Hollow's back. Hurting **It** this way would be like hurting Ichigo, Zangetsu regretted such a repercussion from his actions, yet it couldn't be avoided.

He had been commanded-ne-bound by blood and oath to come to the aid of his Element.

The ancient ones, the four Gods. Whom all Zanpaku-to derived their powers from.

Zangetsu scooped up the limp, twitching bundle, tucking the body beneath his arm. _It was a good thing she was so small_. Then disappeared in a burst of Shunpo as the Hollow, stunned from the sudden attack, was barely starting to rise.

He heard the shriek of anger in the distance.

Touda whimpered human-like, Zangetsu unconsciously tightened his hold about her middle.

Even though when he did stop finally, judging the space between himself and the enraged Hollow to be far enough for a time; he dumped the girl unceremoniously on the somewhat level surface. There was a wince as the knees folded and the palms pushed up, but no usual snide comments, only cringing and trembling as the arms folded about the torso hugging herself.

"It was your own stupidity that did this." Zangetsu said coldly.

The tiny bone nubs protruding from her back, twitched. But, still Touda didn't speak. His gaze softened somewhat and he found himself reaching for the wrist folded at the side of her breast. Zangetsu lifted it minutely, tilting the fine-boned limb toward the light. His breath caught, there were marks adorning the greenish blue vein.

"You tried to kill yourself?" his voice came out much harsher than he had wanted.

"Whose body is this?" Touda answered rhetorically. He stared aghast, knowing it was the truth. _The body the spirit inhabited was the exact copy of Keiko Yamamoto's_. "The little fool had nothing to slash her veins open," Touda continued detachedly, "the pain of living was greater than any fear of death she might've had." Blue eyes, their luminescence like the decaying putrescence of marshlands, tilted upward looking into his face, "have you ever felt that kind of despair where there is no one and nothing to hope for?"

The trembling had stopped, the wrist was still in his hands. Zangetsu couldn't break away from Touda's gaze. "No..I haven't." he said quietly. _Never that kind of pain_.

The eyes lowered to the captured limb. "There were other times.."

He raised the underside of her arm up, lightly pressing his lips to the faded teeth marks.

"She laid her forehead against one of the four walls, breathing inward shallowly before she smashed into it. Again and again..and again." Touda's voice was dull now, deadened of emotion. "Wetness trickled down the side of her face. The scar it would've left was horrific." The free hand rose the lap to push aside the sheaf of yellowish brown hair, revealing the skin beneath to be as clear and unmarked as her cheeks. "So, I took care of it."

Zangetsu faltered only briefly, at the unemotional countenance of the phoenix. In every way except the soul, it was _her _sitting there. _Her words. Her scent_...

It was a trace of Ichigo's emotions, poisoning his interior with strange desires and feelings. The Zanpaku-to spirit knew it, but felt all his ineffectual efforts to fight it being cast off, drawn almost mesmerized into the intonation and cadence of the phoenix's voice. "She didn't understand why her body healed time after time. Lying in that cell could be monotonous, the same four walls. the same sliver of night and heavy breaths in your ear. And their hands.." she trailed off, downcast eyes staring straight ahead. "It could even drive you insane. Maybe that was why she tried to hurt herself. It was better than waiting for them to come in the night."

(*~*)Living world(*~*)

_I want to sink inside myself. Maybe then I won't feel this pain_...

His voice sounded quite close, but she held still, her breaths burning against her skin, her arms crossed atop her knees. _Don't make me do this! It hurts_..! Her fists convulsed, tightening against the sting. _it hurts too much_.

For minutes at a time the only sound was that of her labored breathing, then little by little...

It faded. For seconds at a time the horrifying images blackened and she couldn't see their stark reality anymore. She was back in the quiet clearing with Ichigo's voice in the distance calling for her_. She wasn't standing in the dying light of day, the curved wood slick in her sweating hands. There was no one dear to her, pleading for her to destroy him_.

"Those weren't.." she looked around at the semi-circle of small branches. She was sitting inside them. "My memories." Her brow furrowed with that realization. It was terribly real. The sensations, the desperation in her voice. _Was there no other way?_

"I don't want.." her lips felt numb.

A branch snapped quietly underfoot.

"To die anymore."

(*~*)

The knowledge was horrifying.

He held her hand tightly. Her eyes drifted toward it, _the mark. That's where it_.. She winced, "you're hurting me!"

"I don't care!" he snapped; she recoiled from his tone, then tried to pull away.

"Let-me-go!" she ground out, glowering as Ichigo turned back to her.

For a long moment he stared into her eyes, his jaw working furiously. People went around them as they had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. "Kei.." Ichigo murmured, his tone softening. She had the feeling as he drew near, he was going to draw her into his arms again like what he had done at the Cemetery.

_"I'm not going to let you die." _

She took a step back.

His arms fell to his sides.

They stared at each other, but this time she was the one whom couldn't hold his gaze.

Then, as if nothing had happened, they acted on mutual consent.

Walking side by side but not touching, and she noticed he didn't try to hold her hand after that.

~Tsukikage Castle~

There was nothing to do. Kazeatari flicked the fan over her face, rustling the few scant strands of mocha-colored hair to sweep across her nose. It didn't bother her in the least to think that someone was better than her at fulfilling a leadership role. Rizu was much more efficient at handling the duties of Fifth without Kazeatari around. That was just a fact.

One, that while relatively easy to swallow left her with nothing to do.

But. Kazeatari refused to believe she was bored because the_ other_ wasn't around.

No, she despised that _other _ too much.

That _other_ was maddening-maybe because she was slightly illogical. Kazeatari snapped the fan shut, resting the tip against her chin contemplatively. Her actions never matched up to her emotions. It was like she didn't know how to feel. Most people were either happy or sad, given their circumstances, or pining for _what they couldn't have_. Kazeatari thought with a sneer curling her lip about Inoue.

But, that other wasn't like that.

Kazeatari didn't know how to explain the other's mindset. At once seeming so simple and then in another way complex. But, then, Wind wasn't like Water either. Emotional detachment was part of her make. Kazeatari wasn't sensitive to the feelings of others, she didn't like Matsumoto Rangiku's, whom she could sense in the distance; over protectiveness with the Inoue girl.

_"She lost her brother! She has no one!" _

It was as if because of Inoue's one loss, she deserved the entire world's sympathy when there were others whom had suffered _more _and hadn't been given even one moment of mercy. It was sickening to see and even more to know Matsumoto expected it of everyone to commiserate with the human girl whom couldn't even begin to fathom the true depths of desolation a soul could fall into.

Not that the girl could in all honesty, comprehend anything. Inoue couldn't quite get it through her head about the kid Kurosaki. Not that Kazeatari even then, cared. _He was that other's pawn. Even if_...the fan was still. _She couldn't feel __her_ _anymore_.

But that couldn't be. Fire simply couldn't stop existing in the world. Kazeatari would know it. She knew exactly how many months broken down to days, minutes and seconds she had left. Without one, the others would follow down death's dark path. That was how it had always been. And yet...everything was so confusing. While every instinct screamed at her that Kei no longer existed; the body still lived.

Her host still walked and talked without memories. It was as if the slate had been wiped clean leaving only the impression of the original. Yet no one seemed to understand that. Kurosaki certainly hadn't known the difference in Las Noches. It still incensed her that he had dared threaten/stop her from dealing with Keiko. It was ridiculous because he was nothing to them, nor could he grasp the depth of their bond.

It was of being intensely aware of the other's presence, the knowledge of their existence written in your very blood. Nothing compared to the loss one felt when that bond was shattered by death. Like part of you died with that person. Some might've mistaken that feeling for love, but Kazeatari was an extremely selfish person. She knew she didn't love that _other_.

Because love could wither and die and still not hold a candle to it.

(*~*)

Zoe's feelings were diverse.

They ranged between despise and regret. At point she blamed her severe lack of judgment and pitied the poor souls who knew no better than what their superiors ordered them to do.

/Kill them/

/They will destroy the world/

It seemed strange to her that no one had really stopped to think about it. The elements were the four basic compounds that made up the worlds' structures. With, the surface dwellers had the four seasons and permanence. Without, the worlds fell into chaos which was eventually blamed on the imbalance of the living and dead souls. Hollows created the imbalance and therefore had to be weeded out. Like the Quincies.

The Quincy war had transpired over two hundred years prior.

Zoe was almost sure the fourth lifetimes of the Elemental Shinigami had ended a little before that. Ergo, imbalance. Equals chaos.

Soul Society blamed the Quincies and their destruction of the Hollows as the reason for the world starting to slip, when in actuality, it was **their** obliteration of the Elements that had lead to it. For every action there must be a consequence. Averse to admitting their own mistake, they kept on; she knew with the transmitter device she had kept after joining Kanzaki's group that an order had been given to the Punishment force.

/They were to cross the borders between the worlds and hunt down the Shinigami who bore the mark of absolute power/

Zoe had been filled with a terrible cold feeling. She never said anything to Kagami or Kanzaki, they had enough to worry about between defending against Hollows and tending to the needs of the growing group. They didn't need the added threat of the elite Shinobi. Zoe herself always felt like an outsider, being one of the few Gaijin admitted to Soul Society. That was why when chance came, she requested to be removed to the far outpost of Assiah as a surveyor. There, she didn't have to worry about remarks and strange looks given to her for the unique dark caramel color of her skin or soft French accent.

She still remembered the day when the three officer team came across Kanzaki's small group fleeing from a band of Adjuchas. Comparing their reactions then to as well as a few months after that when together she and Dani along with the others were ensnared by the Gillians...

The appearances of Fire, Water and Wind with Takara trailing after them; were the Shinigamies saving grace. She couldn't even begin to describe the awe in which she was held frozen, unable to move on that field as one by one the Menos were slain. _One strike of blazing red and black reiatsu and.._.

_The Hollows of Assiah were infinitely more powerful than their Hueco Mundo counterparts. But, the Elementals slew them easily_. Zoe wondered now if the Shinigami walking through the gates, even knew how much they were outmatched?

Oh, certainly by officers the Shinigami had them three to one.

But, it was well known and even continuously monitored that aside from Byakuya Kuchiki, Toshiro Hitsugaya and Ichigo Kurosaki; the rest were either complacent or relatively unknown. Kurosaki was the weaker warriors rallying point. Beside Kurosaki came the Quincy, Rukia Kuchiki, Renji Abarai and Rangiku Matsumoto along with two others whom Ren had said were seated officers in Eleventh Company.

_Yasutora Sado and Orihime Inoue didn't count. A simple binding spell accompanied by action meant to take away their powers, rendered them little less than annoyances_.

One by one...

Zoe remembered as they went past her, to smile and respond accordingly.

Kyou did the same, following her example. Takara Shimizu regarded the Shinigami narrowly, dipping her head in mild approximation of respect. But it was thin at that. Ren Mimasaka whom had silently appeared from the shadows, did nothing.

Only observed with unblinking hazel eyes.

/How could they call them evil? If only they had eyes to see.../

(*~*)

_You cannot dare to suppose you have sole authority_...

Kagami closed his eyes tiredly at the murmur of emotions hammering in his skull. It didn't help Kotoko's thoughtful forwarding of Mai and Matsumoto's words and thoughts. It all pooled into a melting pot that was currently overwhelming his psyche. "You know, saying things like that isn't going to make you very popular around here." he said, clasping his forehead at the dull pain throbbing there.

Hitsugaya, seated in one of the wicker chairs, looked faintly taken aback. "What do you mean? I haven't said anything."

_Damn it_. "Never mind that. What was it you were desperate to talk about?" Kagami switched the subject, ever mindful of the tensai's suspicious look. Matsumoto was admiring the paintings across the room, pretending to be absorbed in the seascape but in reality he knew she was listening intently.

"You had said something a while back-about the Hollows having their own type of ancient magic."

He dipped his head briefly wondering where it was all going to end up.

"Black."

"Yes."

"In the archives of Central Forty-six there is a mention-small however it is there, about a woman in particular." Hitsugaya paused, observing Kagami's polite interest. "It was in the same document containing the presage about yourselves." Again a short pause, more hesitation on Hitsugaya's part. "About the Elements."

Kagami could almost hear the recitation of the ill-fated words falling as sentencing for the crimes he had yet to commit. "Go on."

Hitsugaya seemed to recollect himself and continued, "Ukitake found it actually. It was a passage written in an incoherent hand about the sea and blood."

_Sea? The ocean? _

"Like a kotowaza except it kept repeating a name. Well, we thought it was a name. Mar or-"

"Mara." Kagami whispered, his eyes widening in understanding.

"Yes." Hitsugaya looked slightly surprised, "did you know about it?"

"Before I answer, could you please tell me a little more?"

"Very well then. It made little sense to Ukitake, what was left of it, I mean." Hitsugaya looked Kagami in the eye, "the document burst into flame when he was going to read it aloud to us."

_Burst..into flame_. _As if.._

"Nothing had happened when he'd read it in the archive hall but after it was removed..." Hitsugaya trailed off, tilting head at an angle, "do you have any idea what all this means?"

Kagami was silent for a time then as if recalling something from the depths of a forgotten nightmare, demanded suddenly, "the ink! Did it remind him of-"

"-something? Yes," the white-haired Taichou's face took on a darker cast, "he said it was a brownish red. He had never seen anything like before."

"That bastard.." Kagami said after a moment, the hint of a cold smile quirking on his lips, "he used her blood to condemn us."

~To be continued~

~Hueco Mundo omake: what could've been discussed before they reached LN~

"Hey, Byakuya, I was wondering about something..."

The Kuchiki Noble didn't acknowledge him.

"You came without hesitating--I mean for you that was pretty surprising," Ichigo continued with a shrug. Byakuya turned a marrow-freezing glare and spoke with an icy tone, "do not pretend you know me, Kurosaki."

Which meant_ quit prying--I have my own reasons_, or least Kagami read it as that. Kazeatari was less discreet. "Keiko had said something once about making a bet with Kuchiki-Taichou when they were young."

"A bet?" Ichigo's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Really, Byakuya? That's the first time _I_'ve ever heard of _you_ knowing Kei."

His glare dropped another ten degrees. "It is none of your concern..."

But for some reason or another, Ichigo didn't seem to mind, "we spoke a lot--she and I and you never came up in the conversation. So, I just figured maybe she didn't know you."

_Has he deliberately forgotten that time? _Kagami wondered with amazement.

Kazeatari said to that, "oh, no, you're wrong, kid. Remember Keiko had asked the redhead and Kuchiki-Taichou's sister, if he was even more good-looking then in his youth?"

At this, Byakuya averted his face. Ichigo sputtered a few minutes then turned red, whether it was from anger or jealousy or even a combination of both, no one was sure.

(*~*) Preview of next chapter (*~*)

The night air was cool, pleasant against his face. Kagami didn't have to turn to sense Kurosaki's approach. The boy exuded enough spirit pressure to sense him coming two miles away. Which was ridiculous. Kagami was surprised that Urahara hadn't taught 'his student' better suppression techniques.

There was no one else with Kurosaki.

"Where's Kei?" He said it without hostility or suspicion. Kagami had always prided himself on supreme composure. Not that some unnamed personages didn't try his patience every single day, but that was beyond the point. The thing was, as far as he could see; they had promised on their end that she would be taken to the designated place and he would come and pick her up.

Now here was Kurosaki in Shinigami form, a particular steely-stubborn glint in his brown eyes and no one else-no Kei with him.

"She's not here."

"I can see that." A slight raising of a blond brow.

"She's not going back with you."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, "...what?"

"I just said she's not--"

"I know." Kagami held up a hand, choosing his words carefully, "I heard what you said the first time. Now might I ask why?" He knew the answer even without the boy's flushed cheeks and slight flustering.

Kurosaki was in love.

And he was letting his heart rule his head.

The fool.

"Kid.." Kagami began with a heavy sigh, "the dream ends now. Face it, you and she are from different worlds."

Kurosaki scowled.

"Gods! She's not even a Shinigami nor are you!"

The scowl deepened ominously.

"She belongs with **us**."

"Why do you care?" A hiss, accompanied by the slightest elevating of spirit pressure. Kagami began to wonder if the kid realized how ridiculous he was acting. _He thinks that she and..._

"It's not like _that!"_ But even as the denial left his lips, Kagami knew it was futile. If anything, Kurosaki's expression hardened and his hand twitched toward the hilt over his shoulder. We're comrades, we're..." _the same. She's what I was waiting for all those lonely years_. _The one who was.. just like me_.

(*~*)

AN: thanks for reading! ^^

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^ and yes Gin will make an appearance next time.


	42. Silent melody of the breaking glass

ShiKai CH.41: Silent melody of the breaking glass

*Flashback*

"Mu-Murasaki?" His voice was barely above a whisper, hand extended to the prone, bloodied form. Yamamoto stood with his back to the scene, wiping clean with a piece of Murasaki's red kimono Ryujin-Jakka.

"She must be made an example of."

Jushiro flinched at the harsh, pitiless tone in which his superior spoke. "S-Sir-?"

"They cannot die so easily." Yamamoto turned fully, the darkness silhouetted his form into something terrible. Something mad. There was a glint in his eyes. "See how she cries for our destruction even now?" Yamamoto's sandal came into contact with her shoulder. Jushiro though he listened in vain, heard nothing. Only a quiet, kind of broken moan from the trembling lips.

"Sir, I must-" _protest_.

The hawk-like eyes saw through him and he shivered beneath their weight.

"-obey your command." The Thirteenth Company Taichou hung his head, awaiting further orders. Yamamoto nodded imperiously, casting one condemning gaze to the broken body lying on the ground.

"Bring her."

(*~*)

Torchlight wavered as they passed.

Flames burning low in their pine knot sockets as he cradled Murasaki's limp form to his chest. Jushiro felt the clinging stickiness seep through to his skin and knew he wanted nothing more than to forget this night. Ahead, Yamamoto walked sure and proud. Shinigami came from the darkness sporadically, halting with wide eyes at the body he carried.

Jushiro could see the newly born shock in their glances.

_Why..why would Murasaki whom was a stranger to them, save those Konpaku but secretly wish to destroy them all? _

Nothing made sense.

Not the low torch Yamamoto grabbed, thrusting it down into Murasaki's flesh, unheeding of Jushiro's cry of surprise.

Nor her scream as her skin burned.

Nor the hand his superior cut, a gleaming mark overlaying itself in thick crimson curves. Jushiro felt his stomach heave and fought not to retch at this new violence.

"The mark of absolute power." Yamamoto said, staring down at the circular sigil of a flame and three unbroken spokes like a wheel. "Remember this, Jushiro." The bloody hand was tilted his way. Jushiro stared at Murasaki's face instead, feeling waves of nausea grip him.

"For this mark is the symbol of the worlds' destruction."

(*~*) Present day, Urahara Shoten

The mirror lay on the floor reflecting the ceiling in the room. New quarters being arranged since Ichigo didn't want her to stay any longer beneath _hat'n'clogs_ roof. She couldn't have cared less, empty but for the few flashes of emotion and the circle of sticks in place of markers that the cemetery had invoked.

_That mask_...her brow puckered as she dropped to the floor cushion. _That man was a..Hollow_. Her hand enclosed around the slim handle of the mirror, bringing it up to reflect her unhappy expression. _He was ..begging me to..end his existence_.

_So much pain. He was so familiar to me_.

She saw the same face staring back as always. Dark hollows beneath the eyes, an unnatural waxy pallor and sunken cheeks. Hair hanging damp, lusterless on her shoulders. Tentatively she raised a hand, her eyes leaving the mirror to study the fine network of tendons, bluish-green beneath her skin. _There's no scar_. _The hand around the bow, that trembled with irresolution, unwillingness_...

_"Is there no other way? Please! Please, don't make me-"_

_"The Shinigami are coming."_

_"Well, so! Let them..no." she faltered with horrific realization. "They're.."_

_"They are coming for_ **you**."

The scar was reddened, as if from a burn. The skin ropey as if the wound hadn't been tended carefully. It disfigured the small hand, running from the middle finger down across the back in a curved arc to the wrist. But, it wasn't hers. She knew she should've rejoiced somehow that it had all been a dream/vision. That it had happened to someone else. It was impossible to forget the anguish she had felt. No! It couldn't have been merely an illusion. It was real..someone had experienced those same emotions. The same pain...

_A moment of silent absorption, then desperation. "No! I don't want to die! Please! You can defeat them! Please...I'm begging you-!"_

_The yellow eyes were pitiless behind the mask, "even if I could. More and more will come. That's the way it is. You're fated to die this time after seventeen short years on earth. I pity them. Your power could've been their greatest asset against the Hollows, but instead they choose to destroy it."_

_Bitter resignation to his fate, how she had shuddered violently, her legs weakening but holding her up with the barest thread of restraint. How she despised herself then for being so faint-hearted. For wishing to save herself. "What.." a thin sheen of sweat lay on her skin, her eyes lowered, the bow lax at her side. "What can I do?"_

_"Nothing. Except wait for them to come." His voice reminded her of the cascade of droplets from the well bucket. Of Water. Wind would always find a way to die in the heat of the battlefield, slain only when innumerable foes overran her defenses._

_That's all it came to, wasn't it? _

_Those whom went willingly to their fate and those whom tried any means possible to avoid it_.

In the memory, she closed her eyes to the falling twilight and in the quiet back room of the Shoten, she opened them. The voices of the Shinigami and Ichigo barely audible through the rice paper walls. _Ichigo_..._is it so selfish_.._that I want to know what it feels like to be loved? _She heard a soft footfall in the hallway outside, stiffening as the voices grew closer. _Ichigo..you could never understand what I feel_. _But, even then...I still_..._even if it can't last. I don't care_. _I'll do whatever it takes ...for you to love me_. The reflection in the mirror slowly rippled into that of a girl with messy tawny locks spilling to her shoulders and lilac eyes rimmed by black stared back. All of Yoruichi's careful tending to her hair had been for naught.

She almost regretted treating the woman that way.

_All Yoruichi-everyone wanted to do, was help_.

Her left fist unfurled.

But, even then. Keiko didn't want them to see the mark of flame impressed into her flesh. _The reddish flames in the center of a broken circle_...

(*~*) Mindscape (*~*)

_The heart is so fragile, so easily broken. The source of all the emotions and all feelings within a soul_. "Give me some of your reiatsu. At this point I'm unable to fully regenerate being so far from my wielder." Zangetsu was once again impassive, yet said nothing as he slowly gathered reishii into his hands. Touda figured he was either embarrassed at the display of emotion or was as emotionally incompetent as his wielder. Which was ridiculous, because as far as _she_ could see, Ichigo was a healthy fifteen year old male. And everyone knew boys when they were at that age...yet Zangetsu seemed to be in full control of his desires. Touching her almost impersonally despite his slight show of affection only moments before.

_Strange_. She felt his hands glide over the bones protruding from her back, flinching from the tingle of the foreign reiatsu seeping into her flesh. In front of him was a perfect copy of his wielder's dearest and all he could say to fill the silence that suddenly fell around them was; "perhaps you could enlighten me on something-?"

_Maybe you could explain something as well to me_. "What is it?"

"When Keiko-" Zangetsu seemed to consider this form of address much too familiar and instead proceeded after a slight pause, "-your wielder, glimpsed Ichigo's Hollow mask, why did she not.."

"Panic? Flee with disgust or any of the like emotions?" Her lips twisted into a sardonic sneer out of habit, even though the feeling wasn't there. "It's hard being afraid when there's a face you know beneath the facade of a monster."

(*~*) Tsukikage castle~

"I wonder what Hitsugaya-mini-Taichou wanted to speak with Kagami-san about?" Takara spoke aloud; Zoe murmured a noncommittal, keeping in moderate pace with the blond Lieutenant, "who knows?"

"His Lieutenant certainly took offense at Mai-san's refusal. You could read it all over her face!" Kyou said, trying to keep up with the two women. Ren followed much slower, hazel eyes distant, "hey..do you think.."

Takara glanced over her shoulder.

"..it's true about Captain Yamamoto not remembering anything? Kagami-san pulled aside the Captain and told him partially of what he suspected, that was why he and Kazeatari had chosen to leave her in the care of Kurosaki."

The blond Lieutenant looked a little uneasy for a moment, the waved it off with as much bravado as the absent Kazeatari herself. "No way! Keiko wouldn't forget us all so easily! There's got to be an explanation-part of her plan maybe!"

The Vizard didn't look so reassured. "It's possible.." Ren conceded carefully, "that it is all a ruse designed to remove suspicion for her actions during her captivity. As far as I know, they have no reason to suspect anything."

"But, there's someone whom might foster a notion of the Captain's duplicity." Zoe interposed suddenly. "Or that's what you think. That someone in there, doesn't trust us fully."

They had reached the first dividing wall of the garden, between two higher walls, a small flight of stairs descended, the walls rising higher the lower you went. Ren paused, leaning against the enclosure, facing them. "Shigekuni Yamamoto for starters." Catching sight of Fourth Lieutenant's slight shock, the Vizard made an impatient gesture, "I will not as long as that man refuses to admit to his wrongs, formally accept him as the Head of Soul Society's forces. He can go rot for all I care."

Kyou snickered behind his hand and Zoe looked a little scandalized. Takara laughed as well, "that's a fine stance to take. Just don't let any of them hear you say that."

"Oh, I could care less what anyone thought of me." Ren said, closing her eyes.

"That sounds just like you." Came another voice from the opposite woodlands.

"Captain Namaiki..." Ren turned, cocking her head at an angle. Kazeatari stalked forward from the clinging brush, fan clasped between two slim, elegant fingers. "But, then I suppose we are alike in that respect." Takara and Zoe dipped their heads respectfully at her approach. Kyou scrambled, trying to look as dignified as possible before his idol.

Kazeatari stopped mid-stride purposefully, swinging about to stare off toward the East. "I could care less what they thought of me. After being treated so badly...why would I want to earn their good opinion?"

(*~*) Unknown location(*~*)

In truth, Kei was aware of everything on a mute level. As if the volume had been lowered and only distantly could she catch sounds from the outside world. It was like pounding at a glass wall, trying to be heard.

"Ichigo!" She beat her fists against the mirrored surface, hearing his voice faraway.

He was saying-

"Oh, Ichigo...you're such a fool." Kei sunk to her knees in the dark place. She was cold in just the plain white yukata. Being clothed in it made her feel degraded. Debased. It would be easier now, she supposed, to conjure up something from farther back. Something less painful.

Kei stared down at her bodice.

_A red kimono with gold flower and leaves embroidery adorning the shoulder. Nondescript traveler's scarf about the neck, fingerless gloves, chrysanthemum obi...this was_.

From my first lifetime.

"Murasaki." Kei whispered aloud, holding her palms up as if searching for the answer. The leather was softened from years of use, patterned with fine ingrained lines. Kei pressed her fingertips together pensively. _Over nine hundred years ago_.

_The flickering flames illuminating a darkened courtyard._

_The piercing whistle of air being sliced at a high velocity._

_Ukitake started back. _

_She threw her head back, exposing her throat. The blade came so close she felt the searing heat of it. Time stood still. Three characters forever frozen in that moment. _

_Shigekuni, his eyes ablaze with an enraged light._

_Ukitake, openmouthed and unable to speak._

_And she... _

Nine hundred and ninety-nine years later, Kei still remembered her very thoughts. What it felt like to be betrayed by someone close for the first time.

_'I can feel so much hate directed toward me..why?'_

_'Why do you feel this way...? I don't understand...'_

_His next words broke the spell. "As guardian of this world and the next, it is my duty to preserve human life...now die-"_

"Demon." _Kei_ki lifted her head, staring around the circular room as if she had never seen it before. "That was my promise to you, Keiko! Don't you remember...you were born with my mark. The mark of flames and bound power. Our mark..." Her hands fell to her lap, and she stared off into space. "He saw it-Your Uncle did and he was afraid, wasn't he?" her voice was steadily rising. All had gone quiet in the outside world.

But, Kei thought that other was listening. "So, he did it. He sent," she pronounced every word with care. "First Division Punishment force under Yoruichi Shihoin's command. You knew, because you saw, didn't you, Keiko? You saw the woman standing amidst the slaughter, you saw her giving orders. _Commander Shihoin_, they called her." Kei moistened her dry lips, "_Commander-fucking Shihoin_ who dared call me a monster to my face. What did you see her do to your dear father, Keiko? Was the kodachi she withdrew from his stomach stained red? Did his blood spatter your face and clothes? Your parents hid you didn't they? Beneath the engawa, so you saw **everything**."

Kei was rewarded by a quiet, choked sob. "And then.." she forged on cruelly. "when they couldn't find you...they left and you came out. The rain was falling hard, wasn't it? So hard that your tears became rain running down your bloodied cheeks. 'I promise I'll be good,' you told your mother. 'I promise I won't destroy anything!' you pleaded with your father." Kei's voice cracked, "just please..please! Don't leave me alone."

The echo of a child's broken anguish reverberated throughout the circular room.

Followed by the sound of rain.

(*~*) Tsukikage Castle (*~*)

"What do you mean! Who would do something like that?" The repulsion in Hitsugaya's face was palpable. That one of their own, that the highest level of authority had committed such an atrocious act, the knowledge of it would forever destroy the admiration the young Taichou held for the man.

It was tempting the thought of slowly corroding away the reverence and esteem that had been built up over the centuries. The wrongful awe the man inspired, wielding the _most powerful_ Zanpaku-to. _But..that was something only Kei would do_. He sighed to himself over his own failing. "Suffice it to say that I cannot speak anymore on that _matter_. Merely to add, ask Ukitake, _why_ he wants to apologize to _Murasaki_ so badly."

_I'm not like you, Keiko_

_My pain...isn't as deep as yours_.

_It doesn't_ **consume **_me._

(*~*) Hueco Mundo~

"I don't suppose you'd like company-?" Gin didn't wait for the Espada to answer, only sidled beside him at the window overlooking Hueco Mundo's bleak desert. "I kinda miss them." Gin said suddenly, clarifying when the slightest motion of the Espada denoted any sort of awareness to his presence. "Kei-chan and Nanatsu-kun. He and I go way back! Like I remember the time-"

"What was _she_ like?"

Gin was surprised at the question. _Imagine! Ulquiorra Schiffer actually spoke to him willingly! Strange though_.. "Kei-chan, you mean?"

He was surveyed by cold green eyes.

"Well, I..didn't know her personally. I knew who she was though, from Aizen-sama, I mean."

Ulquiorra appeared to absorb this, for he took a moment longer in asking something else. "Before. In the previous lifetime.."

Gin's silver brows threatened to meet at the hesitancy in the always self-composed Espada.

"..did she have black..hair?" Ulquiorra's voice ended below a whisper.

The ex Taichou of Third Company never lost his smile, only tilting his head slightly to the side to better observe the green-eyed Arrancar's stoic profile. "You know, Kyorra-kun. That is the strangest thing. 'Cause you see, the thing that's most written about in the ancient records, was Kei-chan's cascade of black hair the color of a raven's wing, flowing as she fell, her own sword buried deep within her heart. That was," Gin added helpfully, "from the lifetime before this current one."

(*~*) Urahara Shoten (*~*)

She was so hard to understand. It frustrated Ichigo to no end, seeing Kei's slightly hunched back, her eyes trained straight ahead, staring off into space. He couldn't figure it out. _What was it at the cemetery that aroused such hateful feelings in the girl? _Catching Urahara's eye, Ichigo jerked his head meaningfully toward the open door. _I'll get her_.

The Shoten owner seemed to be lost in musings of his own, as Urahara shrugged slightly, then simply turned and went back the way they had come. For once the man hadn't pressed for the reason why Ichigo wanted to be alone with her. In truth, he didn't know it himself.

If, Ichigo had been honest with himself, he'd have acknowledged the fact that he was hurt. One way by feeling as though he were being lead on to believe in something that didn't exist-couldn't, if her heart still belonged to her dead lover, and another...

Hurting her by doing things he didn't know caused her pain.

Her pain was his.

But, Ichigo couldn't analyze his emotions. He would either shut down and brood away from everyone who cared about him or he would try to fight the cause of his hurt. _He knew she cared for him! He just knew it..he had to believe it_.

Thinking through things had never been easy for him.

Once he made up his mind to do something, he did it. No matter how impossible or hopeless everyone said it was. Ichigo didn't care. His strength and the belief of his friends would keep him strong.

But in this...

Ichigo only knew the barest sliver from what Urahara had intimated and Ukitake's vague insinuations to some event or two in the past. _They were made to suffer lifetime after human lifetime of suffering_. It was difficult to fathom-for him whom had always had the love of his sisters-maybe even Goatface; the agony she must've endured being reborn again and again only to suffer from cruel fate.

Ichigo leaning in the doorway, felt a knot of anger building in the pit of his stomach. _What had she done?_ He saw the slight shoulders, the curve of her spine, the tousled strands of her hair falling forward over her face. _How could anyone say she had committed the gravest offense against the Heavens?_

Ichigo couldn't see her expression, even though he longed to. _What was she thinking?_ _Was she afraid? Was that it? The cemetery reminded her of something-?_ He wished he had never taken her there, subjected her to such pain if that were the case.

_Could he do it? _Ichigo hated questioning himself, doubting his own abilities.

"Kei."

Her slight motion, the glance of her eyes, the tilt of her chin.

_She was like glass_. Disappointed, Ichigo saw nothing in her expression to otherwise tell him what her innermost thoughts were. _He could see the beautiful things within, mingled with the play of the light and the dark_. Staring into her face then, Ichigo saw innocence in her eyes. A softness contained in her gaze that hadn't been present before. He felt reassured. _He could do this. He could take it_.

"You're.." he faltered as she slowly rose, slightly curled fists cradled against her stomach. Kei wouldn't let anyone tend to her, not even Yoruichi touch her. "..you're going to stay with Inoue and Rangiku. Come on, it's time to go."

Ichigo knew that all glass no matter its beauty nor perfection, hid some flaws.

Imperfections that she wanted to keep hidden, lest he be repulsed by them.

But, Ichigo wasn't like that. The Hollow inside him was his flaw and the knowledge that wounded him as deeply as a flesh-wound: _when he wasn't strong enough. When he failed yet again in protecting his friends_.

Some part of him knew the task that lay ahead was almost impossible, but even then, his mind rejected that thought process. It wasn't **impossible**. **Nothing **was.

Even if the whole world and the stars were aligned against it, Ichigo silently vowed he would stand at her side no matter what.

(*~*)

His face showed anxiety that she didn't understand its cause. Staying with Inoue..she had to admit she wasn't fond of the idea. Inoue was resentful of her presence and attachment to Ichigo, _so how could_-? More than a little annoyed with the prospect, she blurted out without much thought over the matter and how he might react; "How can I stay with Inoue when she doesn't like me?"

"Why do you say that?"

She was startled by the forcefulness of his tone.

"Inoue's already agreed! She said she'd be delighted to have you board with her until we figure out something permanent!" He was scowling heavily which wasn't a good sign. Pity her temper was starting to flare at his sheer idiocy. _Was he so oblivious to Inoue's looks and sighs? Matsumoto's constant encouragement?_ Keiko could only assume Matsumoto and the little Taichou had come back while she had been seclusion. Perhaps irritation was the cause of it, or maybe..just maybe it was...that other who regained momentary control.

"You really are stupid, aren't you, kid?" The next second after it slipped past her lips, something smashed heavily into the side of her face. She staggered from the blow, hair falling into her eyes. Looking up, her sight was filled with Kuchiki's livid face, hand still upraised from administering the blow. _When had she had come in?_

~To be continued ~

AN: finally! Took me forever to do! Anyway, thanks for reading!

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	43. Wounded Soul

_It's like being in love you rob your mind and defile your bed.  
You ignore the fate of the players who both end up dead.  
And you pretend for us and you pretend for them.  
This fairytale will make them jealous of you._

-The Kind, Flyleaf 

ShiKai CH.42

Rukia didn't know what hit her. No, that wasn't right. She thought she knew what it was, a blast of Kei's reiatsu. But that was impossible in itself. _How could...?_

Her back collided heavily with the wall, her legs stuck straight out in front of her as she slid down to the wooden floor in the hallway. Somewhat shaken, she had expected Ichigo to at least look at her and not drop to the side of the Elemental, fiercely clasping the girl to his chest.

Urahara and whomever had been closest, came hurrying up.

Rukia knew what they would ask, no doubt having sensed the brief burst of Kei's foreign reiatsu lance the air. It was unlike anything she had ever felt. Neither gritty nor stifling like that of a Seireitei Taichou, it was...different. Like a wall had slammed into her, yet it had lacked real density. It had flown forward in a wave only meant for her. Ichigo had been standing not three feet away and hadn't been affected.

She barely registered Matsumoto dropping to her side.

Urahara asked aloud, "what happened here?"

She knew she needed to say something; but Ichigo beat her to it.

"It's not Kei's fault," he glowered at her over the Elemental's bowed head. "Rukia goaded her into attacking."

"That's.." she faltered. _Not true_. How could he not see that Keiko Yamamoto was bad for him? She made him forget his duty, his place beside those who loved and knew him best! Rukia couldn't even begin to list the things she knew about him. Why, she was even willing to bet the Elemental didn't know what his favorite foods were, or-or how Shakespeare was the only guy he could really look up to!

"That sure felt like_ her_ reiatsu." Matsumoto began carefully. Urahara glanced over to them, "that may well be true. However, the quality of it was nothing like before."

"So, what're you suggesting?" Ichigo sounded defensive, angry. But, Keiko hadn't said or done anything. Just sat there limply leaning into his chest. Rukia felt aggravation stirring in her soul. _Wasn't she going to defend herself? Or give reason for her actions?_

"Nothing, Kurosaki-kun. Don't bite my head off, please. I'd love to keep it on just the way it is!" Urahara joked, trying to ease off the tension. But, Ichigo wasn't falling for it, not this time. "That Kei _isn't_ Kei anymore?"

Silence filled the room.

Rukia didn't have to look to sense Orihime's quiet approach.

"Are you alright, Kuchiki-san?" the girl's kindly face was wreathed in softly worried smile.

"Yeah, Orihime-chan. I'm fine." Rukia found herself wishing Ichigo had fallen for Inoue instead.

"Maybe it would better if she came to my house -" Ichigo started to say, then abruptly the inert body in his arms stirred, the Elemental pushed against his chest, frowning unhappily.

"No! I don't want to go to your house!"

Rukia saw Urahara tense. _What is it he's expecting_-?

Ichigo blinked and his scowl slipped, a perplexed expression filling his face instead. "Well, where else would you rather go, Kei? Would you prefer to stay here?"

"No! You don't understand! I want to go home! Take me home!"

(~*) Tsukikage Castle grounds (*~*)

It was different facing the fifth seat. For once, Kazeatari found she didn't want to hurt something. It was much easier sparring with Keiko, oh yes. Much more so. Because at least then she was assured of not severely wounding the girl.

Or of the opponent being terribly outmatched.

"Ready?" Kazeatari called half-heartedly. From the sidelines, Zoe and Hana watched on, Takara had parted ways sometime before muttering something about paperwork and the CPU needing a new driver. Kaze thought that was part of First Division's job, keeping up the technical end of their surveillance. But, she didn't comment. Maybe it was part of what she said, or Takara knew Matsumoto and Hitsugaya would soon come around the gardens.

Maybe the Lieutenant just didn't want to see Ichimaru's old friend.

Normally Kazeatari wasn't so philosophical.

She had always preferred the anonymity that a battlefield provided. _No marauding Shinigami were going to claim her life for world and Seireitei_. _Like hell would she let those bastards claim to have taken down the Elemental of Wind_. A stab wound here, a yari spear piercing the framework of the lacquered armor. It was better, she told herself time and again, watching the world tilt as she fell from the back of the horse, to die where your soldiers knew you to be their General and to know they would lament your demise rather than have strangers gloat over your fading life.

There, everything was clear-cut. Two armies. Thousands of soldiers, one battlefield.

The enemy were over a score of sweating, exhausted men armed with plain katanas, spears, bows with quivers full of dull bronze-colored arrowheads. Not magical katanas and spells to bind. There weren't Hollows or a battered girl that it hurt inside to look at.

Kazeatari seemed to hear for a moment the distant roar of a battlefield, then it was gone and it was only Kyou looking nervous but eager to prove he wasn't a burden.

In a single moment he was gone. _A weaving flash-step_. Kazeatari slightly slid her left heel back. The scrape of the stone was minute. At the fourth flash and vanish, Kyou raised Reiki mid-level. _A blow to the torso, eh?_ Kazeatari knew it wouldn't be much to counter. At the sixth step, he disappeared completely. Kazeatari swung her wrist back, catching the strike aimed for her blind spot. Kazekiri's blade barely moved with the full weight of his lunge.

"Go from behind. I see." She flexed her wrist the slightest, pushing him back. "Not bad, but not good either." Kyou landed unsteadily, keeping a fierce grip on the hilt of his sword.

"You mustn't come at me like I am your Captain." Kazeatari went on more kindly, "Do not be afraid." _There isn't much you can do to hurt me_, she thought, but didn't add. "At this moment, I become your enemy. See me as such and know that if you don't defeat me, I will kill everything that is dear to you." She said it as she looked slowly from him to Hana. The meaning clear.

Kyou inhaled sharply, disappearing once more.

He came at her with a series of rapid strikes. Each alternating between the left and the right. Kazeatari though being forced to back up, parried each with a clang of their blades meeting. She could see however, that she was at a slight disadvantage. Reiki's tang length was comparable to a Nodachi while Kazekiri in its unreleased state was only the span of a short Wakizashi.

"Dammit." she muttered, being forced into the indignity of throwing her head back to evade the swipe. Kazeatari felt the whisper of the cutting edge glide just mere centimeters from her throat. She heard Hana's quiet gasp of, "Captain-!" But, Zoe held the fourth seat back. "Shh. Just watch."

Reiki was still held sideways, barely completing its half circular motion. Kazeatari threw herself back all the way, bending forward at the waist as she rammed her foot into the slender silver tang. As she had expected, the sword flew from his hands, Kyou scrambled to regain it, but she was faster. Snapping up into a crouch, she balanced on one folded leg, while using her other to knock his feet out from under him. It was a favorite move of Keiko's, one that Kazeatari had seen her use numerous times in the past.

Swiping out her left hand, she snatched at Reiki's blue and gold hilt, tilting it to rest point tip downward at Kyou's collarbone. "Never underestimate.." Kazeatari said, pausing to inhale the scent of.._ash?_ For a moment she couldn't speak, her dark eyes widened slightly. A few feet from her on his backside still, Kyou breathed hard, a sheen of sweat stood out on his forehead. "Captain? Is something-"

"Do you smell that?" Kazeatari demanded sharply.

"Smell what?" Hana's thin dark brows drew together, "All I smell is stinky-sweaty Kyou!"

"Hana..." her twin muttered, clearly embarrassed.

Zoe said nothing, simply tilted her face to the blue sky, observing the cloudless expanse. The scent of ash filled Kazeatari's lungs. She didn't understand how no one else could catch the pervasive scent. Like of burnt fields, charred earth. Kazeatari knew it down to the deepest part of her soul. The part of her that had been halved by Fire's disappearance flared to life like the last light of a dying ember.

_'Let's make a promise, just between you and I.' Your trembling hand wrapped in mine. A miko and a Samurai Taishou in the forest of daylight. _

_'Wherever you are, I will find you.' Tiny fingers, so breakable yet holding a strength greater than my own._

_'You are the only one who understands me. When I find you...'_

"You're there-!" Kazeatari could hardly speak for the swell of emotion rising in her chest. "Oh, thank God! You're still there, Keiki!"

'_I swear I'll never let you feel alone again.' _

(*~*)

Takara wasn't envious. No, not one bit. Gin had told her all about his old friend 'Ran-chan' left behind in the Rukongai, but had assured her again and again that 'Ran-chan' meant nothing compared to her.

Now, she wasn't so convinced.

Gin had spent over a hundred years in the company of 'Ran-chan' while _she_ had been sent with Gin's other old friend to a Hollow-ridden world_. If he had cared for her so much...wouldn't he have at least looked for her? Tried to see if she was even still alive?_

Doubts filled her mind and heart. Takara felt small about it, but she really didn't want to see Matsumoto Rangiku then. Picking up her pace, she hurried forward, catching sight of Toya up ahead waving her over.

"What is it?" she asked, immediately thinking of a Hollow raid from the living world.

"Gin Ichimaru, Lieutenant, is on the Ethernet line. He is waiting to speak with you, ma'am."

(*~*)

_Four trainees from the western border__..._

The words flashed on the screen. He reread the sentence, then added a comma.

_Four trainees from the western border, ask Keiko-_

Kanzaki paused. Then retyped the sentence.

_Four trainees from the western border, ask __Keiko__ -Namaiki, if she can take on two_.

He stared at the strike-through over the name, rolling his palm over the ball of the mouse, he scrolled back up the page.

_Ask Keiko's opinion on the new Win.7 system Shimizu from Third keeps talking about._

_Remind Rizu to make a trip down to Arcadia for b-day present/Keiko_

_Tell Kagami to remind Keiko not to be reckless._

_Ask Keiko's Lieutenant to take over for Hisrio during meetings._

On and on it went. Pursing his lips slightly, he scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page.

_Tell Keiko, I miss her cooking._

_Tell Keiko, I miss __her__. _

_Tell Keiko, __I__ lo-_

"Shit." Kanzaki swore quietly to himself. In a way he was glad no one could see him at times like these. That Hisrio couldn't bear to be in his presence more than ten minutes and would leave the office to hassle a lower officer. If the former Noble even knew the things that went through his superior's head. If_ any_ of them knew...

"I'm in it deep." Kanzaki muttered to himself, deleting the previous line and retyping it as:

**Tell Keiko, I can't stand her.**

(*~*) Unknown location~

This was most unexpected. But, not displeasing, Kei reflected, with a slightly sarcastic twist to her lips. Kuchiki only had it coming, what with her foolish suppositions.

"How can you say that, when he-" she paused for dramatic effect, "-loves you so much!" The sound of her laughter filled the small room, echoing and rebounding back at her. "Love me?" Kei said derisively, "how can he love me when he doesn't even know **me**." The room fell silent again. There were other voices in the distance. Urahara's questioning. Ichigo's defense.

Her smile faded, "they say there is no substitute for the eyes of love. Yet, if you love me so, Ichigo, why don't you realize it's not **me** you're holding so tightly?"

(*~*)

Zangetsu opened his eyes. There had been an overwhelming surge of power, more than what was released from Ichigo's ban-kai. He had been crushed by its sheer enormity and hadn't realized its source. Not until great black wings had erupted from Touda's back. Perfectly healed and full.

"Oh, damn. Thought I'd gotten rid of these. They make me...we look so alike, Suzaku and I." Touda had tilted her head askance, the thick feathers slipping through her fingers. Standing in the midst of the storm, the skirt lifted and flowed about her legs with the swell of the wind. Touda held back the tangling strands of hair from her face. "huh, this is strange. Wonder what's going on with the wielder. She never calls forth this much, not unless she's ultra pissed or..."

Zangetsu remembered nothing more save for Touda touching him on the forehead. "Since you were so curious. Why don't you see for yourself."

And now here he was in a slightly darkened room, a narrow fissure was straight ahead, sunlight slanted through. Zangetsu cursed the bird for sending him to such a place as it was a cell. He wasn't prepared then for what happened next.

_Crying?_

Zangetsu froze and slowly refocused his gaze on the huddled figure in the corner.

Long dark hair spilled over the hands pressed to a face he couldn't see. The whole image was flickering, playing out like an old film. Blurred at the edges as if...no. **This couldn't be**-

The sky darkened.

Night was falling.

In the distance, Zangetsu heard it.

A lone bird singing a low mournful call.

The guards outside the door talked amongst themselves.

"It's there again! You don't think-?"

**Touda's memory**.

The cell door opened.

Three men in Seireitei guard uniform stood there.

The hands fell from the face; Zangetsu saw the eyes looking out from the darkness.

Those were..._her_ eyes.

The bird's singing was closer now.

"Miss me?" Cooed the closest. The room flickered and they were before the figure in the corner, the one whom had spoken had her chin in his gloved hand.

Zangetsu was rooted to the spot. _This has already happened_. He wanted to close his eyes to the plain white yukata torn away, to the grasping hands, to the girl's cries. He wanted to shut out all those horrible sounds_. How could they do this?_

Two of the guards were holding her face down, her hips angled up. Zangetsu saw her jerk weakly, the strangled whine issued muffled from her lips. The third guard lined himself up to her and thrust deep inside.

_Why didn't anyone stop them? _

"H..elp me." Her head was crooked, pushed at an angle by the hand holding her down. But...she was staring right at him. _No..no_. He felt the piercing anguish Touda must've experienced every single night. _She can see me_. The knowledge that he was utterly powerless to stop a memory, that was the most unbearable of all.

The flapping of wings was louder now. Touda was circling the buildings outside, screaming in rage. But they paid it no heed.

"Do you think anyone cares?" whispered one of the guards, stroking her tangled hair. "The honorable Soutaicho himself gave us permission. To the eyes of Seireitei you're lower than an animal. So, that means that no one cares for you. No one will care if you live or die. Your existence is worthless."

Zangetsu saw her tears, the hand that was clawing the floor, slowly opened.

She was reaching toward him. Sliding fingers that were the mirror-image of the ones he had held in the mindscape. Touda was wailing now, flying in aimless, meaningless patterns._ He's telling her_- Zangetsu watched the room fade. _She's not alone-that something cares_.

_But she_...

"Never heard me." Touda's voice brought him back to reality. Zangetsu found himself lying in a luxurious suite. Heaps of soft fur blankets and fluffy down pillows were beneath his head and still more surrounded him. His shaggy head turned as he followed Touda's approach from across the room with mingled restraint and self-loathing.

He knew he shouldn't have been looking at _her_ displayed in such an enticing manner. Not the damp locks clinging to the fine throat and dripping trickles of dark water into the shadow of her breasts. Touda wore-what Zangetsu assumed, since Ichigo had no knowledge of things like that. _Lingerie_. A low-cut strapless brassiere paired with silk low-rise panties. He tried to keep his eyes from falling to the firm mound, ignoring the tightening of his groin.

The bed dipped low. Touda crawled slowly up his body, all the while staring deeply into his eyes. "How long has it been?" she purred, straddling his waist. The heat radiating from her body was wonderful, it made him long to be surrounded by it. "I don't know." he answered truthfully. Ichigo was still a virgin and being kept imprisoned in his mindscape made it impossible for the contact of anyone other than the accursed Hollow.

Other than the fact that the few other spirits of Ichigo's friends' spiritual weapons all but ignored him. Sode no Shirayuki was the closest but resembled the frigidity of an ice sheet. Cold, beautiful but unapproachable. Shirayuki couldn't forgive him for being under Fire's dominion. Her wielder, Rukia despised Fire for reasons not even Zangetsu understood.

Then, there was Inoue. But, her spirits weren't even from a Zanpaku-to. So that was out of the question as well.

The only other was Haineko; but the white tiger would tear apart any that dared touch his litter.

"I'm the one you want...aren't I?" Touda's voice was low, seductive. Her eyes were half-lidded, smoldering with a sinful light. One slim hand slipped in his shirt, caressing the hard planes of his chest. Zangetsu's breath caught, a strained moan thrummed in his throat. Her fingers slid over the hardening nipple, twisting the nub of flesh indelicately when he didn't answer.

"Aren't I?"

He heard the note of anger in her tone, but couldn't bring himself to care. A sudden masochistic desire gripped him. Gentleness wasn't in Fire's soul. Only violence and...pain. Zangetsu snaked his hand up, grasping a handful of tawny locks and smashed their lips together.

This was what _she _tasted like; he was sure.

Not of purity and goodness.

But of sin.

Touda ground her hips roughly against his, her tongue delving deep. He responded as fervently, fingers raking through her hair, pressing his need into her. The legs clamped about his waist suddenly loosened, her mouth left his, panting harshly as her hand dropped to the hem of the panties.

"No..." he covered her small hand with his larger one. Touda blinked and looked at him with slightly widened eyes. Zangetsu proceeded much more slowly, leaning in to graze her jaw line and chin, circling her lips. His hand slipped down to her inner thigh, caressing gently the sensitive skin. She moaned softly, urging him on as he lightly traced the shape of her womanhood through the moistened cloth.

"Take me!" she hissed in his ear, sucking and flicking her tongue along his lobe. He hesitated and she nipped him not-so gently. "You love me, don't you?" she tangled her fingers in his hair, whispering the only words that could make him weak. "Sometimes I think that maybe you don't..that you're only going to _hurt me_." Her head dropped, she pouted like a petulant child.

"I would never lie-"

Someone knocked at the locked door.

_And that's why I have to keep hurting you_...

She slowly turned. "Who is it?" Calling in a higher voice.

"Mi-lady." Croaked out a tiny voice. The heavy door banged open and two spirits stood in human form. A tiny black crow hopped up onto the footboard, surveying first Touda's attire-er-somewhat lack of it with saucer-eyes.

"Soryu. Byakko..." She muttered darkly.

"Uh-yes! Their Lordships, Soryu and Byakko-dono request his-her lady's presence." The tiny crow twittered. "I can see that," Touda said dryly, aware of the blue Dragon's disapproving glare. "If his Lordships may afford me five minutes, I can guarantee-" she could tell Zangetsu wanted to bolt from shame. _Damnable Dragon...ruining the moment!_ _And stupid virgin wielders making stupid old men Zanpaku-to spirits bashful! _

"You may not."

The temperature rose twenty degrees. "What did you say?"

"I said you may** not**."

Byakko's fur pelt wrapped about his waist began curl at the ends like his wielder's hair. "Now, wait a sec, Soryu. Let's give a lady some time with _her _man." he waggled his eyebrows in meaning toward the door. Soryu gave a haughty sniff, tossing his bluish green locks so that they splayed impressively across the ornately embroidered kimono. "Very well." His aquiline nose crinkled in distaste. "Come! Byakko!"

"Er..yes, sir." The white tiger flicked off a trooper gesture and marched out, closing the door gently behind them. Only Shoukyaku remained with bright beady eyes trained on his Ma-Mistress.

"Get out." Touda commanded without raising her voice, knowing full well the crow could simply dematerialize if he wanted to do. It was only a matter of materializing in the room that one had to walk through the spell-laden entrance first.

She waited until the spirit had grudgingly complied before turning cheerfully once again to Zangetsu.

"Now where were we?"

(*~*)

"That was terribly immoral of you." Soryu pronounced harshly as Touda fell in step with him and Byakko. "Intimidating a spirit under your command into acts of carnal-"

"Tell me, Soryu." Touda began evenly, a faint smile playing about her lips. "Did you get off watching Lady Mizuna purifying herself in your mirror lake? Is that perhaps why you so dislike Kagami-san's male form. Chiseled abs and classically handsome features don't sway your fancy, hmm?"

Soryu, though extremely red, could not say a word to either deny nor command his water Dragons to drown the bird in a summoned deluge. Which could only harm his reputation as Byakko looked from either of them, then came to his own conclusion of: _he's not denying it_.

"You-" The eminent Dragon finally managed to bite out.

Byakko wisely decided to steer out of potentially dangerous waters and not only because water and Fire didn't mix, but because it was a well-known fact that cats despised water. "Geez, Touda! What I don't get is how you could _want_ to have sex with an old geezer like that! I mean that's like wanting to do** it** with Soryu!"

_It's official. _Touda thought with growing amusement as the eminent Dragon's face darkened with barely suppressed fury. _Wind doesn't know when to shut up_.

"Even I can admit Ichiro-"

"Ichigo." Touda corrected automatically.

"Ichiru," Byakko went on disregarding the correction. "Is cute. Maybe even close to hotness what with those washboard abs and that adorable yet annoyingly sexy scowl..." the tiger's eyes became increasingly dream-like as he extolled the virtues of the absent Shinigami sub.

_Oh. My. God. He's channeling Kazeatari-!_

Soryu kept his eyes tilted toward the ceiling, his grave dignity suffering with each step.

"I can assure you," Touda said, breaking into Byakko's monologue. "Zangetsu is everything but old." There was a suggestive gleam flashing in her eyes that it took the white tiger four seconds to correctly judge its source.

"You didn't!"

Her tongue flicked evocatively over her lips. "That's all you gave me time for. After all I couldn't leave poor old Zangetsu in such a state."

Byakko's cheeks flamed and he unconsciously lifted a hand toward his mouth. "Your wielder's going to kill you when she finds out that you gave her boyfriend's Zanpaku-to a-"

"I'll tell my wielder dearest in good time." Touda flippantly said, eyes narrowing then on the tiger affecting innocence. "And don't you _dare_ tell Kazeatari."

Byakko held up his right hand, "I sincerely promise I am up to no good, but I will not spread knowledge of your amours anywhere."

"Hmph. That's better." She turned serious, "now what is so urgent that requires you seek me out?"

Soryu suddenly looked much older, "it is...Genbu. We must travel down to the Meido and release the final seal before the cycle of rebirth ends. You know of what I speak." His deep-set cerulean eyes softened when they rested on the other's face.

"Has it...truly been nine hundred and ninety years?" her voice was hushed, with a kind of quiet awe present. For a moment the darkest part of Suzaku that had been born of the deepest grief, truly resembled the one whom was bound to it; _Keiki_. "Oh, thank God. Finally...finally." The black Phoenix's eyes shimmered with tears.

Byakko's expression dissolved into understanding. "Yes...the suffering will end. We'll finally be_...free_."

(*~*) To be continued (*~*)

AN: thanks for reading ^^

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	44. Shadows move with the sun

_It's time to forget about the past/  
/To wash away what happened last (happened last)  
/Hide behind an empty face/  
/Don't ask too much, just say/  
/'Cause this is just a game../  
_

_-A Beautiful Lie, Thirty Seconds to Mars_

ShiKai CH.43

Kei started awake. Immediately her eyes flickered about searching for the familiar objects of her room. _Touda's stand. The music box on the table_... The light was too much, it hurt her eyes used to the dim darkness of the circular room. _Where am I?_ She was lying in the middle of a dusty path, a few scraggly grass stalks grew close to where her head had rested. She looked about the strange almost barren landscape. _Is this another dream?_

Rising, she passed her hands along the front of the crimson kimono, dusting herself off. She had fallen asleep listening to Inoue's ramblings while preparing dinner. Kei could only hope that whatever the human girl made had no lasting effects on the digestive system of her body. She never would've willingly put anything the human had made, in her mouth.

But at the moment, she decided. There were far more pressing matters to solve. _Was this punishment? Had she gone too far?_ Kei pondered the question fixatedly, with a one-mindedness that the others though disapproving sometimes of her methods, were grudging to admit there was a method to her madness.

The path of sand stretched as far as her eye could see. Looking back the way she should've come, she glimpsed more of the same repeating itself over and over. _A sandy path...like one_...she snatched at the fragment of thought, but frustratingly it just barely evaded her.

Her lips curved downward into a frown.

She utterly loathed it when the memories alluded her. _Ah well_... Kei continued moving forward down the sandy stretch. She was sure there was something..somehow important in the distance.

(*~*) Living world ~

It did not look appetizing.

Not even edible. She dubiously watched on as Matsumoto raved about the unidentifiable substance filling their bowls. Inoue cheerfully received the compliments with a silly smile and added that whenever she tried to share with Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-kun, they would always politely decline.

Keiko couldn't blame them. After much hesitation, she lifted a piece of-something in the chopsticks and placed in her mouth. Almost immediately she started choking. _It was horrible! How could Ichigo refuse to understand 'home' and instead condemn her to the untalented kitchen-Goddess Inoue? It just wasn't fair!_

Matsumoto eyed her suspiciously. "What do you think of Orihime-chan's cooking?"

_It is the most awful stew I've ever tasted_...the truth was too cruel. Even if she didn't like the girl, Keiko watched from the corner of her eye, Inoue's flushed cheeks and nervous twitches. Something held her back from deliberately hurting the human. "It...has a most unique flavor." Very carefully she set down the bowl and balanced the chopsticks against the rim. "However, I'm on a strict diet so I mustn't eat anymore. Please excuse me."

"But, you've hardly touched your plate!" Matsumoto cried in a way that made her long to summon the same wave of energy that had struck Kuchiki. "I'm sorry." Keiko felt her lips twist in a slightly apologetic smile, "I cannot. I'm not hungry anyway." Rising from the floor, she beat a hasty if not swift retreat to the bathroom to prepare for an evening shower.

(*~*) Kurosaki clinic ~

It was easy closing his eyes and remembering the first time he had seen her.

Below the streets of Seireitei, with Ganju and Hanataro as their guide; he had been knocked unconscious by the former due to his refusal to rest_. Ichigo still hadn't forgotten about that_. But, it was when the first wave of blackness had come over him, that in the distance he heard it.

Someone...singing?

_Badly_, he added, drifting seemingly closer to the sound.

"..Nanika wo sukoshi.."

It was the voice of a female.

".. omoidashisou.."

Yellowish brown strands of hair were run through with a wet comb falling back into place to cling damply to the pale cheeks of a skinny girl.

" Tooi kyoku, natsukashii uta wo.." the nameless stranger leaned forward, wiping her palm against the glass. The fogginess cleared from the center and satisfied, she smiled back at herself. _Where was he?_ She certainly didn't look familiar at all; Ichigo was sure he'd remember someone like this. Pale stringy hair, dark purple eyes like grapes-no, the color was lighter, more with a reddish tint. The rest of the room was steamed up, only she was defined. Small shoulders with a black strap over each, slender arms and well-shaped hands.

_Who is this? _ Ichigo felt himself fading from the scene.

_"Dancing bears..painted wings...things I almost remember.."_

He opened his eyes to Hanataro hovering over him with a sheepish grin.

The next time, he was closed his eyes to a day of hard training. He had only two days left to master ban-kai and yet this was nothing compared to the scene that greeted him upon opening his eyes to a large room. A great four poster with top railings hung with thick curtains behind him, before him was the same girl clad in a strapless white dress that went down to her ankles. It was something Ishida would've loved to have gotten his hands on.

Strips of ragged white fabric hung down from the tight bodice, trailing down over the skirt.

Sound burst forth and she started tossing her hair.

Ichigo watched with a raised eyebrow. How stu-

" I love the way that your heart breaks." She swayed gently, clasping a microphone in one fingerless gloved hand. "With every injustice and deadly fates/ Praying it only be new/Living like it all depends on you/Here you are down on your knees again!/Trying to find air to breathe again! And only surrender will help you now!" She stretched forth her hand, staring straight at him, "I love you, please see and believe again."

_Was that_...he swallowed particularly nervously. _for me?_

"I love that you're never satisfied." She seemingly held his gaze. "With face value, wisdom, and happy lies." Her hands fisted slightly, her eyes grew softer, "You take what they say go back and cry/You were so close to me that you nearly died!" Her voice ended on a high pitch, "Oh!/ Here you are down on your knees again/Trying to find air to breathe again!/And only surrender will help you now..I love you please see and believe again!"

_That was definitely for him_. She had almost touched his chest, her hand had hovered for seconds above his heart. _I don't even know who you are!_ He silently cried, thinking perhaps the infamous obliviousness that everyone kept telling him about had finally reared its head.

"They don't have to understand you..be still." She cupped the microphone in one hand, sliding the other in a gentle downward motion. "Wait and know I understand you..be still," an urgency colored her tone, her eyes remained on his face. "Be still!" she held both hands out, palms outward toward him. Ichigo immediately froze in place.

"Here you are down on your knees again!/Trying to find air to breathe again and only surrender will help you now..."

Far off in the distance he could hear Yoruichi calling. _No, not yet..please_.

"The Flood gates are breaking-"

And just like that. He opened his eyes to find Yoruichi standing over him, a mischievous grin on her face.

That was just the beginning. Ichigo didn't know what it was that had caused the connection to be born between them, _he and the elemental from another world_. _Another world_...his scowl was dark up at the ceiling of his room. _What Urahara had told him_...

**Home..**

His fist clenched. _She wants to leave me_.

**..was Tsukikage.**

Kei though lacking any real memories of the other world, felt nothing but the pull to be with the other elements. Their bond...he refused to admit it. Was stronger than his was with her.

(*~*) Getsu-ten's mindscape ~

"Agh!" Byakko was forced to leap back as a harsh grating sound filled the air. A great crack split through the floor running jaggedly into the wall and continuing upward. "Can't you do something-!" he watched as the whole section broke off. Touda didn't even look back, "of course not. This is a reflection of my wielder's innermost soul."

"I knew that." Byakko muttered, crossing over the opened pit carefully. Dust sifted into the deep hole and he shivered involuntarily.

"She...doesn't like to be here." For a moment Touda looked almost wistful.

"I don't blame her." the tiger grumbled, his sharp golden eyed gaze traveling over the crumbling half walls and blackened creepers scaling the broken stones. "Anyone would feel the same at the state of their own soul."

"It didn't happen all at once. It came on gradually...I was with her everyday..over three hundred years ago. When I came back..the castle was in ruins. Everything beautiful in this world had rotted away." The stone walls gave way to an open expanse. Collapsed masonry littered what had once been the grand dining hall.

"Even the moon is dead. Like Hueco Mundo it shines eternally in our sky, but it never changes. Zangetsu is blessed even if he doesn't realize it." Touda said shortly, striding through the high archway and continuing down a short corridor. Byakko glanced upward up at the ceiling above them, shutting out the deadened firmament.

"He has the rain and the sun in Ichigo's mindscape. All I have is the perpetual twilight of devastation."

"Then...what's that?" They had finally reached another doorway set far into the wall. Byakko's gaze was on a bowl to the left of the portal. One that was filled with large red cherries. "Oh, those." There was something vaguely disturbing in her smile. "Kagami gave her one long ago and she tried to reproduce it here."

"A cherry tree, you mean? Like with cherry blossoms?" Byakko eyed the round red globules with unease. "But, don't you have to emulate some part of the thing you're trying to bring into your own soul, like have it represent something?"

"Yes. But you're thinking of Sakura trees." The Maouen blade formed in her hand, she tipped the shorter end downward toward the gleaming fruit. "They are beauty and grace. This is nothing..." the tip of the sword made no sound no movement discernible to either the Dragon or the Tiger. Only when Touda's smile widened, did the cherries split open.

Red oozed from their white flesh.

Byakko started away from the table, his golden eyes wide. "What the..hell?"

"So pure." Touda plucked up a single gleaming half, popping it between her lips. "I assure you that you will never find sweeter cherries in all the worlds." When she pushed the bowl his way, Byakko grimaced, "I'll take your word for it."

Soryu looked on with severity in his gaze. "Come, we have wasted enough time as it is. Open the Meido, _Gatekeeper_."

Her tongue flicked over her lips, she looked at him from beneath her lids. "As you command, Soryu-sama." Stepping before the ancient door etched into the stone, she snapped her fingers. A grinding, grating sound issued forth. The door became outlined in light, the stone melted away to reveal a land of white ash and a light purple sky in which a four-pointed object pulsed softly, shedding muted light into the isolated world.

Touda passed through the gateway. "Welcome to Hell."

(*~*) Tsukikage castle ~

"You felt that, didn't you?" Kazeatari kept in pace with Kagami, matching his brisk stride.

"I did." he sounded weary, like the weight of the world had fallen upon him. Unsympathetic, Kazeatari turned eager eyes to him, "well?"

"Well? What?"

They began to ascend the stairs, their destination being the sudden meeting Kanzaki had called by Kido spell. "Aren't we going to go after her?"

He came to a complete halt. She did as well, spinning on her heel to face him. "Hitsugaya said when she woke up she had no memory nor recollection of who she was. He also said she was...different. Acted like someone else had taken her form, but had a completely different set of emotions and responses to them. I just don't know.." he shrugged, "it's beyond my level of comprehension."

Kazeatari abruptly started climbing the stairs again.

He sighed and went after her. "It is entirely possible that she's faking it, you know?"

Kazeatari kept her eyes straight ahead. "I know what I felt and what I didn't. I'm telling you, Kagami! Kei wasn't there..that body was an empty shell!"

"Then, what do you think happened? Why would that body give off not a trace of the Fire element and then all of a sudden emit that power through the wavelength we share?"

Kazeatari looked away, her eyes downcast, "I ...don't know."

(*~*)

Takara hesitated in the doorway. On screen, in white robes adorning his lanky form, his long fingers knitted together upon the console top, leaning forward with a happy grin on his face...

"Hello, Taka-chan." Gin said, "I've missed you ever so much these past hundred years."

~To be continued~

AN: -.- *is very sleepy*

Kei's response to Ichigo: Again-Flyleaf

Ichigo's response to Kei: Only one-Lifehouse.

Listen closely to the lyrics and you'll see what I mean. ^^

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	45. Swallowing glass

_Something about you that makes me feel bad/  
/I wasn't there when a thin line destroyed your soul/  
/I search every corner/  
/There's nowhere to hide how I feel/  
/Ignorance sacrifice/  
/Some days it's harder; let's face it, it's all about me/_

_/Deeply into your own/deep within me/life's crawling and wasting my days/  
/Another night gone and I know there will be another way/ _

-Within me, Lacuna Coil

ShiKai CH.44: Swallowing glass

The water ran clear and cool in the tub. She stood over it, the T-shirt crumpled against her stomach. Matsumoto's soft, indulgent tones permeated through the thin apartment walls.

"It's alright, Orihime-chan. He's too young to know what real love is!"

Inoue's sob, "but! But, Urahara-san said-"

"Ichigo would eventually fall out of love with her."

She froze, only the hammering of her heart pounded in her ears. _Please_...

"It's only the way of the human heart." Matsumoto sounded wise, "while Ichigo may think it has the quality of lasting love, it's only a crush. A silly infatuation for who knows what."

_..don't say these things. Don't say it's all a lie_. Her hands moved down to the waistband of the stone-washed denim skirt, unzipping it, she let it fell to a puddle at her feet. She stepped out of it, her bare feet meeting the cold floor for a brief instant.

_Don't say it's all a lie that he loves me_.

"You don't think he really loves Kei-san?" Inoue sounded hopeful.

"Like I said.." Matsumoto was dismissive, "he'll tire of her in a month or so."

"But, then what's going to happen to Kei-san?"

She could almost imagine the way Inoue looked then.

"Who knows? When Ichigo sees what a great girl you are and then compared to what he has..."

The doorbell rang. Footsteps crossed the short distance.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue exclaimed.

His voice sent a ripple of agony through her being.

"Hope I'm not intruding."

"Of course not!" Matsumoto's voice was louder than usual.

Two pairs of footsteps advanced.

"So, what is it I can do-"

He cut off Inoue. "Where's Kei?"

Silence fell for a moment before Matsumoto replied in a falsely sweet tone, "oh, we just had dinner and she went to take a bath."

"I see." Ichigo said carefully.

"Rangiku-san..." Inoue paused, the slightest hint of worry clouding her voice. "The water...it's been running for more than twenty minutes."

Keiko stepped into the tub, water swished over the side, splashing the floor and her garments. Still standing, she slowly drew the T-shirt over her head, letting it fall into place, before lowering herself into the bathtub.

"Well, I don't know-"

"Twenty minutes?" Ichigo demanded.

Keiko gripped the tub sides, the water lapped against her lips.. Her breath was harsh and almost unheard by the occupants of the next room with the gush and pound of the water still flowing from the tap.

_No one will care_...

Her hands loosened.

..._ if I'm not here anymore_

She went under.

(*~*) Tsukikage ~

"Oh, my God...what the hell are you doing here?"

Kotoko rolled his eyes upward, "please, don't yell. Your voice somehow...gives me a pain in my head."

Kagami was about to retort something when Kazeatari laid her hand on his arm. Glancing from him to the ancient Vasto Lordes, the meaning was clear. He dropped it, settling for a disgruntled glower instead.

"How...how is everyone?" Kazeatari asked hesitantly.

"As well as confinement can make them." the silver-eyed boy said cheerfully, "despite thirsting for the blood of the Shinigami."

_And he says it so happily_. She observed with a raised brow. "..Well, that's uh-"

"To be expected." he nodded gravely, the black hat perched atop his head bobbed slightly. Kazeatari was just waiting for it fall off. "Anyway!" he continued, neatly sliding one finger beneath his chin, through the string. _He must've read my mind_. Setting aside the eboshi on the table beside him, Kotoko then swiveled the screen of the refurbished laptop around. "I thought.." his eyes sparkled mischievously, "I should clear myself of the charges, Kagami-san made. By showing you...this."

"How-" Kagami and Kazeatari said at the same time.

"I asked the same thing." Kanzaki said finally to their incredulous stare. "It's as if someone had their memory-what they saw with their own eyes, captured on film."

"But, that's..." Kagami's voice failed him. _The past. our past_. _When I was a Hollow and_...

The girl's stare was defiant. She said something but there was no sound. The images were muted with only the darkness of the Torii gate behind the Shinigami thrown into relief. A looming shadow moved; her hand flew out, stretching the curved of the bow sharply sideways. One of the Shinigami-the leader of the party with a white haori, slashed his Zanpaku-to downward across her body, the arrow flew, narrowly missing him. It exploded in a brief burst of fiery crimson over his shoulder.

There was sound suddenly as if the mute button had been released.

Too late one of the Shinigami officers cried, "Hollow!"

It was then in that brief moment of realization and awareness did the taichou understand what Fire had done and what he had repaid her with. His face was bathed in moonlight for a second, the stunned expression frozen.

"I know that man!" Kagami exclaimed all of a sudden. "He's-"

(*~*)

"Ichimaru-san..." she saw that he looked the same. Slightly thinner than she remembered, somewhat less cheerful even if he still smiled, but as unchanged as she could've hoped by the years. "Come now! Taka-chan, we've known each other long enough to drop the formalities." he teased causing her to blush a little and look away.

"I-I suppose we have." Takara assented, tapping her finger idly on the console top. The steady hum of the processor filled the silence devoid of the words she found she suddenly couldn't speak. Everything that came to mind seemed mindless, without substance. Like the worthless babble of Orihime Inoue. Takara felt the weight of the years they had been apart like a gulf she wasn't even sure how to cross.

_How have you been:_ reminded her of that fact that he was a traitor to the world she left behind.

_I heard you had made Taichou of Third: _was pointless seeing as he now held another, far more higher rank in Aizen's army.

_Did you care for me..at all? _Was the single question Takara knew she couldn't easily supply the answer to. The one she was most desired to ask was also the one she was most afraid of hearing the answer. _I've faced Menos, I've seen the Gate to the Meido open and I can't_-

_Ask this one thing_. For once she didn't hear Haretosora's reproofs in her mind

"Taka-chan, what's wrong?" Gin cocked his head at an angle. His silvery hair glimmered dully in the muted light of the large room he was in. Takara hadn't seen Las Noches, only heard of it from Kagami and Kei's description. The white palace was more of a fortress with mile long corridors and large rooms. Hollows lurked in the shadows and in the maze below, newborn Arrancars were being trained to become ultimate killing machines. There, he resided with Aizen and another Shinigami who was blind. Takara knew Tosen by sight yet hadn't ever spoken to the man. Gin Ichimaru had given up...the light of Soul Society...the corrupted, she thought of Ren's encounters with Kisuke Urahara and the few Shinigami whom had bordered with them for a couple of weeks. We're like them-no...that's right, we're not.

_There are three factions in this world._

_The Shinigami of Soul Society._

_The Arrancar under Sosuke Aizen's command._

_And...us. The Ten Swords who have no place in either world_.

"Gin..." Takara stared into the screen, at the face she had dreamed for so long of seeing again. "If you cared so much for me why did you send me away?"

For the longest time, he didn't speak. His mouth had relaxed into a thin, straight line, free of the grin that always graced his face. "'Cause I..." his head lowered, he seemed to have difficulty choosing the words. "...wasn't powerful 'nough then..to keep you _safe_."

(*~*) The living world~

Sinking beneath the depths, she watched as the above world of light faded, leaving her to descend in quiet darkness.

_It's..so peaceful here_.

The walls of the tub fell away.

_Is this what's it like to die? _ Far off, so far she could barely hear the urgency in his tone, was Ichigo's voice. "Kei! Can you hear me?"

But even that grew fainter until she couldn't hear him at all.

_Ichigo...it's better this way. I want to remember how you looked at me before_..

Her throat felt torn, painful as if she were swallowing glass.

_I don't want to..hurt you._

Closing her eyes to blackness, the light that washed over her lids startled her.

_Where...? _

Her cheek was pressed to the hollow wooden floor of an engawa. The light spilled over her and illuminated the form of a slim man sitting with his legs crossed, one over the other.

'I know...your face.' she had no voice. 'But I can't remember your name.'

But, somehow the man heard her. "Why do you look so sad, Keiko?"

Without knowing exactly why, she felt her eyes well up with tears. 'No one wants me, not even Ichigo...he'll eventually abandon me like all the rest.'

The man's face creased into a frown, "has he told you this?"

'No...he will...that's all his friends want. For him to leave me...' the painful feeling returned, like something jagged was cutting into her esophagus. 'Then...I'll have to hurt them.'

He was silent for a time, then lowering the shallow Sake cup to the space between them, slipped his hand through her hair. The blue of the chakram rings encircling his wrist clinked at the motion. "That's not the way to be, Keiko.."

'I can't help it.' Her lips slipped into a slight pout. 'It's **what** I am.'

"You're not meant to be _that_."

Her eyes narrowed, 'Fire burns all to ash. There is no comfort nor love within the scorching inferno.'

His hand felt warm against her face. The shards in her throat eased slightly. "Yes, but one can also still seek warmth within that blaze. Nothing can exist without you. Your presence is the great glowing orb of the sun and warm fire in a cold world. Yes, if you linger too long in the sun's presence, you'll burn...but there is life there as well. No one can survive long without it."

_His words...they always_.._made me want to believe..in something different than what I felt_.

But if I was so powerful...

'...why...' her lips moved silently

He inclined his head toward her, his light green eyes inquisitive.

'..why couldn't I save you!' For a moment she was reliving it all over again. The words dying in her throat, the pivot of her body. The light blinding her eyes as it suffused the castle in radiance. -Don't die for me- the pain in her heart was unbearable.

His expression softened, "you already have."

'What do you-' her eyes widened. She could feel it, the ribbon binding her soul to its vessel. Pulling. Drawing her down into the depths once again. Water lapped against her face, her lips. The sensation was frightening, "..don't..don't let me go, Hasu-"

His smile was the last thing she saw before she went under-

(*~*) Unknown realm: Meido *Underworld*

They hardly spoke again after Touda's greeting.

Ash falling in paper-thin flakes from the sky clung to Soryu's mane, dulling the bright sea tones. His jaw line was firm, his eyes never straying from the downward spiral they took, never once glancing to the levels of misery like Byakko's did.

The tiger's gold eyes widened at the large, shimmering cities rising from the distance like mirages. Touda knew all the names like Fire's memories. Each name with a face and a story.

"Even children?" Byakko's whisper was disbelieving even though the little ones were playing at the river's edge as they passed.

"Their parents' grief kept them earthbound." She answered to his searching look.

"..But why-?" he looked again, his chin tilting back as they descended past Sanzu, the river of forgetfulness.

"-not leave them to Soul Society?" Her look was contemptuous. "Would that had been the haven it was meant to be from the beginning. Then, I would have chosen differently. Surely you know, Byakko, what happens to the orphans within the Rukongai. The hunger and destitution they face..."

He said nothing.

"This is Neverland for them." She waved and tossed a radiant smile to the barefoot little girl in muslin finery like a princess, beckoning to them. "An eternal, false utopia."

"That was..." his throat closed up. _There, the waifs could be anything they imagined. In a world of fantasy, of unreality with no hunger or cruelty_. "..kind of you."

She looked away this time, saying nothing at all.

(*~*) Tsukikage castle~

"Do you think it was alright that we left Kotoko with Kanzaki?" Kazeatari tipped the brown glass bottle over her plate, shaking it a little then frowning a moment later when nothing came out. "Damn it...who ate all the steak sauce!"

Kagami spoke as he neatly cut his steak into slender strips. "I suspect it was merely the fact that no one included it in the grocery list when we last made a trip to Arcadia."

"...Are you saying my Lieutenant is incompetent?" Her lips had thinned, revealing the narrow rows of slightly discolored teeth. Kazeatari was a heavy coffee-drinker and it showed.

"Actually," not oblivious to the fixed stare, Kagami proceeded carefully, "I believe it was you who took over the grocery list-making duties. So that means..." he lifted up a piece of dry steak lacking the customary sauce. "It was you who forgot it."

She growled under her breath and unfolded the fan from where it had rested beside the goblet of soda. A few motions over the plate and the steak lay in a dozen tiny pieces. "I'll just send Hana and Kyou out tomorrow."

"Is that such a wise decision? he washed down the next bite with a sip from his glass. "She leads Kyou by the collar. Who knows what they could get into without a sensible officer present."

"Is that pessimism I'm hearing?"

"Oh, no. Just God's honest truth, ma'am."

"Well..." Kazeatari looked up and down the large empty table where save for them, was wholly unoccupied. "*Ringrazi il dio per quello."

(*Sentence means: Thank God for that)

"I concur with whatever it was you just said." Kagami took a few quiet swallows from his drink, his eyes turning pensive. "Although maybe you could enlighten me on something?"

"Hmm?" she was busily making minute cuts to the barbecued asparagus Akashi from First had cooked outside. Without Fire around to flambé things, the taste-a light sulfuric tint that burned the throat and also made steak sauce a major requirement, was sorely lacking.

"Why do you even bother-oh, never mind that." He knitted his fingers, resting his elbows on the narrow edge against his plate. "What I wanted to ask..know is far more appropriate. Is why...why you turned down Hisrio?"

_The meeting had been only Captains. Takara hadn't been called and neither had the man pacing anxiously outside the double oaken doors. "Namaiki!" Hisrio Shihoin had all but spat. Kazeatari passing through beside Kagami, glanced back into the throne room. "Kanzaki, your Lieutenant wants a word with you."_

_"Tell him I don't want to see him-" the reply was rudely cut off._

_"Shut up, Karasu!" eyes blazing, nostrils flaring, Hisrio spun on his heel and was forced into the indignity of trotting after his objective. "Namaiki-" _

_She stopped, tilting her head at an inquiring angle. Kagami waited as well_.

_"-Kazeatari." Hisrio dropped to one knee, his penetrating hawk-like gaze centered in on her face. "Have dinner with me tomorrow night!" It wasn't a request because Shihoins didn't make requests. Their word was Law_.

_Or so the unfortunate ex Noble thought_.

_"You're not my type." Then turned around and walked away. _

_Only Kagami heard Hisrio's mutter as if he was talking to himself aloud._

_"See? Happy now, Houou?"_

"Like I said..." she made a high keening sound on her glass with the tip of her finger. "He isn't my type at all."

"Oh?" a straight, thin blond brow rose, he was genuinely curious."Then what is?"

"Younger men like-Hitsugaya Toshiro for example."

He laughed shortly.

She looked slightly affronted, "what?"

"Nothing." Kagami observed the patterns in the purple glass, the color reminiscent of another's eyes. "I just thought for a second there, you were going to say _Kurosaki_."

"Why would you think that?" Kazeatari huffed softly.

"Well..." he held up a hand, ticking his fingers off as he spoke, "Kurosaki is younger than you by a century at least."

She _hmmed_ at this.

"He's er-cute." Kagami hesitated.

Her eyebrows crept up. "Cute? He isn't even Keiko's type. I don't know what the hell she's hanging around him for..."

"Now, what do you mean by _that?_" he sounded suspicious, "you actually know the type of guy she likes?"

"Certainly not a beefcake like Kurosaki. More the slender, doll-like kind...kind of like..."

Kagami and Kazeatari stared at each other for a long moment.

"Ulquiorra Schiffer, the Cuatro Espada." They both said in unison.

(*~*)Getsu-ten's mindscape~

This was unforgivable. Zangetsu tasked himself on it over and over. To desire the touch of his element...was like falling in love with his wielder, morally a sin and physically wrong. Like the deepest kind of incest of the soul. He couldn't deny nor cast off the sensations he felt with her likeness, nor could he countenance their existence.

He wanted her, the woman his wielder loved.

He wanted her as ardently or more than Ichigo did. With less of physical possessiveness than spirit. Zangetsu rose from the heavily-curtained bed, aching in places he refused to acknowledge. Stopping beneath the arched window, he looked out over the southern side of the castle, filling his somber gaze with the walled gardens.

It hurt to know Keiki hadn't looked at him more than once. He hadn't even spoken a word to her yet he knew the sound and depth of her voice. Ichigo's obsessive affection was a sickness to the denizens of his inner world. It burned within him and spread like a disease among the Hollow and he.

Perhaps Ichigo didn't realize yet or understand why he had been drawn to Keiki in the first place. They barely even exchanged words when he met her for real in the fourth world. That day, even Zangetsu had been ashamed of his wielder's reaction to the girl especially because she was trying to kill him. _Blame it on raging male hormones_, _the fool_. Later on, Ichigo was better able to control himself and rarely ever got_ hard_ when she was around.

Except for now. Zangetsu had noticed the longer his wielder was in her presence, the more his yearning grew. His thoughts turned ever closer to intimate things. Human things and needs. That was why he had encouraged Keiki to stay with Inoue, just to remove temptation from his sight.

But now... when Zangetsu closed his eyes, flowing back to Ichigo's consciousness. Every little thing was being torn down. Ichigo was rationalizing he needed Keiki to be kept within his sight, bad things tended to happen if she was left alone. Then when another part that was decreasing rapidly, argued that he was the one who needed to keep away-not to touch her the way he wanted; it was rebuked roughly. Ichigo used what she had said as further proof that he had to have her close, to show her he cared for her and wanted her.

The Zanpaku-to spirit disagreed. He had seen what those men had done and felt the terrible rage and helplessness that came from seeing a dear one wounded so.. Keiki was damaged deep within her soul; making love to someone like that was... But that was what they both wanted, wasn't it? To take her body, to show her by physical union and caress that she wasn't alone anymore, that they were here for her?

But even that knowledge was irrational.

Zangetsu could not allow himself to possess those feelings anymore.

(*~*) Tsukikage Castle~

"What you said before..."

"You don't believe me?"

The smile chilled Kanzaki's blood. "It's not..that. I just-" _cannot believe a soul could be split into two_.

"The soul cutter of a Shinigami was never meant to lay bare an Element's flesh nor cut the ribbon of their fate, ending their lives so briefly." The silver eyes softened, "None of this was meant to happen. He promised it wouldn't! He swore they wouldn't suffer!"

Surprised at the vehemence and accompanying emotion that the Vasto Lordes showed, Kanzaki questioned in considerably gentler tones. "Who? Who promised to protect the Elements from their fate?"

The answer was spoken in utmost loathing. "Shigekuni Yamamoto. The first soul brought back from the Meido by Keiki's craft."

~To be continued~

AN: sleepy! Anyway, thanks for reading! :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^


	46. Stand in the Rain special CH0

_Had a dream that we were dead, but we pretended that we still lived.  
With no regrets we never bled and we took everything life could give  
And came up broken empty handed in the end  
In the hearts of the blind, something you'll never find is a vision of light  
With the voice of the dead, I'm screaming!_

I don't know who I am anymore  
Not once in life have I been real but I never felt this close before  
I've been looking in your window I've been dressing in your clothes  
I've been walking dead, watching you, long enough to know I can't go on.

_-This Close, Flyleaf_

_~Prologue~_

_-Seireitei- One hundred and eleven years from present time_

_"You're..."_

_"I hardly think that is a question I should like answering."_

_"...a monster like him." Shihoin Yoruichi whispered._

_The flames shot up, intensifying with the emotion of its Kouseitan'i. _

_"People who call others monsters are worse! They're the true monsters! It hurts to be called something you're not! Something you would never be!" her voice rose higher as the flames began to lick the ceiling. Swirling forms and undulating shapes rippled within. "I'll never forgive you! Never!" In the midst of the hatred consuming her, one thought remained. The knowledge of the mark._

_An Elemental could not kill-nor possess the desire to kill a Shinigami._

ShiKai Prequel: Stand In The Rain Chapter.0 : Under the same moon

"So, what is your name, girl?"

It was sometime before Takara understood the question was directed toward her. _Hadn't Ichimaru-san made introductions beforehand?_ She was sure he had. Takara sensed the peculiar lavender eyes searching her face, waiting for the answer.

"Shimizu Tak-"

"I know that." White sleeves billowed in the wind, fingers slipping to hold back the hair lifting onto her face. "What I meant is, what does it mean?"

(*~*) Ren Mimasaka~

A great slice of blue sky, the shade a more vibrant, intense color than the firmament above Soul Society and the Living world, met the upturned hazel eyes. The yellow depths darkened for a flash, a mere second at the hours slipping by like grains of sand in an hourglass.

Counting down until the moment when true night fell.

Mimasaka Ren closed her eyes to the beauty of the sky and ocean, the salty air whipped her ragged reddish-pink locks about her ears and cheeks. Something slithered inside her, slunk through her chest cavity wrapping cold vise-like feelers around her heart.

One more day dying and she took one step closer to the abyss of no return.

(*~*) The Quincy and his group~

In the ruined shell of a great stone house, a man closed his eyes beneath the slender glass frames in enjoyment of the cool, gentle wind caressing his face.

"Kanzaki." Steps crunched through the thick grass stalks growing quite close to the outer edge. It was as if nature was slowly beginning to reclaim what time and humans had abandoned. The glowing orb of Kido light held in the woman's cupped hands, cast a perfect circle of diffuse illumination upon their shadows. "What are you searching for?"

The curve of Kanzaki Karasu's mouth was less amused than sad. "I was just thinking of something the elders used to say."

"Oh..." Sakurai Rizu, former seated officer of the Eighth Company, frowned and tilted her chin to the side questioningly. "What's that?" Her dark hair was coiled up tightly into an upswept knot lending her a very austere look.

"Whenever the wind blows like this...with the scent of ash and flowers in water, that means that those whom this world exists for, are together." he sensed her confusion, "the *Kouseitan'i whose existence knitted the fabric of the worlds."

(*Elements)

"That's a lie!" Rizu hissed, her eyes blazed with a thousand different emotions. "The Kouseitan'i desire nothing but to destroy the world! They are nothing but pure evil, the corruption of absolute power has rotted them to the very core!"

Karasu listened to the ingrained hatred that was written into her being. When only the rustle and whisper of the wind filled the air, he began softly. "Have you ever thought...that maybe..." The pervasive scent of ash changed to blood as the pulsing light of the 'moon' ascended from the veil of the parting clouds. "we are the same as them now?"

_Hated. Despised_. _Hunted_.

(*~*) Akashi ~

The portal to the bleak, white world sealed. The words still rang through his mind, mocking his loyalty. _I gave everything_... _my strength, my life...my home_... the man raised a shaking hand that could no longer grasp the hilt of the sword, burrowing his clawing fingers into the crown of his thick, wavy hair. _My Lord Aizen_...

_Why-why am I useless to you?_

(*~*) Aki~

The creature growled and snapped powerful jaws at the other hulking creatures. Bone masks gleamed dully beneath the light of the 'moon'. These were the Hollows of Assiah, marked apart from their brethren of Hueco Mundo, by the slender violet waning moons tattooed somewhere on their bodies.

The russet-maned lion gnawing contentedly upon the soul's despair, lifted its head briefly, _the_ _scent in the air_..._ ash_.

Something deep within stirred.

Something long-forgotten like an ember, fading, brightening at times flickered at the edges of his consciousness.

_Fire_. _Burning_. _Life_.

Cerulean eyes behind the mask widened.

_Fire had returned_.

~To be continued~

AN: this is a prequel to the main story. Thanks for reading ^^

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^


	47. Two souls, one heart

If you want to play it like a game  
Well, come on, come on, let's play  
Cause I'd rather waste my life pretending  
Than have to forget you for one whole minute

-Crush-Crush-Crush, Paramore

ShiKai CH.45: Two souls, one heart

-Her eyes opened to the overhead light. Water gurgled in her chest and her lungs burned from the sudden oxygen. "What the hell were you thinking?" Ichigo was livid. His face was in her line of sight. At the door Matsumoto and Inoue stood.

"-I-" she coughed violently. _That man_...

"I cannot believe how stupid you are!" He was still raging even though she had long forgotten he was there. "No one wanted me here.." she tilted her head to observe Matsumoto's expression. Her throat felt raw and torn up from the expulsion of the water. "So, I thought it would be better if I went away."

"How could you think that?" He was starting to yell and that was never a good sign. "**I** need you here!"

_Have me over them_..._prove to me that I'm_..

Her eyes narrowed on their faces. Inoue's alight with worry and Matsumoto with her arms crossed under her sizable bosom. Indifference in her aura.

_More precious to you than them_.

"Can I stay at your place?" she remembered to temper the despise smoldering in her gaze, her lashes fluttering down in a slightly coy manner.

"Of course you can! That was the reason why I came." A delicate blush asserted itself on his paler than usual face. "You hadn't seemed yourself earlier so I was going to ask you if you wanted to stay with me-just for tonight!" he said hurriedly, flushing scarlet around the ears at Matsumoto's soft whistle.

"In your bed?" she pretended naiveté.

"N-No!"

"Kurosaki-kun..hesitated. Whatever could it mean, Rangiku-san?" Inoue pouted thoughtfully and tried to arrange her expression in comic pensiveness. Matsumoto's lips thinned as her eyes passed over _her_. "I have no idea, Orihime-chan."

Keiko smiled when they left the room.

Inoue couldn't bear to see her fragile dream world that Matsumoto had shored up, crumble apart little by little at Ichigo's tender-almost painfully awkward gestures and fumbling words for a girl that was not her.

(*~*)

"ICHIGO, MY SON! WHO IS-"

It was harder to say whom was more surprised at their father's sudden break-off of his usual bombastic tones. Karin was at the table, cradling her chin in one hand, pencil in the other; she was used to this sort of thing, it happened every time her brother brought home someone their father didn't recognize. Not that Karin particularly cared, even though her chin did rise the slightest at the unnatural quiet.

Their brother was in the doorway, his arm around the shoulders of a familiar girl.

_That was_-

Yuzu peered around their father's stock-still form, drying her hands with a kitchen towel. "Ms. Kei!"

"Uh..dad, this is..." their brother cleared his throat, looking a little red around the ears, "Keiko. She um-doesn't have any place to stay so..."

Even to Yuzu, Isshin's reaction was beyond the norm.

"As long as she likes." Quiet. Lacking his boundless energy. To Yuzu, their father sounded...almost sad? The emotion nor the countenance Isshin made, quite suited him. Yuzu was too used to his large smiles and loud-happy tones, not the subdued way he spoke or the fact that he never took his eyes off Kei's face.

Even as Ichigo guided her past him to the stairs; Isshin had balled his fists at his sides and closed his eyes tightly as if unwilling to face some kind of horrific reality.

Or _memory_.

(*~*) Tsukikage castle~

"What would you like to eat?" Kanzaki looked over at the small boy whom had lapsed into silence. "I can call up something to be made specifically in the kitchens or-"

"I don't eat." Kotoko curled his small lips in a moue of displeasure. "It is a Terran thing, to require sustenance. To need the flesh of animals and plants to survive."

Kanzaki lowered the cell from his ear, saying slowly, "you're like that woman. The keeper of Tsukikage." Kotoko allowed a slight, questioning look to cloud his expression. He knew of course whom the Soul reaper spoke of.

"I remember she wouldn't take a single bite of anything we offered her. Kagami said she was a Vasto Lordes-"

"-so you thought she desired a soul ripe with despair." Again the slight smirk. The eyes glittered with some unfathomable emotion. Kanzaki shifted his weight uncomfortably. "-Er well, yes."

"Such a mistake comparing us to those foul, lesser beings." Kotoko clucked his tongue disapprovingly, "Vasto Lordes are _Vast Lords_. We once stood proudly as the guardians of the God's seat of Tsukikage before the Royal Guards even existed. That was when...the Kouseitan'i..."

Kanzaki recognized the ancient word for the Elements.

"..existed in harmony."

He tried to keep up. "So, you weren't...originally Hollows-?"

"Of course not!" The fourth General snapped, "the Hollows exist because Soul Society has failed! Because they forgot what their original purpose was! Because-" Kotoko faltered, eyes lowering to the worn flagstone defeatedly. "There was no imbalance to begin with. Soul Society has no purpose save to continuously pass on the human souls to rebirth that have departed from the living. Every..single..one."

(*~*) Tsukikage Castle~

"I'll be working late." Kagami answered lightly to Kimiko's questioning look. His hand slid atop the laptop cover, pushing the screen down. The girl stared at him for a long moment then shrugged, "goodnight, Captain."

"You too." he gave a tiny wave at her back, waiting until the door had closed and her footsteps crunched in the gravel outside. Expelling a shallow breath of relief, he swiveled the desk chair to face the desk and lifted up the screen displaying in clear dimensions the network and all terminals currently online. "Let's see..." he murmured to himself, swiping his finger across the tiny touch-pad in lieu of an external mouse. "All outgoing lines running, all systems are at a quarter capacity. Takara wasn't kidding about test-running the beta-version of Windows 7."

_Wonder where she got it_...he idly propped one arm on the curved bar, resting at an angle in the chair. Lightly he scanned the content streaming to Hisrio's system and nonplussedly discovered the former Noble was viewing the first half of War and Peace. Kagami panned over Kanzaki's wireless terminal and highlighted a video on Youtube.

_'Fuse-Sing like Flyleaf contest Winner_.' "Huh..." he muttered to himself, "isn't that...! Oh, my Gods! She won! She won!" he laughed aloud to himself, picturing Kei's delight at the news. Some of his euphoria faded when he recalled reality.

The most unpleasant task lay ahead.

Scrolling up the redesigned screen, he double-clicked the Internet Explorer icon from the top toolbar which was no doubt a feature of the new operating system. _Vista had never had it_. He observed idly the minute changes in the Aero graphics, admiring the transparent bars lining the top and bottom.

_What am I going to say_..? _Kazeatari insisted it would be easy to simply_..

Sighing to himself, he retrieved from a false drawer at knee-height, a USB cable and his RAZR. Snapping in the slender tapered end to the USB hub on the side of the Laptop, Kagami then proceeded to connect the cell to the Live call.

Drumming fingers atop the warm Maplewood desk, he watched the numbers dial. Lifting the slim phone to his ear, he waited until the muted beeping had ceased and the screen read that the other party had accepted the call. Kagami was just surprised it had taken so long for them to answer.

"Hello, this Urahara Shoten, we are closed at-" the voice was decidedly male.

"Kisuke, cut the crap. It's me, Nanatsu Kagami. Listen, we have something that might cure Keiko's amnesia..."

(*~) Within a memory-?~

He was dreaming; he was sure of it! There was no place in his world that looked like this. Pale sand that sparkled, green reeds a shade darker than emerald, and far off...the lull of the ocean. Ichigo glanced up and down the stretch where he found himself, nothing but a slender footpath lead forward and backward. He was the only blemish in the light world, a spot of blackness in the midst of muted land. _Where was Zangetsu?_ It was in neither form as he discovered with some disconcertion.

The strap over his shoulder was missing as well as the bandaged hilt. Scowling, he looked down over the black cutaway coat, tattered at the edges. This was most definitely his ban-kai form, but where... his hand closed over empty air_. Dammit. Without the sword at his side, he felt he defenseless. Weak_. But that wasn't true, he still had his fists if need be even though he had never gotten a hang of Kido or any of the Shinigami arts.

Maybe..he should ask _her_, when her memory came back that is, to teach him some of them. Ichigo much preferred the idea of Kei to that Vizard woman with the weird mask. He had seen her flowing, dance-like movements in Hueco Mundo, and even Urahara had admitted that he had known her as being an excellent swordswoman. Capable of holding her own against the best Soul Society had to offer. **With** _her memories_..

_Without, she was as vulnerable as his sisters. Even with that blast of reiatsu that proved Urahara's point that her power was just dormant within her;_ Ichigo refused to believe she could protect herself if they sent her back to Tsukikage. _Some part of him..._

_...didn't want her to remember_. But, that was..no. It wasn't selfish! If she didn't remember, then she wouldn't be in so much pain. If it was as Urahara had surmised that as she regained her power that her memories would come back...

_"I can build a Gigai like what I had given Ms. Kuchiki...before. All you have to do is ask."_

An artificial body that would eventually absorb all of her spiritual power. _So one day... I can't do that to her!_ Warring with himself, Ichigo moved on mindlessly forward. It would be wrong without her consent to seal away her power. But that...

_"What do you mean?" he demanded roughly. _

_Urahara had pulled him a little more away from the others, continuing on in quiet tones, "a case of amnesia like what Ms. Yamamoto has now can only result in the total recovery of her memories. You know what this means, don't you, Ichigo-kun?"_

_He could only shake his head. _

_"She'll go back to them."_

_"But-!"_

_"You know she doesn't belong here. There cannot be permanent arrangements because of what she is."_

_"Meaning?" he couldn't withhold the accusatory tone from his voice_.

_"The dead aren't meant to be with the living. That is a line that cannot be crossed." Urahara had said simply_.

But if...

_"However, if her soul was melded to the Gigai then she could live as a human."_

The choice was one that needed thought. It was all so overwhelming that Ichigo couldn't even begin to consider a future like what was being offered. She would be powerless, but she could be human. With a form his family could see, in a body that would live a normal human lifespan...

_I want that_, he realized suddenly. To be able to walk hand-in-hand down the streets of Karakura, to live with her eventually in their own apartment. To have everything a normal couple had. To Ichigo the greatest thing would be to provide for her with his own hands and not rely on others. But, that future was only possible...

_"Of course," Urahara had smiled humorlessly, "Kagami-san would never forgive me and we'd most likely have another war brewing."_

_"Why?" Ichigo didn't understand what could be so wrong with Kei becoming human._

_"...You wouldn't understand." The shopkeeper refused to elaborate further. Maybe only because Inoue approached them, making the strangest face. _If Ichigo hadn't known better, he'd have thought that she was upset about something. Nah...but that was probably all in his imagination, after all Inoue and Kei were-

He stopped and stared at the expanse before him.

The mouth of the cave emitted absolute darkness, but before it was a field of blood red flowers. The scent of ash and copper wafted toward him.

_Flowers...that smelled of blood and ash_..._this was-!_

(*~*)

The sound of the sea had grown more audible, as if the pounding surf was nothing more than a few paces away. Kei lifted her eyes up and down the stretch, tucking back behind her ear, a strand of hair that had blown across. _Is there no end to this?_ She had been walking seemingly for hours and yet the sky hadn't changed. _Night hadn't fallen_.

_The sky_, her head tilted back to regard the thick cumulus clouds obscuring the blue expanse. _There's no place in the worlds that the sand is an endless vista, except_...

_I've stepped into a memory. Only once_... she grasped handfuls of her skirts, hiking them over her legs to allow freer movement. _was everything so vast_. She ran up the path, her steps lightened, for seconds it was only the hammering of her heart in her ears and the strands tangling in her mouth.

_At the end, there he_-

The sound of the surf faded.

Silence reigned in the mist-laden cove.

_will be_.

Before the cave stood a tall man, the ragged black cloak he wore lifted and dusted the tops of the red flowers. It was a scene from her nightmares. The place where her emotions had become the greatest sacrifice. This was...Touda's cave and he was the one whom she despised the most in the world.

The Earth element.

Kei's let go her skirts. One hand rose to slip through her hair, her fingers closed around the slim ornament threaded through the strands. Tiny chains strung from two crimson cherries topped the silver stick. A gift from Byakuya's father, then a little boy over nine hundred years ago. She had mourned its loss during the flight from Seireitei...but here. In the memory, it existed again.

She tucked the forked ends outward, the red beads dug into her sweaty palm, but she ignored it all. In her mind only one consciousness existed and that was to destroy.

_One blow_. Lightly the pad of her finger was punctured, another red gleamed now in the grayness. That's all I need. Her body pitched forward, her legs confined in the stalks of emerald green slowed her momentum. _Almost_-

The ornament lanced his upper shoulder.

He turned.

"..No-!" Kei saw his face. An instant of exclamation from the wound to the surprise lighting up his amber eyes. "Ichigo?" she half-cried, her hands flying to her mouth. _How could I-what have I-? _

"Kei?" he winced as he spoke, orange brows snapping together, his mouth creasing in a scowl.

_I stabbed him...in the back_. _How could I have...mistaken him for-?_

Another horrifying thought came to her. Her hands slid upward, clasping her head, fingers crooking into her scalp, pulling the skin of her forehead taut. _Does this mean I've forgotten...that I cannot remember his face?_

She groaned deeply, her chest reverberating with it. _No...I blanked out his face so many times that I...I deliberately...I only see his outline. His voice. The curve of his smile_. But nothing else...how..how am I

"Kei!" she jolted when he shook her by the shoulders. "What's wrong?"

She tried to pull out of his grasp. "You could never understand!"

His irises lit up with emotion. "Hey, what is it? Tell me!"

Kei twisted violently, shaking her head back and forth, strands of hair lashed her cheeks. _No-No-No-don't make me-!_

"Stop it, Kei! Tell me what's wrong!" Ichigo wrestled her down, her legs gave way beneath her. Scowling he stared into her face, her screwed shut eyes, her lips a thin line of pain. "Kei..." he took a deep breath, his expression softening. "...is it me? Do I..remind you of..something painful?"

Instantly her body ceased its weak thrashing. Her fair head lolled in the grasses, tilted at an angle some would've found coquettish. "How did you...?" her teeth caught at her fuller bottom lip, tearing the skin. A thin red line rose to the surface, her eyes filled. _Crying is useless_. _I wanted for so long to...but now..how can I?_

She was surprised by the brush of his lips and flick of his tongue along her damp cheek. "Shhh..I'm here." he whispered, his breath ghosted along her lashes, setting the sensitive nerves tingling. "Ichigo, how did you.." Kei hesitated, he was lying almost full-length against her. The position would've been awkward had anyone come upon them at that moment, but strangely the usual blush and fluttering embarrassment had left. Ichigo showed no signs of the discomfiture that had plagued him before. _Pity_. Kei observed him through her lashes. _He was much more adorable when he would blush at any little provocative advance_.

"What are you thinking?" his fingertips trailed down the side of her face.

"Why do you want to know?" she countered, feeling him unconsciously shift against her thigh. Their legs were entangled so that made any movement impossible without touching the other in a somewhat intimate manner. Kei was very aware of the fact that he was straddling her without seeming to do so.

"I can't help it, I'm curious about everything about you." Ichigo said honestly.

"Is that so?" she looked deeply into his eyes, searching their depths for any weaknesses.

"It is."

"Ah. Well then, name ten things you know about me and for every one that's true, you get to ask a question afterwards and I may choose to answer and I may not."

"Only ten?" he sounded a little disappointed.

She laughed a little, "go on!"

"Alright then..." he scowled faintly, his forehead creasing in thought. "You like..cherries, butterflies, you excel at all Shinigami skills-"

"Wrong!"

Like a kid, Ichigo pouted comically. "with what?"

"I don't excel at **all** Shinigami skills." she said triumphantly. "You've lost a question, now you have nine left, so continue."

Ichigo looked a little miffed. "Hmph...well you like solitude and-" he eyed her reaction carefully. "You like to read a lot." Kei pursed her lips, "correct."

"You..dislike the color red because it reminds you of something hurtful."

Her eyes darkened, her mouth tightened.

"You play beautifully at the piano and have a fairly pleasant singing voice."

"Perhaps." She closed one eye.

"You-what number was that?"

"Six." Even though it had been eight, Kei found she didn't want their little game to end so soon.

"Oh, well-um...you like to cook elaborate foreign dishes having gotten sick once by eating traditional Japanese style Kimchi."

Her brow furrowed slightly. _I did, but how did he_..._know?_

"You don't like to be thought of as compassionate and sometimes that makes people think you don't care about anything, but that doesn't stop you from taking extra work in secret from the other Divisions."

"Two more." she reminded hastily. _No one knows I do that_.

A faint smirked curled his mouth. "That's easy. You like to play _games_ -"

Her breath caught.

"-like chess with Kanzaki, but you don't like to lose. And..." he hesitated again, a noticeable flush crept onto his cheeks. "You love me." he whispered hoarsely.

Slowly, deliberately, her hand rose to his face, cradling his cheek. Beneath her palm, his skin radiated heat. "You lost two questions altogether."

"Wha-"

Kei smiled, tenderly rubbing circles with her thumb. "I'll never tell...which ones they were either."

(*~*) Unknown realm: Meido~

There was a fetid stench wafting from the yawning maw of the cave. Byakko's sensitive nostrils quavered in repulsion. Touda leaned forward, tilting her head from side to side. "Are you sure this is it?" she asked of Soryu when she straightened. It was almost imperceptible, but the Dragon's jaw tightened, the thick leather bracer covering the muscled forearm flexed. The large tendony hands clenched and unclenched. Narrowed eyes the color of the most vibrant blue stared ahead into the void.

"Yes..deep within..Genbu slumbers."

~To be continued~

AN I'm so sleepy...*yawn* thanks for reading!

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	48. Stand in the Rain special CH01

So take me  
So deliver me, help me  
To disregard the reality of day  
To forget the tribulations of day  
To stay in the dreamscape of night  
And to stay in this dream of night  
For me to think of you for eternity  
Where I can be thinking of you forever

-Clover.

ShiKai Prequel: Stand In The Rain CH. 01: Interlude

"Notice something?"

"No. What?" Kazeatari kept her gaze affixed ahead, never straying to the desolation surrounding them. Kagami lightly kicked a small piece of rubble across the main road. "We haven't yet seen a single human or for that matter, anything _alive_."

"Unless you count Hollows." Kei strode out from behind a building across the way, Takara at her heels. Kagami beheld a gravity within the depths of the reddish flecked eyes that he hadn't glimpsed for almost five hundred years. "They outnumber the populace by at least one hundred to every one human."

"You required-?" his glance was drawn to the slender black sword held in one small hand to the other silver crescent moon one in the other. "This sword has no wielder currently," she said perfunctorily, not seeming to notice the air pulsate around the tang at her voice. "And hasn't for a very long time."

"Is there a reason for it?" his brow rose.

Kei calmly sheathed the black blade, "no. Or rather ..I believe his appearance frightened them."

Appearance-? This brought to mind a large blue-scaled Dragon with great jaws open, revealing rows of fangs that glowed like the finest pearl mollusk. Kagami shuddered inwardly_. How close had those pearly little fangs come to biting off his head? Too many to count_. "How bad could **It** be?"

"He." Kei said rather testily, eyes narrowing. "**His** name is Tensa Zangetsu. This is the ban-kai release." Her left hand rose, two fingers pressed together to administer the rite of dismissal. Takara came up silently to Keiko's left, Haretosora's light blue scabbard held loosely at her side.

Kagami studied the wielder-less sword more closely_. Where is it-?_ His eyes squinted, searching for the spiritual form of the Zanpaku-to. _I can't_...the sunshine of the warm afternoon faded, darkness seeped in and only the intense blue surrounding the sheathed blade served as illumination. All sound became muted. _It...it's sad?_

To his amazement, the blue flowed back, solidifying into a tall figure cloaked in black. A hood concealed the upper part of the face, while the arms encircled the oblivious Fire Kouseitan'i.

The blackness drained away. The sun shone warm on his back, Kagami blinked several times to rid his vision of the figure. It was still there. Slightly immaterial. Hazy, faint at the edges. It was definitely a male. _Strange_..._she seems almost insensible to it_. He watched as the discontent radiating from the sword increased as Kei drew invisible sigils over the hilt.

_Can nobody see it-? _

"-he asked me to. So, I thought there wouldn't be any harm in combining our attacks."

_I've never seen a Zanpaku-to so desirous of staying with its Kouseitan'i_.

"Tensa Zangetsu...isn't Getsu-" Kazeatari began.

"Yes," Kei smiled faintly, "Getsu-ten as well as another..." her smile faded. "Engetsu. Are alike. Engetsu's form is similar in structure to Zangetsu. Now Getsu-ten on the other hand was as you know Yamamoto Keiko's Zanpaku-to, until that is, it was absorbed by Maouen. Thereby losing its corporeal form and melding into whatever I wished it to be."

"You mean it resembled the others?" Kazeatari frowned.

Kei laughed a little sardonically under her breath, "Getsu-ten in its previous shikai was the mirror-image of the sword that killed me in my third lifetime."

The spirit hovering behind her, bowed its head, pressing closer to her body.

"So, if you changed Getsu-ten's form..." the wind wielder flicked her fan briskly back and forth in agitation. "Did it lose or gain power?"

"Getsu-ten was always the superior Zanpakuto to begin with. Both Engetsu and Zangetsu are meant as cutting weapons alone. However, the Getsu-ten embodies both the darkness...and the light. Au revoir, Tensa. K-"

_Kaishoku_. The single word command of dismissal.

It was about to fall from her lips when he interceded.

"W-wait!" _Damn it._ Silently he cursed the strong emotions of the Zanpaku-to for influencing his judgment.

"Why?" she looked confused.

"Be-Because!" Furiously he wracked his mind for any convincing reason for her to keep the sword. _I can't tell her what I'm feeling-! Anyone who cannot read emotions would never understand. Keiki..._ "I just thought it was a good idea. I mean you said it yourself about the destructive power Mugetsu and Getsuga Tenshou combined accomplished."

Her gaze dropped to the black hilt, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep it for the day. You did say we were heading toward Apollonia. I sensed a group of medium-level spirit pressures passing through there last night. Chances are we'll come across them sooner or later."

"Y-yeah." From the corner of his eye, he observed the sword's reaction. _That color_...

Briefly Kei closed her eyes, then opened them, shrugging slightly. "He said I could wield him as long as I wanted."

Kazeatari snorted, "as if he had a choice! Even a Zanpaku-to contracted like-Takara's Haretosora would have no choice if you were to so command it."

"I like to ask first." Kei replied, neatly tossing Maouen from her back into the air. The bird transformed and swooped about their heads, crying its particular mournful wail. "It's very unprincipled to simply manipulate your position in such a way."

Kagami glimpsed the silent happiness of the Zanpaku-to as Kei slipped the long black scabbard through her sash; feeling it wash over him in cresting waves. Somehow an aching sadness made it painful to swallow the longer he watched the spirit trailing after the Kouseitan'i's shadow.

_That sword...oh Keiki...he wants nothing but for you to wield him_.

~To be continued~

AN: ~.~ sleepy...

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^


	49. Stand in the Rain special CH02

_One day I'm gonna forget your name,  
And one sweet day, you're gonna drown in my lost pain._

Fear is only in our minds,  
Taking over all the time.  
Fear is only in our minds but it's taking over all the time.  


_-Sweet Sacrifice, Evanescence _

Shikai prequel: Stand In The Rain Chapter.02: Interlude. two

"What?" she sounded vaguely annoyed.

He glanced to her face, faintly disconcerted at being caught. "I didn't say anything."

"I know you didn't say anything, but why do you keep staring at me?"

"I-I wasn't-I mean not at you-" dammit. His chagrined gaze slid back to the figure. The edge of its cloak lifted in the breeze; Kei pushed some of her hair from her face, frowning as she did so. "What precisely do you mean by _that_?"

(*rough translation: Spirit sight)

_I can't tell her_. The*Konjoukei that was his gift, something that was only his, sometimes was a curse. Kagami reflected on it now, wishing the Fire Kouseitan'i possessed his sight. "Nothing." With effort the closed his eyes, releasing a tiny burst of his reiatsu to disperse the emotion-tinged air. Kei seemed to sense it for her lilac eyes narrowed, her mouth thinned as she added, "you're hiding something."

He was aware of Kazeatari and Takara's searching glances.

"And you're imagining things. By the way..." his hand lightly tapped the hilt sticking out from the crude knapsack slung over his shoulder. "You never said how you had been able to retrieve the Hokuto-Shichisei." Deliberately he held her gaze, watching her slowly turn askance, presenting the delicate line of her profile to him.

"When I was formally sentenced to the Senzaikyu, all of my things were seized and held as evidence of my guilt. Lady Yoruichi was the one in possession of them, the Shichisei, Gekkouha and..Hakuya. How did you get them all back, without-?"

_Without __killing_. The word hung there, a bitter reminder of the unbroken seal of power they all carried. Kei loosely clasped her arm about her stomach, the other limp at her side. "It wasn't...easy."

_"I'll never forgive you! Never!"_

_The words themselves were meaningless without the fulfillment of the venomous hate that burned in her veins. The world behind her eyelids blackened, her gritted teeth grated, her hand longed for the slim black staff of the Tsukuyomi. With it...with it..._

_Mugetsu._

_The woman could be leisurely cut apart piece by tiny piece._

_Oh, how she would enjoy that._

_But...but...her hand shook, fingers curling against her palm._

_I..can't. She wanted to scream in rage. The invisible mark on her palm burned with the knowledge of her desire. A warning. A reminder of her powerlessness. _

_I could..._

_Her head rose, eyes lifting to the woman's determined, fierce expression and the blade she wielded as if it were her own. Hokuto Shichisei. The sword he made._

_Kill her._

_The air resonated with a soft cry. Her hand slowly reached for the curved horn guard stuck through her sash. How did he feel when he was bringing it to life-forming such a wicked sword with his own two hands-what-_

_Bitterness._

_Her fingertips were inches above it. The enmity poured from the slender Tanto length blade. _

_It's..._

_The brief intake of breath in the sweltering atmosphere was the antecedent to the swift crackle of the legendary Shunpo master's step._

_His._

_The droplet of blood ran down the thin channel in the center of the glistening silver tang. Kei swiped outward, her hand dripped red wrapped tightly around the blade. The woman was frozen, the Shichisei still held unwaveringly despite the tip of the silver sword hovering at the corner of her golden-green eye._

_*Chimahou. The knowledge of it is...even if the body forgets, the wound is still there. Within the blood._

_(*Lit. Blood magic) _

_Kei tilted her head at an angle, her lips curving into the smile she had entered the quarters of the Tenshi-heisoban with. _

_She had the power to utterly destroy the woman whom had called her a Monster. _

_And all those whom had done the same._

_Engetsu's wielder._

_Her look of mirth deepened. The sword devoured the memory held within her blood._

_One day...one sweet day she would tear all those whom __he __loved to pieces. _

_**He **__would drown in the depths of despair before she finally ended his misery._

_Just like Shihoin Yoruichi._

_"Seisatsu...Hakuya."_

_*Seisatsu: reflection)_

_The world became a blinding white darkness._

(*~*)

"I despise this..." she tipped her open palm upward. Staring at the creases and perfect, unmarked skin. _Cut it open..and it'll be there_. "No matter how I try to break the threads of fate...I -I can't!" her eyes hardened, slanting down with the force of the emotion gripping her being. _Nothing will ever change._

"I know." Kagami said softly. Kazeatari looked away, saying nothing though tightening the grip she maintained on the elegant shikai release of Kazekiri. The immaterial form of the Zanpaku-to spirit looked on, the edges of his thin mouth curved downward. _You know it, don't you? _

_The dark blue ribbon...the one that your eyes turn to, the one that is bound so tightly around her wrist_. Normal souls possess the red ribbon of fate. Those whom are cursed to die...

(*~*)

Tensa Zangetsu watched as the ribbon coiled about the slender wrist.

Shortened.

Once again the Kouseitan'i's existence had decreased.

And he was powerless to stop it.

~To be continued~

AN: I have the **present** arc almost concluded. Then we go into darker (can it get any more?) more complex arc that will eventually lead to the longer one that will be the conclusion. :) thanks for reading!

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^


	50. Stand in the Rain special CH03

_Never look back 'cause it hurts.  
My heart is so cold.  
I feel the frost, Never look back.  
I feel the darkness on my shoulder,  
The frost is in my heart.  
_

_-Frozen tears, Within Temptation_

ShiKai Prequel: Stand In The Rain:

"You're only prolonging their agony."

"I am of the philosophy that a single effort is better than none at all." Kagami replied coolly to Fire's dark disapproval. The tiny things chirped pitifully within the framework of the nest made of twigs and dried grasses. "See?" he held up one of the little birds. "Their adult feathers are starting to sprout. I can only guess the remains we found belonged to their mother."

"They will not survive long in this environment." Kei maintained insistently. "You must put them down now before they suffer more."

His look was sardonic. "I don't suppose you see killing them as suffering."

She stared at him steadily, "you know what it is I'm alluding to."

He did but he chose to pretend rather than face the reality of their world. "I'm not asking you for anything-I don't require your assistance. Indeed I'm even surprised you would be of the mindset that I would need it." Very studiously he avoided her eyes. "..considering how **worthless** you are at everything."

Silence fell. Kei had gone as still as a statue, paling.

It was perhaps harsh. Possibly the most hurtful thing he could've hurled in her face as bold as any accusation yet lacking the force in his mild tone. "I'm sure there is someone who could attest to the greatness of your abilities were he in fact still-**alive**." The words formed and flowed from his mouth, his azure eyes lifted to her face to find her marble white.

Only the red flecks within the violet sea, burned like embers in dying coal.

"But, then I suppose no _human_ could live for three hundred years."

That did it. Like a child whom had been reprimanded by a guardian, her expression took on that of deep hurt before she phased from sight. Kazeatari let out a breath she had been holding, slipping her arm from a wide-eyed Takara's shoulders. "Was that truly necessary?" her loose coffee brown hair lay silken and thick draping her white-kimono clad shoulders.

Kagami said nothing, perceiving his words would make no difference in the mind-set of the woman. In the palm of his hand, cradled by his fingers, the tiny spot of life cheeped feebly.

"We're just trying to survive, aren't we..." his voice was barely a whisper. In the distance Fire's reiatsu had faded. Kazeatari had already turned away, Takara still stood there looking after him.

"..little one."

(*~*)

She wasn't angry. She knew enough of herself and him to know she could never become angry at him. Had any other spoken such words to her...the actions would've been different.

It was the **truth** of the matter.

The reality of the event that had transpired three hundred years previously that caused the most anguish within the depths of Fire's memory.

Kei ignored the whipping branches stirred up in the motion of her flight.

The greenery of the land gave way to the crumbling mouth of civilization. Apollonia. Once the fair jewel at the outskirts of the West, like the great Acropolis of ancient Greece; all that remained were ruins of stone and broken arches that spanned the length of Seireitei's Eastern gate. Once too. Apollonia had possessed immense gates of carved rock.

But then the masked-ones came. Large beasts of fur and claws and screams that rent the soul, robbing it of life and filling it with despair. The Hollows came in droves until the fortified city fell. All that lay within were devoured.

Kei passed the arcane symbols of the intertwined God-beasts.

Byakko and Suzaku.

The white tiger and the phoenix. Divine protectors of the worlds. It was saddening to know that the sacred seal had at last broken and the guardians hadn't returned in time to help those whom still believed in them.

Her eyes lowered. The city looked untouched from a distance. One could almost believe tragedy had never happened there.

She continued on. Soon civilization too disappeared and gave way to wide open spaces. This was the edge of the East, rocky cliffs and stretches of sand that seemed to go on for miles. _It was also_... she froze.

In the distance, in the forest paths she had left...a battle was being fought.

Several different spiritual pressures of varying densities clashed with small, grittier ones.

_Adjuchas_, if she was any judge. _Interesting_. She hadn't expected anyone but of Taichou class capable of handling an Fifteenth generation Hollow. Perhaps the abilities of these were greater than she had first assumed-?

_Even so_...

Kei crossed the distance in the length of a heartbeat. Her hand briefly touched the coal black and red-diamond patterned hilt of Tensa Zangetsu stuck through her sash.

.._these Shinigami had most likely been sent to kill or capture them and that she could not allow_.

(*~*)

"*Kunrin..Shirahime!"

(*Reign)

Ice exploded from the ground, encasing the first wave of the creatures within an icy prison. Immediately the woman wielding the shikai release sword and scepter spun toward another, her motion as graceful as a dancer's. "Dani!"

"Right!" A pale-haired teenager in the flowing black robes of the Shinigami, released her Zanpaku-to in a fitful blast. Cold mist curled up from the ground, forming into the muscular scaled body of a Dragon. "Freeze and destroy.."

(*~*)

"Surveyors, huh." Kei observed the two Shinigami stand against the swarm of Hollows. Farther behind them, another group held their swords at the ready, nervously watching on as the two _Gaijin_ it seemed, made quick work of the Adjuchas.

_Those others_... she discerned the dissimilar states of their uniforms. _Could it be-?_

_Others cast out from Soul Society like us-?_

~To be continued~

AN: The 46th chapter of the main story will be rewritten. Please enjoy the prequel :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments~!

Reviews appreciated ^-^


	51. Stand in the Rain special CH04

ShiKai Prequel: Stand In The Rain

Inconceivable though it was, that anyone could have survived this long without being devoured by the rampant Hollows, Kei made a cursory examination of the encampment located about half a mile from the impromptu battle. A force field of Kido set up around the perimeter was easy enough to dismantle with a few flicks of Tokimahou, reversing the area to a time before the space had been sealed.

Kei's gaze went around the narrow patch of flattened grass, trampled down by many feet. A small circle of polished stones formed a blackened inner ring where a fire had been started. An old-fashioned Dutch oven sat on the ground with its lid askew. She walked over to it, dropping easily to a crouch, her fingers tapped the lid making a dull ringing sound. _Cast iron_. Unusually cold too for being out in the glade like it was. _Hadn't they hunted?_ She puzzled over the lack of animal bones or feathers that littered their own space before Touda cleaned up.

Rising, she espied a small stack of bedrolls piled up at the base of a young sapling. These too, she examined, discovering them to contain trace remnants of reiatsu. _Kagami could read this_... she smoothed over the wrinkles of the thick quilt spread over her knees. From within one, something small slipped out. Kei reached for it, recognizing immediately the item for what it was. _This is a seated officer's badge_..._from Kyoraku's Company_. Her thoughts turned to the Shinigami she had seen, trying to remember whom Lisa had said was the new Fourth seat. _A woman, wasn't it-?_

Kei refolded the bedroll, making sure to place the armband in the center. Laying it aside, she paused to listen intently for any signs of the Shinigami returning. Hearing nothing but the distant clang of swords still, she moved onto the satchel of medical supplies stowed beneath the last roll.

_Someone must be from Fourth_, she thought, glancing through the styptic ointments and rolls of gauze and cotton bandages. _How strange_...replacing the bag with a tiny frown on her lips, Kei stood, dusting her hands off. _I never would've dreamed that anyone from Unohana's Squad would be here_. _Guess it takes all kinds._

Though her senses weren't as heightened as some; she still felt the approach of the Shinigami. _They're coming back. I'd better go_...Quickly her eyes passed over the small glade making sure she had left nothing out of place. A few moments later, satisfied that everything had been put back, Kei snapped her fingers releasing the flow of time.

_No matter how much she despised the thought of turning back. Kagami and the others had to be told of_ **them**.

(*~*)

"I see you are surprised." The woman possessed a fine cultured voice carrying just the faintest hint of an accent he couldn't place in her words. "I'm not actually." Kanzaki managed to laugh a little deprecatingly, noting the woman easily matched his long stride unlike Sakurai or Shimizu Kimiko.

"You were-beyond amazing back there." He admitted unaffectedly.

Her dark face transformed into a serene smile. "Not merely 'I'." The Gaijin Shinigami corrected gently. "Shirahime as well."

"Shira-? Oh! The Zanpaku-to!" Kanzaki exclaimed, glancing to the gold-detailed hilt. In its release state, the silver tang became diamond-planed sheets of frosted ice and the sheathe became a crystal-topped scepter. It was one of the most elegant shikai states he had ever seen. Which led him to think of another, more celebrated Zanpaku-to. That of the Soutaicho's niece, Yamamoto-Hisakata Keiko. Her ban-kai was said to represent the moon in all its facets.

Kanzaki wondered then if any of the seated-_correction_. Former seated officers had ever witnessed its release state. Surely only those highest like the Taichous and the Fukutaichous had been allowed a glimpse of such a wonder. "Have you.." then he faltered, blinking owlishly behind his glasses.

"What?" Zoe tilted her head to the side, regarding him placidly.

"No. It's nothing. Just my Zanpaku-to telling me something ridiculous." Kanzaki shook it off, determinedly blocking out Shoukyaku's excited chattering. "Don't say that." Zoe chastised gently, "the spirit of a Ghost cutter is your greatest ally and friend. Never belittle the bond between you."

"Um.." awkwardly he scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah. You just don't know Shoukyaku though. But.." he laughed a little self-consciously. "What I um-was curious about was if you had ever seen Hisakata Keiko-san's sword release?" Even to him it sounded silly and he winced once the sentence hung a few moments in the air.

To his surprise, the woman grew solemn, her countenance altering. "No, I haven't. I believe it was only once that anyone ever saw her fabled ban-kai and they were mostly students to boot."

His eyes widened. "Really? I thought it was something only the higher-ups got to see!"

Zoe stared straight ahead, "It was the first real sparring match of the third year students. Yamamoto-Soutaicho attended as well as Ukitake Jushiro-Taichou and Kyoraku Shunsui of Eighth." Sakurai caught up to them; Kanzaki knew she was listening intently.

"They say Hisakata-san released the Zanpaku-to without a release command. Which is something completely unheard of. They say only the most powerful can release their swords with just their **will** that way. However even that is unimportant, what is however...was that she asked him-the oldest and most powerful Shinigami alive to spar with her."

"Yamamoto-Soutaicho!" Kanzaki exclaimed. "You're not joking-?"

"No." Zoe said calmly. "I'm not. Yamamoto didn't though..he wouldn't fight her. Even when she accused him of being afraid. I don't know quite what it was she said, but they say his fury was blacker than the devil itself."

(*~*)

It didn't surprise Kei that he wouldn't speak to her or even question her about her whereabouts. Water just wasn't that kind-or some might say...he simply didn't care. Considering either would have been disregarding his actions up until that morning.

"The huntress is back!"

Her glance went from his rigid back to the few articles of clothing spread out over the large boulders to dry in the sun. "Yes...I don't suppose Byakko could've taken over for hunting duties even if I hadn't returned."

"Nope." Kazeatari's sleeves were tied up. "you're the breadwinner here in a reverse kind of sacred femininity."

She grinned, "don't you mean the Lioness protecting the Pride?"

Kazeatari rolled her eyes slightly, "nah. Lions are noble, magnificent creatures. I just can't associate the word **magnificent** with you."

They stared at each other for a long moment. Each simultaneously saying:

"Bitch."

Kei smirked. "You know it."

"Undoubtedly." Kazeatari sighed, "come on. You have to pull your own weight here. Where were you-? and there's some of **your** clothes over there that still need washing."

"No! No! No!" The other wailed in distress. "I utterly loathe washing clothes! Kaze~!"

(~-~)

"-as I was saying. This is a servant's task." They knelt at the bank of the stream, hands plunged into the icy water. "I don't mind," Takara said cheerfully, rubbing the two sides of the fabric together, in an effort to get it as clean as possible.

"Look! My hands are all wrinkly and -and I'm going to need cream after this-!" Kei fretted, staring remorsefully down at her fingers.

"You know." Assiduously Kazeatari worked on her garment. "I'm beginning to think it was much better without your constant complaining."

"Well then..." her point made. Kei sat back on her folded legs, looking pleased with herself. "Can I go now?"

Wind snorted after a moment, "of course not."

Instantly her mood fell. "Why not!"

"Because..." Kazeatari swirled the white sash through the water once more. "You're not finished and...what was it you found that made you come back..?"

Kei looked down at her hands, pale beneath the frigid water. "The others we sensed-the ones we believed were a hunting party..they're deserters like us."

"What makes you so sure of that?" At once Kazeatari's voice had sharpened.

"Two were surveyors. They wore the badge of the Squad one. Among the rest, was the Fourth seat of Kyoraku's Squad and one or two from Unohana's. There were also a number of others that I wasn't able to identify."

"Ah, so that's what it is then. Just a smattering of Shinigami..well I suppose in a way that's good news." Kazeatari laid aside the one she had finished and took up another. "Not necessarily so." Kei rejoined lightly. "Unless you were of the mind that the Hollows might be so busy consuming their group whilst we go through that area that they wouldn't think of bothering us."

"No. I was more thinking that it was better that they **weren't** after us...you know we cannot kill while the limiter of the soul remains."

Fire's eyes dropped, her hand fisted slackly. "To be rid of it...we need someone strong enough."

"In reality that is impossible save for the other like us. Earth." Kazeatari said carefully. "And that in itself wouldn't accomplish anything."

"It wouldn't. So, speak no more of **it**." Lavender eyes closed briefly, her chest rising and falling with the soft intake of breath. "What we need is someone whom wouldn't know the kind of power they held at their fingertips. Someone-"

"-who was an idiot." Kazeatari finished for her. "And just where are we going to find someone who can both defeat us and not realize like the retainers of old that our swords are pledged to them?"

Kei forced a laugh even as Takara leaned forward, blue eyes bright.

"No one exists like that!"

"Hey, what about me?"

"What about you?" Kazeatari glanced at the girl's eager face.

Well.." The blond spread her hands out, "we could stage a mock battle-just make it real enough so that the limiter would be satisfied- what?" Takara stopped midsentence as Kei shook her head, smiling.

"Your enthusiasm for being of use is appreciated however..." Fire said. " That would never work."

"Aw! Why?" Takara pouted.

"Because. Haretosora's spiritual density isn't thick enough to counter blows against either of our weapons in ban-kai." Kei paused going on more kindly. "It isn't a lack of ability. It is just the way of the world. There are those who are stronger and those whom possess less..strength. Haretosora isn't lacking in capacity of spirit, I should know since I wielded your sword once a long time ago."

"Y-you mean-?"

"Is that so difficult to believe?" Kei's smile carried a hint of sarcasm. "Any single one of the pantheon of Zanpaku-to spirits under an element's command can be wielded on a whim. Now, this was oh-around three to maybe bordering on four hundred years ago, so you weren't even born then when I chose Haretosora as the weapon I would carry into my next incarnation."

_Did that thing just vibrate a moment ago when she said that?_ Kazeatari only partially listening to what the other said, watched the long scabbard lying in the grass by Kei's hip, tremble again, clattering in its sheathe.

"I guess that makes sense." Takara said after a moment, "well yeah! Like how you're carrying that other sword! Tensa Zangetsu-san!"

"-san..." An unwilling smile twitched on Kei's lips, oblivious to the sword's reaction. "He'd be happy to hear you say that. But even so, I'd rather not have our paths cross those of the Shinigami."

"If we were careful-" Kazeatari began.

"You don't understand." Kei interrupted smoothly. "I'm not merely making conjecture on their purpose for being here." So as not to draw attention to herself, she slipped her small hands from the water, quickly placing her remaining pile nearer Kazeatari while she continued. "Kaze...those Shinigami..they were fighting Hollows descended from the Fifteenth generation."

"Fif..teenth?" Takara attempting to follow the conversation had become lost immediately.

"..yes." Kei said tiredly. "The decent of Hollows is much like the humans way of mapping historical family trees in family bibles. In this case however, the Twentieth...is the first generation upon which all others were born from."

"But, Hollows...aren't born." Takara struggled, the scarf in her lap forgotten. "They were originally humans who died and became malevolent souls because for some reason or another they couldn't pass on."

"Takara, do you believe an imbalance would exist if **all **the human souls in the worlds were guided to their next reincarnations and Soul Society was just rest-a place for a brief respite on their journey?"

Taken aback, the girl hesitated. "I-I don't know. I mean that's what everyone's taught...so I really don't..."

"It's fine. We'll discuss that some other time. What's important now is that those Shinigami should've been outmatched by the Generation fifteen Hollows...but they defeated them all."

"But, maybe you were mistaken-maybe-"

Kei held up a hand, silencing her. "Generation fifteen Hollows are below the first level of the Vasto Lordes. The term in fact is misused as one belonging to the highest class of Menos. Vasto Lordes is Vast or immense Lord, in ancient times the title was bestowed upon those with vague hollow-like characteristics. But make no mistake, these weren't Hollows to begin with. They only possessed fragments of bone and the purple moon somewhere on their bodies. Today, the Shinigami would call them Arrancar as they wore no masks."

"But, then if the vast Lords weren't Hollows, how come the term was used for the Hollows now?"

"In a way you could say that _Tueri _was the progenitor of the entire Hollow race." Kei had tilted her chin up, seeming to regard the light firmament above, but there was a distance in her eyes. Like she was looking into the past. "He lost his life outside the castle gates. They say that this spirit-the soul of a human whom the Shinigami had failed to pass on, devoured Tueri's reiryoku-rich body. Since you see that-name's- power was that of taking on the life-force of an enemy thus erasing their existence. That led to the birth of the first Hollow..."

(Latin lit.*Tueri: protect, watch. Tueri was the first General -or Shinteichou of the Black army.)

"Okay, so," Takara frowned, leaning back as Kei had done, leaving Kazeatari to finish the washing. "The one *Tueli-san when he died this other guy ate him and became a Hollow-?"

(*roughly given as the Japanese speak)

Kei nodded. "The very first. I'm sure you know this...about how absolute power corrupts. Well, Tueri was one of the highest ranked Shinteichou of the guards and this human wasn't able to I guess _ground himself_ is what I'm trying to say. The great power held by the Vast Lord consumed the mind of the human and soon Hollows began breeding across the land as more and more humans were lost to the darkness and their greed."

Kazeatari took it up, scowling at the extra work she had been made to do. "In the beginning, the Hollows were much more powerful...they were the Vasto Lordes to be more precise. the Twentieth generation and the subsequent four after them. Then one thousand-five hundred years ago the devolution began."

"A new breed of Hollow, larger, uglier and masked now, appeared in the human world. These were the Adjuchas. Centuries and the consumption of weak human souls had limited their intelligence. Even speech patterns were thick, coarse. The refinement and high intelligence of the Vasto Lordes had been lost. From Generations fifteen to eleven the Adjuchas plagued the living world while what remained of the original Vasto Lordes remained within Assiah and the other world of Hueco Mundo. The Shinigami whom had ignored the growth of these creatures, were first repulsed by the grotesque appearance of these new arrivals, being used to of course the almost humanoid facade of the Vasto Lordes. In time however even this disgust faded and many fell to the ghost cutters of the Shinigami."

"Lazy bums.." Kazeatari muttered in a break between Kei's story. "Leaving me to pick up after you..."

"Sorry, Namaiki-san." Takara said sheepishly. Kei smirked behind her hand, fingers sliding up to push hair out of her face. "Anyway..hmm...oh, yes. Now among the Adjuchas existed this certain one-some say he was a Grand Fisher. His name was Gilianin, recognize the connection?"

Takara mouthed the name of the Hollow a few times, then brightened. "Gilianin-! Gillian!"

The Fire Kouseitan'i got to her feet to trail Kazeatari whom hefted the small armful of dripping clothes. Takara lagged a few steps as she had stopped to pick up the black scabbard Kei had left behind. "Your sword." Takara said, handing it to her.

"Oh, thanks." Kei slipped it through her sash beside the large silvery crescent moon of Getsu-ten. There was a wet slapping sound as Kazeatari bent over the rock, stretching out the black uminori hakama flat across the hard surface. "Gilianin was the first of the Thirteenth Generation of whom marked intelligence and cunning prowess was shown. Not since the early days of the Vasto Lordes had any Hollow been so close to regaining that which had been lost. The key to it lay within the Shinigami."

"You mean-?" Takara's blue eyes grew wide.

"Gilianin killed a young Shinigami, a Taichou it is believed and crossed the barrier of evolution. Becoming a Vasto Lordes, the first one in centuries." Kei crossed her arms beneath her breast. "He proved it was possible for a lower Hollow to become one of the great ones...we'll finish this some other time."

Takara nodded uncertainly, wanting to hear more about the Hollows.

"It's getting late. Come on, help me prepare for dinner."

(*~*)

She couldn't sleep. Not with that dirty gray root stabbing her in the ribs. Twice, Kei turned from side to side, legs bent, one arm pillowed beneath her head, gaining the same result. The Fire Kouseitan'i sighed, giving up all pretense of rest. At least some were comfortable, she thought glumly, glowering at the large white mass that shimmered in the darkness.

Byakko, guardian of the West lay half curled around the sleeping forms of his Master Kazeatari and Takara. _Damned tiger_. Kei summoned up token indignation for the slumbering snores and peaceful serenity that was so elusive to her. Climbing to her feet in the shallow darkness of the tiny clearing they were in, she stretched uncomfortably, raising her arms above her head, palms outstretched flat to the sky. _The __moon__ was out tonight_..

The light slanting through the trees bathed the forest in a kind of evanescent dreamscape. Like something fleeting, / This place is the basting/The eternity that binds me/Whose going and returning passes by me is a dream.../ The lines came to her as her gaze swept the moonlit landscape, her steps carrying her past the sleeping mountain of Wind's greatest strength.

_It was so quiet_, Kei could nearly believe that no Hollows had ever trodden the inner paths of the wood. Then a branch crackled overhead. Without turning, she sensed him shift among the branches and leaves. "I was wondering who was keeping watch." Kei feigned a light, easy tone. "Now I know."

There was a soft exhalation of breath evaporating in the cool air. "Would you have come this way if you had known before?"

Kei was glad of the shadows that hid her face from view. "Seen anything?" Changing subjects was a thing she despised yet found favorable to do so now lest the atmosphere became heavy with the things that neither dared speak of. _Perhaps she was prideful?_ _Couldn't admit the erring she had done-? But that wasn't true!_ her mind argued back as fervently. _She was well aware of_...

_I can't face it._

"I heard you telling Kazeatari and Takara about the Shinigami." His voice echoed down.

_I can't face my pain. _

Almost on a whim, she leapt silently upward, landing at the edge of the branch. For a moment the height swayed and she felt violently ill.

-**The faces**-**the cruel laughter**- **echoing above**-**the pain**-

Kei forced her eyes open. The world shimmered from a deep gorge shrouded in darkness and screams to the forest surrounding them. _What was that?_ Pressing her palm to her forehead, she dragged fingers through her hair, her lips sliding downward into a frown. _Something I had forgotten-? _

Aware of her sudden unnatural stillness, she endeavored to shake it off. "Yes. It wasn't as we first assumed. They were not solely after us."

"I wonder if that's a relief or if we should wonder at the state of things within the Seireitei."

"Something rotten in the state of Denmark." She quipped.

He sounded vaguely dismayed. "Exactly, my point. Old man Yamamoto will not give us up for dead so easily. Sooner or later they're bound to send seekers. Seekers...with the mission to kill on sight."

She instantly sobered. "That's what makes it so imperative that we rid ourselves of this seal!" For emphasis, her fist tightened, nails slicing shallowly into her skin. "We must! What makes us stand apart from all else is our only means of defense!"

"I suppose that's true." Kagami assented calmly, passive like the sea to her raging fire. "Many would kill for the type of power we three possess. The power we didn't seek out yet was ours from the moment of our birth."

Kei was silent for a long time afterward, regarding the open expanse beyond the sea of trees. "I won't let them kill me.." she said slowly, her chin lifting in defiance. "Not again. Remember what I told you that day after you realized what I was-?"

He smiled even though she couldn't see. "Of course." Kagami shifted, so that one leg was upraised and the other straight. "You said there were three things you wanted to accomplish in this life."

She turned, the branch quavered just the slightest from her movement. "And what were they?"

His motion was less noticeable, just the sliver of a smile, the glint of moon-washed hair slipping forward onto his face. "One, to see the face of the man you loved even if he wouldn't remember you. Second, to uphold the promise you made to the true holder of that body...and the final one...you never told me."

Kei frowned. "You should know since our wish is to achieve the same end result."

"I wonder about that." Kagami brought out from his side, what had been bathing in the fantasia-like _moon_beams.

Her breath sharpened. "Hakuya."

Kagami held the silver blade carefully, his eyes full of tender reverence for the gleaming tang. "My child though I can never sire any. The only ones I can have are those created by own hands." _The Hokuto Shichisei of seven stars. The Gekkouha of ice and light and the Hakuya of inner darkness_.

The last two were incomplete. Hollowed shells in the form of blades. Each lacking the fundamental source of their power. Unlike the core of the Hokuto Shichisei which transmuted the latent reishii in the atmosphere into pure energy like the extinct Quincy archers. Hakuya was devoid of the crux which gave it sentience. Kei could see it now. Lifeless. Unmovable. A piece of finely hone steel and melted ore beaten and shaped into a long pointed tip blade.

The Shichisei and Gekkouha were shaped like katanas. Hakuya had a form of its own.

"You used Kido?" She could see the characters for the unspoken spell restraining the sword whom possessed a mind of its own. "Yes." Kagami cleared his throat noisily, "yes, I did. You cannot believe how much of a disappointment it was to me to find that my own creation loathes and despises me."

Kei laughed quietly behind her hand.

He sent a heavy glower her way. "And quit rubbing it in! Just because every other damned sword likes you, doesn't mean-"

"Not..every sword." Her amusement lessened. "The guardians of Wind and Water detest my presence greatly."

He said nothing to deny it, knowing the truth of how Soryu-kami felt toward the Kouseitan'i of Fire. With Byakko, it was easy enough to see. Anyone with eyes could perceive the intense aversion the white tiger held for her.

Like the growl of warning when she had looked at the plush mass of gold and black striped fur that resembled a great fur rug. Byakko would not let her lie down to rest the way he allowed Takara who exclaimed about the softness of his pelt.

In a way even those of her own kind, ostracized her.

"Hey...come here."

Immediately suspicious, she eyed him warily, "why?"

"Just be quiet and do it!" Somewhat annoyed with her reaction, he glowered at her until she moved closer, stopping beside his extended leg. Muttering under his breath, Kagami reached up halfway, grabbing her wrist to pull her down.

"There...now sleep."

Kei glanced down at the clasp his arms maintained loosely about her waist and lowered her head back against his shoulder. "You didn't have to be so mysterious about it."

"Sleep." Kagami repeated and she did.

(*~*)

Sunlight fell in shafts through the thick foliage of the clustered trees. Kei awoke from a dreamless if not sound sleep. Which was surprising if you asked her. Stretching mildly as she had done the night before, Kei noticed right off the bat that Kagami had fallen asleep too.

_Some guard_, she thought dryly, sliding out of his lax hold. Looking upward she judged the time to be around eleven am in Seireitei's time which was considered to be early morning in Assiah as daybreak was at half past ten and sundown was at nine in the evening. Hearing no stirring of movement from below she deduced that Kazeatari and Takara were still asleep. _And she had the nerve to call me_ _lazy!_

Shaking her head, Kei finished cracking her joints, fingers finally limber enough to accomplish the task ahead. _I should try to the South_... within seconds she had phased to the next tree top over, eyes ahead. _Must break the forest line_. A moment later she had crossed through the sea of trees and stood at the very last one fringing the edge. Far behind she could sense the steady, soft lull of Water's reiatsu and the slumbering gale of Wind's.

Smiling briefly, she turned back, eyes scanning the distance for any glimpse of potential prey. _There!_ It took her a few moments to fasten her gaze upon a large flock of Cormorant birds, large white wings flapping an even staccato along the curve of the wind. Kei whispered a brief prayer of thanks to the living creatures whom she was going to kill, for providing them with sustenance_. Even if the Kouseitan'i themselves didn't require it_.

Moving again, Kei traversed the long space between them, her hand dragging itself slowly against the Tanto dagger she had taken from one of Shihoin's men. From the fine diagonal slash across her palm, she withdrew a thin line of red. _Chimahou imbued its wielder with the ability to change their blood into a living weapon..at will_. Though she had never cared for that particular feature of the magic as it was more physically draining then a Zanpaku-to release; it was still useful for some things. Like the bow she tilted upward, gleaming crimson arrow tip pointed upward at the last Cormorant bringing up the rear.

She shot.

The large bird spiraled to the ground without a cry.

Kei swiftly slid another arrow from the quiver on her back to the notched center. Slowly, she pulled the string back, cocking her head at an angle. _Which one?_ As her eye slowly trained on the second one in the formation-something else...a glimmer of concentrated light caught her attention.

Seconds later, over half the plain was leveled in a single chaotic whorl of dark energy.

On her side where she had fallen, Kei stared at the destruction, the blood rushing in her ears. "What..." she held the shattered bow against her body, her legs curling beneath her as she slowly sat up. _What could have_-

Then she saw **it**.

Standing tall in the far distance, a figure in torn robes. A thick, wavy mane of russet colored hair crowned his head, glowing like a fiery halo in the sun. vaguely she was aware of Kagami followed closely by Kazeatari and Takara run out from the skeletal remains of the trees.

Between the gasps for breath were words interspersed. "What..what..happened..?"

But, she didn't hear.

_This Hollow..._

The body was slight yet muscular, the upper limbs bared to the forearms. On the left shoulder a black-rimmed violet crescent moon glowed.

Kei felt every muscle in her body tense up.

_...I can't read him_.

**-What Is He?-**

Her eyes slid from the shallow, almond-shaped eye sockets of the bone mask to the long expanse ending around the full set of fangs. It was the face of a Lion. But the realization of that faded, replaced by a deeper kind of dark fear. _Can't be_-

**One of the Twentieth generation**.

"DOOM BLAST!" she screamed over her shoulder-

-To be continued...

AN: =.= sleepy

Thanks for reading

No flames-haters-

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	52. STR, CH05 Nowhere to Run

Shikai Prequel: Stand In The Rain

Nowhere to run.

Seconds after her cry had shattered the unnatural stillness that heralded catastrophe, the blast thundered a large path across the earth. It was impossible not to get caught up in it. Her body lifted, flying back, torso hunched over. Shreds of red then white cloth spattered red flew in a myriad path outward.

_Such immense power_. Kei shut her eyes against the cresting waves, gathering the scattered remnants of her own reiatsu in an attempt to counterbalance the pressure. _Push_. _Harder_. Harder..**now! **Letting out a wild yell that was immediately swallowed up in the roar of the surge, she shoved back, throwing every ounce of strength she possessed in a single burst. Like a flame that grows into a raging wildfire, the tiny spark swelled, until it exploded in a cylindrical coil, twisting faster and faster around the darkness.

Kei at once able to draw breath into her lungs, thrust her palm forward. Sending off a powerful blast of pure reiryoku. To her surprise, she felt another wave-no, something else_. Kagami!_ She thought with sudden renewed vigor, her reiatsu flared, burning brightly. Forcing her eyes open, she stared wildly ahead, catching full sight of the red and blue auras colliding-meshing together.

_Fire and Water_, she thought dazedly. The perfect tempering of the devouring flame and the passive roar of living water. Their combined attack wiped away everything that stood within its path, carving a deep trench in the earth as it pounded toward the Vasto Lordes. Strangely she saw it did not move, rather lifted its mane of ragged auburn colored locks to the sky, howling piercingly. Once. Twice. Three times_. Almost like it was calling_..

Moments later it was engulfed by their Reiryoku.

Throwing her arm over her face, Kei shut her eyes against the luminescence that imploded over the field. Glittering red embers gusted away from the center, burning darkly until they gave way to ash. Kagami half a field away, heaved his shoulders, exhaling deeply. Sazanami was in his hand, lowered but still glowing a pale blue like the sky. Kei then slid her gaze over to the crater left behind, eyes widening then with stunned realization.

"I-It's gone-?"

(*~*)

When Kei's warning had first broken over the field; Kagami had yelled at Kazeatari to take Takara and go. Swiftly she had complied, wrapping an arm about the uncertain blonde's waist and setting off in a burst of Shindou.

They had traveled far, passing the border between the South and West in a moment. The current of the Wind kept them at an even, steady pace, the landscape of dreamlike ruined cityscapes and open grassy fields became an unending blur.

But in the brief space of a heartbeat...

The world tilted.

The air became poisoned thick with vile malaise.

Kazeatari had half turned, the ornate folds fanned out over her shoulder. "Kami-!"

Takara had only a second to realize the blood flowing in thick, viscous streams belonged to the woman carrying her. "KAZE-!" Light exploded all around them. Momentarily blinded, Takara felt the scream rip from her mouth, her side erupting in unbearable pain. Once she thought she heard Kazeatari call her.

Faintly.

Before they collided heavily into something.

Then silence. A long moment passed before Takara's head stopped spinning, the world seemed like a myriad of black spots each shimmering and fading into themselves before the world righted itself again. "Kaze-!" Takara whispered, her legs propelling her torso forward until an aching throb made her gasp aloud.

It had been an unconscious gesture, pressing her left arm to her stomach, but now she realized what it had been. _My arm..my arm is shattered-! _ Her horrified gaze took in the splintered and gashed state of the skin of her forearm. She felt nauseated just looking at it.

Then she heard a step. The grass bending beneath a footfall.

_Another one~!_

Her eyes traveled up to the bull-masked creature with great curved horns the color of aged ivory. It was terrible, so horrendously frightening that Takara hadn't seen Kazeatari lying there, until the Hollow's humanoid formed leg viciously kicked her unconscious body forward.

"Kaze!" The pain she felt melted away into the distance, scrambling to her feet, Takara ignored her spinning head, spacing her shaking legs apart, her eyes defiant on the creature. _It was true_.._she was scared_, facing the ancient Hollow. Briefly she thought of the story Keiko had regaled to her. _Generations twenty to sixteen were Vasto Lordes_. _She had never seen one save for in Soul Society textbooks_. Gritting her teeth, the grating sound they made filled her eardrums as they scraped together.

_This __**was**__one_.

The fear that at first Takara had refused to give into, came hurtling back full force. Digging deep into her psyche, tearing at the foundations of her shaky courage_. What am I..to face this? _her mind cried in terror. _I'm nothing! Nothing but trash from the Rukongai-! I should have died-I should've_...

The scabbard stuck through her sash pulsed demandingly. _Hareto..sora?_

_"..Haretosora isn't lacking in capacity of spirit, I should know since I wielded your sword once a long time ago." _

_That's right_. Takara's good hand slid around the pommel of the blade. _This sword_..._once belonged to the Element of Fire_. Her trembling fingers curled around the slender blue hilt. _And now it's mine_. "Sashikomu, Haretosora!" she slashed outward, her right hand folded around the hilt withdrawing it awkwardly out. A wave of light erupted from the blade's edge. Like its name, the clear night emitted no darkness, rather...cut it away.

(*~*)

_It was gone-?_ As Kei's mind quickly, though numbingly processed this. She soon realized whom was missing. "Where are Kazeatari and Takara?" she demanded, more sharply than she had meant to. Kagami sheathed Sazanami after a minute scan revealed the Vasto Lordes had fled. "I told Kazeatari to take Takara away and she did just that. Why? ..Is something wrong?"

"You fool!" Kei snarled."You played right into its hands! That's what it wanted to do all along! To separate us!"

"What?" Confusion swam in his sea-blue eyes.

The ground shook deep beneath the surface, resonating with the sheer enormity of the power being unleashed miles away.

She spun around, looking sharply toward the West. "That's-!"

_Kazeatari's spirit pressure and that's not_..._the same __**one**__._

_It was another...__**another**__ Vasto Lordes_.

(*~*)

The sword clanged and was repulsed violently. Takara's good arm absorbed the shock, equilibrium lost, she stumbled back a few steps. Wincing as she was forced to counter the Vasto Lordes advance. _Strange_..keeping her eyes on it warily, she moved as one would in a sparring match. _It could've annihilated us both in an instant and yet...it's simply repelling my attacks. What is its true motive?_

Her mind distracted, left an opening.

She lost her grip on Haretosora, the blade flying from her hand. Takara let out a muffled yelp, her slashed hand curling, blood gushing from the thick swath the Vasto Lordes had dealt to her flesh. Breathing hard, she crawled back. Eyes locked with fearful comprehension on the hideous man/monster. _For that's what they were. Hollows were once human too_.

_Once upon a long time ago_..she saw the sunlight cast a wicked glint along the jagged edge of the tarnished kama sickle. _This thing was a human who was forced to tread the path of darkness. Losing its humanity to wear the mask_. Takara felt tears spring up at the injustice of it all. _Was it true? Had the original intention of the Shinigami been to cross every single spirit onto their next incarnation? Why then! Why!_ Her heart ached within her chest for the souls of the Hollows they had seen. _They were condemned to this! Why did Soul Society fail them?_

The shadow of the misshapen creature fell over her, Takara raised her scraped and bloodied face upward, tears shining in her eyes. _No was going to save her_...blue eyes widened. A silhouette blocked the sun out. A slender figure in billowing robes slashed sideways, a long narrow linked chain shot out, wrapping about the sickle, yanking it violently from the creature's grasp.

_Who_-

"Takara!" The figure cried.

"Keiko!" she glimpsed the chain bending to dip and shimmy in the air before being crooked sharply back, the shining silver blade of Getsu-ten flew forward, its sharply angled dive plunging it deep into the jugular of the Vasto Lordes. The creature screamed, muscular body writhing, clawed hands ripping at the glowing tang. Keiko landed behind her, jerking the blade out in one flowing motion, "First Phase, Mugetsu!" she yelled.

_Isn't_..

Darkness blossomed from the tip, flowing outward to encompass the Vasto Lordes.

_No moon the void of the night of the new moon_. _But then..._

The Hollow screeched in horrific agony as the wave of darkness began to surround it.

_Mugetsu is a defensive attack. So how-? _

But Takara never got to finish her unspoken thought for the next moment, a dull, reverberating ring of sound blasted apart Keiko's attack. They both turned sharply, Keiko's nostrils flared, Getsu-ten rose halfway. But it was too late.

Freed from the cage of the void, the Vasto Lordes fled, joining the other-_the lion_.

"Dammit!" Keiko spat, watching them vanish in a crackling blur. "Sonido!" Heaving her shoulders, the Fire Kouseitan'i glanced to Takara, "come on. Let's see what we can do for your wounds."

(*~*)

Resting his eyes against the brightness of the sunlight, Kanzaki Karasu rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. Perched high above the small clearing amidst the rocky plain. They were nearer the sea and could feel it. Smiling he glimpsed the female half of the Retsu twins, chasing the smaller, dark-haired mirror image of herself around the boulders, twirling a stick like a baton.

Hana had nearly caught up to him when Rizu's sharp voice stopped them both dead in their tracks. Carrying an armful of firewood, dark hair pulled high and even darker eyes surveying their guilty expressions. "What is the meaning of this?"

Kanzaki winced even though he wasn't the one being scolded. Gods knew he had been on the receiving end of many verbal reprimands from his former-

"Don't move." The voice was coolly female. Well-modulated so as to waste as little syllables as possible. And he **knew** it. "Botan?" Kanzaki whispered, feeling the Tanto dagger slide closer against his pulse.

"Don't move, traitor." The Stealth Force officer hissed.

(*~*)

Kagami arrived with the few salvageable items from their campsite. Takara glanced at the charred satchels with remorse, her stomach grumbling moments later. "Sorry." she offered apologetically, her brow knitting together in embarrassment. "Don't be," Kei said easily, kneeling at Kazeatari's side. The Wind wielder had sustained burns to her left side as well as fractured ribs from a Balas.

Kagami ran his free hand through his hair, the other held the straps of the bags. "I suppose it's ridiculous to ask _if everyone is alright_-?"

Kei wiped the back of her hand across her sweating bangs. "More like, _we survived_." She added as an afterthought, "barely. What could it mean?" Her lavender eyes drifted down to Kazeatari's sealing wounds. The Wind wielder still hadn't regained consciousness. "Two Vasto Lordes..the lion was from the Twentieth Generation, the other from the Seventeenth. Kagami...it was like they were organized."

Takara looked between them, from one to the other. "B-but, that isn't possible! Hollows don't band together-!"

"So, says Soul Society." Kagami shot her quick look. "There are a lot of things Soul Society doesn't know about Hollows-the Assian ones in particular."

Kei rose from her kneeling position. "They hardly know anything about Assiah **period**." Wiping her hands on a handkerchief taken from the pocket of her hakama, she looked to Takara, "how are your wounds?"

As wounded as she was, Takara had insisted upon Kazeatari being checked over first. Now, she colored some as even Kagami glanced her way. "Um, no worse...but um Keiko-san, you're hurt too!"

Kei studied the flayed skin of her arms, the blood-caked flesh looking raw, glistened sickly in the afternoon light. "This?" Her sleeves were splotched, torn. "Oh, this is nothing."

"B-but, but-wha-what is...?" Takara's eyes had been drawn to an area farther afield where the air currents rippled, flowing outward as if forming something. Kei reached for Getsu-ten's silver and black hilt, her gaze following Takara's.

The reishii concentrated space began to condense into a set of round shoji doors.

"No.." Kei whispered, her body rooted to the spot.

A group of ten figures clad in the tight black uniforms of Shinobi stepped forth silently from the light spilling outward from the open doors.

"Please, Gods**..no**." Lavender eyes closed painfully as the slim onyx-eyed leader strode purposefully forward.

"Shaolin!" Kagami cried in recognition and sadness.

Shaolin-now SoiFong, spared them not even a cursory glance. "Lay down your arms, escape is futile."

-To be continued..

AN: submissions for Hollow ocs are welcome now. (Adjuchas and Vasto Lordes) Name, power, appearance, weapon etc. :) Spanish names are a must.

Hollow chart:

Generations 20 to 16 are Vasto Lordes

Generations 15 to 11 are Adjuchas

Generations 10 to 5 are Menos Grande

Generations 4 to 1 are regular Hollows

Thanks for reading! :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated! ^^


	53. STR, CH06 Fight to survive

We will make it out alive  
There's a note in the pages of the book  
So Sleep tonight,  
We'll sleep dreamlessly this time  
When we awake we'll know that everything's alright

-Arise, Flyleaf

_It's as I feared_.

The Shinobi were motionless yet possessed an underlying tenseness to their straight-backed posture. At a single word they would jump in. It made Kei wonder just how far they would go to protect their team leader's life. What was strange was that Shihoin had sent another..to lead the mission. No matter.

SoiFong's eyes bored into hers then fell to the long silver blade tilted downward at her side. "Relinquish your weapons." The imperious command struck something deep within Fire's sleeping volatility. Kagami still held Sazanami and the others slipped through the bag over his shoulder. The four hilts; three created, one true, resonated with discontent.

_Tensa_..for a moment, Kei remembered vividly the first sword she had ever held a right of wielding with. _Oni-hime_. _But, that sword_...

She closed her eyes then opened them, her lips parting to announce denial in the face of death.

_No longer existed._

One of the Shinobi held a blade to Takara's throat. The blonde whimpered and twisted in the black-masked man's grip, but the tip of the dagger sunk lower, almost piercing the jugular.

"Don't. Takara." Kei warned, sternly yet locking eyes with the younger girl. Takara nodded jerkily a moment later, stilling her movements. Then, Kei glanced to SoiFong; _the one whom had assisted in her escape_. _What difference four months wrought_. Pained beyond the facial facade, Kei endeavored to suppress her hurt, knowing full well that tears would never sway the hardened Stealth Force officer.

"If we refuse to disarm, what will happen?"

SoiFong looked at her steadily. The blade descended until a thin line of red had beaded up along the horizontal glide of the knife tip.

"I see." Kei said carefully, ever aware of the tightening of Kagami's hand around Sazanami's hilt. "Then..." her hand reached up, brushing the side of her neck. "Kill me first however I only ask that she be let go. She has nothing to do with this."

For a moment Kei saw that there was a chance. A softening in the woman's cold eyes, then it was gone. Only stony indifference remained. "Done." SoiFong dismissed, never giving the order for the threat to be removed. The Lie was staring her right in the face. _SoiFong wouldn't let anyone leave the field alive_.

_And if that was the case_...

Her hand opened, Getsu-ten's blade began to fall to the earth.

**I will not go down without a fight**.

(*~*)

"All right." Surrender was easier. Kanzaki had retained enough respect for his fellow officers to know when to give-in. As it stood, he and the rest of the Shinigami could not hope to defeat them. Botan let him stand, keeping him within range of her aim as he Shunpo'd down, his hands already sliding the sheath from his sash.

The moment Rizu saw him, encircled as she was by the three similar dressed Shinobi; she cried, "Karasu!" Her eyes behind the glass frames glittered with anger and disappointment as she watched his relinquishment. "Karasu! _Why_?" The plaintive note was there. Like a cry, like a reproach that lacked harshness.

Kanzaki had no words. _How could he explain that this was better, for their own good?_ To fight the inevitable meant more bloodshed and as much as possible he wished to avoid it. Leaves crackled underfoot, two more Stealth Force officers appeared, bringing with them Dani and Zoe. Both women were grim-faced, Zoe nearly expressionless when she beheld Shihoin Yoruichi herself.

"Abandoning your post! What have you to say for yourself?" Botan spat, light brown eyes aglow with fury. "Your eminence." Kanzaki said, dipping his head in acknowledgement of the Noble. Shihoin's expression was unreadable, yellow-green eyes flickering over the assemblage slowly being gathered from the surrounding area.

Finally unable to bear his servile silence, Rizu spoke out. "Some of those here have nothing on their records. They should be let go."

Hana regarded the elder woman with large, frightened eyes.

"Such as **you**?" Botan sneered, mockery in her tone.

"No." Rizu replied evenly, locking eyes with the Shinobi. "I'll admit I was charged with conspiring with a Quincy against the King."

Smugness radiated from Botan's aura.

"However." Rizu slowly turned to look at Shihoin. "It was false. There is no one in this world that can **deny** the right to another's existence."

The sound of flesh being struck resounded around the small clearing. Botan's upraised hand trembled, the part of her face that remained exposed was white with anger. "How dare-"

"Botan!" Shihoin snapped. "Stand down!"

"But-"

"She's right!" Hana clenched her fists, starting forward only to have her shoulders grabbed. "Kanzaki's a Quincy and a Shinigami! Soul Society would kill one of their own just 'cause he's part something else! It's not his fault he was born that way!"

"Hana.." Kanzaki began, but as he had feared, his former commander had taken notice of the girl's impassioned fury.

"Indeed?" The slim woman stalked forward, impassive eyes on Hana's face. "Then you believe Soul Society to be wrong?"

Hana stared back as fiercely, "yes. They have no right to control who lives and dies. Only **God** does."

Shihoin tilted her head to the side, "_God_..hmm? If you believe in this God of yours then why don't we put him to the test?"

The girl's eyes widened as she was suddenly dragged backward by some silent signal. The Shinobi restrained her, raising her forearm to rest outstretched across the trunk of a nearby tree. Rizu's mouth worked but no sound came out. Kyou struggled in vain, "Hana! Hana!"

Kanzaki watched in horror as his former beloved commander leveled her slender Wakizashi to the frozen girl's pale skin. "Let's see if your God staves my blade." Shihoin brought it down-only to have the blade be sheared in half. A beam of light cut through the metal yet was so carefully controlled as it did not touch Hana's arm.

"Who did that?" Botan looked wildly around.

The unfamiliar voice of a male came from above. "*_Sic semper tyrannis_...You know it's sort of bad form to cut off a girl's arm just 'cause she voices her opinion. I myself am of the mind that the truth in that sentence of hers, threatens you just a little too much. _Shihoin_."

(Latin Lit. *Thus ever to Tyrants)

"Who are you?" Shihoin asked calmly, eyes darting about, searching for the unknown speaker. The branches shifted, the man spoke again, "who me? Just someone who likes to play his guitar to the lady moon. She's a true lady -"

Kanzaki felt the soft, silent whoosh of air as Botan leapt like a shadow, dagger out flung.

"-whom loves **all** her children." There was a dull shunk, a gurgling intake of breath. Botan sunk to her knees, the man's unsheathed Zanpaku-to plunged into her chest. "Did I mention how I despise all you Soul Society bastards?" The man's longish wavy brown hair flopped into his eyes as he withdrew the katana outward, cutting open the Shinobi's chest. "Although I suppose in your case, Shihoin-hime, it would be bitch."

"SEIZE HIM!"

(*~*)

Kei was utterly still; Getsu-ten revolved downward, the glowing metal alternately catching the light_. Did SoiFong notice the carefully controlled decent? It seemed not_. Keeping two fingers folded, tips pressing into her palm, Kei listened for the almost silent sound of the dagger lifting to just inches above Takara's throat.

She snapped her fingers, the space of time reversing to seconds back. Getsu-ten's hilt flew into her outstretched hand, the chain swirled about her legs. SoiFong started, her eyes flashing dangerously, "you-! _Kill her!" _

Catching at the end of the chain, Kei let it fly. A sharp clang resounded as the circular discus moon collided with the Shinobi's dagger, knocking it from his hand. "Takara, move!" Kei yelled, drawing the chain back for another strike but was forced to block SoiFong's charge with the blade instead. For moments, the two women faced off, staring at each other through the crossing of their swords.

"There is **no** escape~! So, why!" The onyx eyes smoldered with confusion and rage. "Why do you persist!"

Some surprise came into Kei's expression. _She had thought the other would've understood, realized the simple truth of life and death_. "Shaolin..." she sighed, lessening the rigidity of her counter. As she had anticipated, this drew the other to press harder. The slim Wakizashi SoiFong wielded, slid farther along Getsu-ten's curved edge. _You just don't understand the world at all. I guess that means...you're still young_.

Kei's wrist began to shake, her hand quickly flexed, shoving back simultaneously with her full weight. Caught off guard, SoiFong leapt back, tabi boots scraping the ground to gain leverage. _She saw her chance_. Rapidly now, Kei caught at the slack of the chain, flinging it sideways. By inches the curved tips of the moon grazed across SoiFong's calves.

"Too shallow!" she cried, glimpsing the torn fabric and slight blood staining the silver links. Damn it... her eyes narrowed, jerking her wrist sharply back. Too late she realized her mistake. The thin Tanto dagger sheathed at SoiFong's waist, had been plunged through the knotted links. Kei yanked at it futilely, her sword arm flexing to block the strike of two other Shinobi. Helplessly she became aware of the rest of the elite force surrounding Kagami.

_Is there no hope..? Is this our doom? _

He was trapped. The Shinobi, confident in his inability to kill them; had slashed and cut their way through. Sazanami's _dance of drowning_ would take them out-yet that in itself was the very thing he strove so hard to avoid. _I cannot kill_. His hand clenched tightly around the light blue hilt, throwing his head back to avoid the blade slashing the air.

The curved edge ghosted a fiery path across his chin. Kagami recoiled, acrid saltiness seeping from his teeth. _No...it had gone far deeper than he had expected_. "Suiha-" then couldn't continue. He had never been vain about his looks, but now the sliced skin stung with aching fervor. _Is this how an animal feels?_

He breathed hard, feeling the constriction of his lungs. It took every ounce of will he possessed, to withhold from cleaving the closest one's head from his body. The identical face masks concealed their features from prying eyes and their eyes glittered with an insane, righteous light.

_They believe_..

Sazanami parried the knife thrust. The lesser blade snapped, flying through the air. Using the brief moment gained, Kagami shunpo'd upward, slashing his sword sideways. "Suisei-shou!" he yelled, the blade's blue aura expanded into a swirling mass of water. The Shinobi scattered, forming a loose configuration of a triangle. _Fools_.

"-Don't underestimate me!"

A sharp crack resounded in the air suddenly. Kagami spun toward the area where Kei and Shaolin had been dueling. Swords had been all but abandoned, the heir of the Fong family had beaten the lesser skilled girl down.

"Keiko!"

Blood gushed from the wound to her forehead, other crimson streams ran down the crown, staining her fair hair a foul rust color. "Stop it, Shaolin! STOP IT NOW!" He had no idea the effects his demand would yield. Indeed, Kagami was sure-bitterly, inconsolably that there was no going back. Forever they would be enemies, enemies she would seek to destroy.

Again and again, sharp banging sounded as SoiFong bashed Kei's skull into the blood-stained boulder. "Kei-!" Kagami hissed, infuriated as the others blocked him from going to her aid.

-~*~* 06*~*~-In Arcadia -~*~* 06*~*~-

_"Hey, boy..you any good with that sword there?"_

In all honesty, Amakusa Toya didn't like to get involved. Things were much simpler as they had been, severing any and all attachments to his fellow officers.

_Brilliant._

_Talented._

_But, a little strange_.

That was what the head of the Kido corps said.

Strange? He had pondered to himself after overhearing the conversation between the commanding officer and the princess of the Shihoin family overseeing the routine report. Toya couldn't think of anything off in his behavior that could warrant such an assessment. He received orders, he carried them out and...that was all.

He had always been somewhat of a solitary person, unused to the camaraderie the others tried to coax him into. Yes, he spoke to them. But no...he didn't participate despite their many invitations to go drinking whenever Hachi let them out for the evening.

There was only one other whom understood and with that other Toya had learned the true meaning of mistake and the involvement that cost that dearest one her life.

So.. it was better this way.

Wandering had always been in his blood. A wanderlust that couldn't be quenched nor satisfied-tamed a little when she was alive-but gone once she was no more as well.

Goodbye, he said at her grave.

To the empty Kido corps dorms; nothing.

Toya had few possessions, two uniforms that he quickly discarded taking only a few robes of plain Shinigami wear, two pairs of sandals and tabi socks. A book of gathered poems and a ribbon that had been hers. When he was finished, holding the satchel closed, he glanced around. Nothing left. There was no trace that he had ever been there.

Good. He fastened the strap of his Zanpaku-to over his shoulder.

Toya knew Hachi was beyond the hallway, could sense the elder's presence. _You can stop me, if you'd like_. Toya also knew that one indication-a few words of regret and he'd stay. Because then he'd feel wanted, not just another face.

But, wanderers had no place.

It was easy to stand before the gate. Telling himself over and over that it didn't matter.

It didn't...not really. Toya brought his hands together slowly, drawing the appropriate gestures that would generate the full force of his Kido. In the distance he heard the hail of one of Kyoraku's officers.

_You're not supposed to be there. You're not supposed to do that. Cease this!_

Useless demands. Toya increased the field of the reishiihenkankon. In his mind's eye he saw the countless times it had been performed in order for Shinigami to travel between the worlds. On top so that it pours downward creating the path...

That was to the world of the living.

The advance of the Shinigami had halted, he could sense their confidence. _Where many were needed to stabilize it, one alone could not do it. That is..._

His hair torn from the loose tie, whipped about his face. Dust arose in clouds, the ground itself beginning to break apart from the weight of the force gathering upon it. Toya shaped the massive ball, melding it in his hands. _The old way...the forbidden way_. "Hold for me, Kage." he whispered, barely restraining the refined energy pulsating in the atmosphere. He wondered if this was how the mythological Atlas felt, carrying the world on his shoulders.

Wrapping his free hand around the narrow hilt, Toya ripped it out, letting go simultaneously of the amassed reishii. For a split second the swirling mass of spirit particles held shape then began to slowly expand in a corona of dazzling light.

Then a wreathe of shadows cut a swath through it, carving a clean path to the empty gate of the Senkaimon. Toya shielded his eyes from the radiance that flared, the bright flashes evaporated as curling wisps of smoke emanated from the wide double gateway of gunmetal gray that stood in place of the arched tunnel world gate.

"What the..." Toya stared up in amazement at the intricate sigils covering the panels. ".. is this.." _The gate to Assiah?_

"Stop where you are! Don't make another move!" The commanding voice barked. Toya knew it to be the first of the many Shinigami whom had been drawn to the area by his little performance. _Pity_. He had no intentions whatsoever of complying.

His hand that had remained lax about the Zanpaku-to's hilt suddenly slashed horizontally across the metal plates. Instead of the tang meeting solid reality, it cleaved through, fracturing the dense space. The door cracked, shattering inward to reveal a heavenly slice of purplish sky like from a utopian fantasy.

Toya shouldered his bag, glancing back.

The white city filled with black-robed souls was no longer like home.

He Shunpo'd through, feeling for a moment as though the pale rainbow-like darkness that surrounded him, was welcoming. This was Assiah.

-~*~* 06*~*~-

Progress hadn't left the minds of the Assians. Toya quickly discovered that fact once he had left behind the ruined shells of the destroyed metropolis'. The year was eighteen-hundred and ninety one in the living world. Yet the advancements of the fourth world were greater than any made in the previous hundred years on earth.

Electric light in every house. Real gold and bronze and copper monies known as Ducats. Pots, pans...every facet of ordinary life was so far ahead than anything Toya had known. Even rudimentary machines like those used in the Research and development Division of which Squad Twelve Taichou Urahara Kisuke was the chief of.

It had always been known that Urahara was a genius, but Toya thought these were far more sophisticated. _And the architecture~!_ Buildings made of golden sandstone and pale marble, ornate cornices and statuary of Gryphons-at least he thought it was until one day he overheard a young child asking about one.

_A phoenix...the Goddess Suzaku who lived eternally and watched over all her children. Like the moon_...

That analogy struck him as strange at first. The sun was warmth and light, not the moon whose cold beauty bathed the world in luminescence. Then one day he found a book that had been fallen underneath a Park bench. It recounted the myth of creation and... the Elements.

Kouseitan'i to the Shinigami. The Eramentu in the ancient dialect of Assiah. The word was carved over and over into the foundations of city gates and walls. Along the bases of the statues and whispered as a prayer for good weather on sweltering days.

Toya watched it all and was amazed at the divergence from the norm he knew. Kouseitan'i was a forbidden word in Soul Society, to speak of it drew the harshest of censures from a superior officer. Yet here...they were revered as something high. Something great.

_They who give life_..

His eyes passed over the inscription carved into the weathered sculpture.

In a way it was true. All of the Zanpaku-to in existence had been given form by one of the Four. Polished from raw reiryoku and containing a single drop of the original creator's precious pure reiatsu. His gaze wandered to the West, the slim tubular scabbard of his sword resting across his shoulder blades.

_There_..

The pulse rippled like an illusionary heat wave.

Toya felt the breath of it. Like the silent flapping of great wings, magnified thousands of times over. _Fire_... his eyelids fluttered shut. It was of being enfolded in the arms of warmth itself, almost unexplainable, almost like love. Being enveloped in unconditional love.

That was what it was like to be in the presence of Fire.

-~*~* 06*~*~-

She could barely breathe. The pounding in her skull deafened all else out, her hand scrabbled along the ground, fingers finding then losing purchase on Getsu-ten's slick edge. In the blindness of her blackening vision, she glimpsed SoiFong's relieved triumph burning in her onyx eyes.

_Why do I persist? It would be easy_... The tips of her fingers rubbed along the curved edge of one of the moon links. _Just don't move_. _Be still_. _Be still and it'll all be over_. Wetness matted strands of hair to her throat and her cheeks. Sensory feeling was slowly being replaced by numbness. _Just let it go_-

'No.' The denial echoed in her fading consciousness. 'Death is not an option when there are those whom would grieve over your passing!'

_That voice..Tensa? _In the dimness, Kei could perceive the hooded figure, the edge of his cloak lifting in the wind.

**Wind..! **Her eyes flew open. "Kaze-!"

"Stop it! I command you, Suzumebachi!" Kazeatari had half risen, one arm folded against her side, the other clawed around the shikai of Kazekiri. "Stop it now!" The sheer force of will radiated from the wind wielder's voice. Kei watched as the gold stinger capped to SoiFong's hand plunged down.

_Nigeki-Kessatsu_, she thought faintly. _Dead in two steps_.

The moment Suzumebachi touched the Homonka on her chest for the second time-

-TBC-

AN: Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated C:


	54. Oedipus Blade

Couldn't save you from the start  
Love you so it hurts my soul  
Can you forgive me for trying again  
Your silence makes me hold my breath  
Oh, time has passed you by

-Forgiven, Within Temptation

ShiKai Chapter47: Oedipus Blade

-Flashback: set in the third lifetime of the elements-

_"You are pathetic." _ In the grayness of the dimming night, the woman in white robes glowed with a pure, cold light. _"Lingering and hoping. Waiting and dying a little more when she dies."_

_"It is none of your concern."_ The zanpakuto's voice was low, harsh with disuse. The pale woman pursed her lips, fingers catching at her long trailing sleeves. "Perhaps it is not. It is your choice to remain alone, to frighten those whom might take you from this empty existence into use. You refuse to be any other's Zanpakuto."

"I believe I said it was none of your concern." There was a hint of frost in the otherwise emotionless tone.

The woman shivered, her expression darkening. In a rustle of layered silk, she had turned her back on the other. "..they will meet in three days." she said almost as if it was an afterthought. "My wielder and she. I believe he is seeking to end his current existence..."

The inhalation of breath was almost silent yet it was still there.

The woman heard it as she began to walk away; a shimmering phantom in the reaches of the insentient darkness. "And whom better than Haretosora to accomplish it? It could've been **you**."

The undercurrent held truth to it.

Perhaps that which he did not want to face.

Too late his soft growl punctuated the quiet air, as a warning. "Sode no Shirayuki-"

But, the yuki-onna was gone.

-*-Tsukikage Castle-*-

All words possessed meanings. Like feelings spoken of love and tenderness. Kagami understood the concept of emotion. Love was a wonderful thing, to both give and receive.

If only Kei could perceive it as such.

Sitting there in the silent office with the night surrounding the outside and the quiet tikking of the keys; Kagami leaned back in his chair, swiveling from side to side. In the background, almost indiscernible, Op.9 No.2 in E major of the Chopin Nocturnes.

This was the time he favored the most. When the world was quiet, illumination from the gently pulsating moon slanted through the trees. Quiet wrapped around the stone walls allowed his thoughts to settle. To contemplate the burdens he now bore in Kei's absence. In actuality Kagami knew he was a selfish man; longing for another to take the reins as it were. To lead the charge when he was just as capable of doing it as the other.

_I don't want her to love him_.

It was such a strange, convoluted feeling that he felt toward Kei. One could almost say it was love-perhaps born of dependency. That terrible wondering- like a child's fear of being left alone. Forgotten by its parents. Kagami was afraid that if Kei fell in love with Ichigo Kurosaki she would choose to stay with him, disregarding the laws of the spirit world. When did they ever give a damn about breaking the eternal principles of life and death?

Kagami believed it foolish for anyone to consider them attached to the notion of the unbreakable commandment. The Elements defied everything stable and every particle of matter as it could be bent to their will at the slightest whim.

Speaking of matter... he double-clicked on an icon on the tray. The Photo Viewer opening with old sketches he'd had Kimiko scan earlier in the day. _They were somewhat faded_, he saw, scrolling down through the list. The charcoal drawings belonged to a set of concepts he had drawn up for the soulless swords over a hundred years before. In one row it was almost entirely dominated by the twin-horned guard detail of Hakuya while on the next glittered the four petal flower- design of Gekkouha's sheathe.

_"My child though I can never sire any. The only ones I can have are those created by own hands..."_-

The words he had spoken such a long time ago, rung true now. Kagami had never been bitter about it. Because he hadn't ever fallen in love he didn't know what it felt like to want to create a symbol of that emotion with another. Oh, he had felt love.

But, the affection had always been for others. Something he sensed once in a while depending on the intensity of the person and those specific emotions.

Frowning mildly now, he lifted up the mug of cooled mint tea, taking a small sip as he reached the next subpage within the folder. A square guard forming a black _Manji_ and detail of a red and black diamond patterned hilt was at the top of the page beside the slanted old script.

"Tensa... Zangetsu-?" he recognized Kei's distinctive almost- what Kazeatari said was chicken scratch but what Fire insisted was Calligraphy. _This was her drawing_. Dimly in the recesses of his memory, he recalled why the name of Kurosaki's Zanpaku-to and main attack seemed familiar.

_Kei once wielded..__his __sword. Strange_.. Kagami scrolled down to find another rougher depiction. The outline was shaded, the edge of the cloak lifted to flow around the slender legs. The moment was caught in time, during he assumed when they had separated to draw off the members of the Stealth Force.

_That sword_.._must have two forms_. He remembered now with startling clarity the young boyish male whom was the complete opposite of the older, more haggard looking warrior that followed Kurosaki around. _Shikai and Bankai, was that it?_ _Kurosaki never had to release the shikai state so that meant that Zangetsu was forever in it. But when, Kei had him_...

Kagami desperately tried to recall what it was she had said.

_"__**His**__ name is Tensa Zangetsu. This is the ban-kai release."_

The sword never went back to shikai. _That explains why_... Kagami was aware of the tracks changing. Soon the haunting aria of Beethoven's moonlight sonata resonated in melancholy splendor. _I wonder...if she knows_. His eyes drifted back over the sketch. For a long moment he recalled a campfire and the reflection of the flickering flames dancing across the clear polished surface of a mirror.

_"..you don't have to keep it if you don't want it. I don't even know why I'm doing this..."_

_Ripples broke out over the surface of the solidified water. Two fingers drew across it, the invisible barriers of time frozen upon the purest form of Soryu's power. _

_The hand that stretched forth was capped by the ragged ends of a sleeve. The fingers were slender, blunt-tipped that curled possessively about the object_. _Kagami nodded once to show he understood. _

_"All you require is one droplet of her blood to change it into blood crystal_._"_

Kagami leaned back in his chair, rubbing tiredly at the bridge of his nose. "I wonder if he still has it..?"

-*-World of memory-*-

"I'm sorry...for what Rukia said." The eyes that had closed in contentment, fluttered.

"Mm..what?" His fingers never stopped stroking her cheek.

"I know you heard us." Ichigo gazed down at her, his gaze filled with tenderness. "She had no right to say those things about you." She shifted, her hand rising to clasp his wrist. Kei softly kissed the curve of his palm, her voice reverberating like a whisper against his skin. "It doesn't bother me so much because I already know Kuchiki despises my presence in your life."

_My heart_- he thought, but didn't say. "But, still, I can't easily forgive her! Soulless? What the hell does that mean! You have a soul!"

"Ichigo..." Kei murmured quietly.

"If you didn't..I-I'd still..." his faltered, his voice failing him. "I-I mean I.." _what the hell am I so nervous about? Just say it!_ "Kei.." she become still, staring up at him with curious lavender orbs. He had come to notice they darkened when she was upset, the black ring spiking through the violet. _Normal eyes of humans didn't do that_. _But that just meant she was unique...not an oversight! _

Taking in a deep breath that cleared his head a little; Ichigo firmly clasped her face in his hands. "Kei, I'll never leave you."

_'..I'll never leave you...'_

In the recesses of his subconscious mind, the thoughts continued in his own voice.

_'..Nothing will ever separate us-I won't let it!' _

Yet there was an underlying strength to it. A resolve that shone through despite the nervous fluttering in his chest.

" Nothing will ever separate us-I won't let it!" Still clasping her face, Ichigo drew tiny circles on the slender ridge of her cheekbones. One hand slowing slipping down to become enmeshed in her loose hair.

"I love you.." Ichigo lowered his face only they were only inches apart. Her intoxicating scent filled his senses, his mouth slick with saliva, ached for her taste. Perhaps something of what he felt, a darkness in his gaze or the flick of his tongue across her bottom lip; distressed her.

Her eyes widened. The black ring had increased, spiking fine striations through the aubergine.

Rather than guilt fill his being, a different kind of sensation gripped his heart.

He was sick of being teased; now he would simply **take** what he wanted.

As his eyes closed, in the instant before his lips captured hers in a fierce, demanding kiss.

The voice said something.

"My dearest-.."

And it echoed- not in his mind.

The blood drained from her face.

_"..sister."_

Horror flooded her being.

Again and again his tongue thrust crudely into her mouth, any pretence of naivety had fled, replaced by a deeper, hungrier kind of want. Fear coiled like a spring as the male part of him nudged her belly.

_He kissed me like this_-

Kei felt his nails rake a burning path up her thigh, her skirt shoved violently up.

-_hungrily, achingly, as though he wished to devour me_-

Ichigo moved between her legs, his intent clear.

-No- No-

His hand curled around her breast, slowly pumping it.

"Stop it!" The words tore from her bruised mouth. Her eyes wild with fright snapped open, her hands that had fisted into the grass stalks rose, pushing hard against his chest. Confusion suffused his flushed face as they broke apart.

"K-Kei?"

It was his voice again.

She stumbled back, one hand outstretched. "Stay away from me!"

Hurt registered in his amber eyes before being quickly replaced by anger. "Is what I feel so hard to accept?"

She flinched, her expression crumpling. "I didn't-"

"Gods! You're like a fucking tease!" Ichigo raged, his mouth working into a snarl. "You're all over me one minute and then the next screaming at me not to touch you!" Furiously he plowed his hands through his hair, the spikes crowning his head in a fiery golden halo.

"Ichi-" The hand she had thrown up as a warding off gesture now extended placatingly.

"I just don't know what to think about you anymore!"

Kei shut her eyes, swallowing the bitterness in her mouth.

"I can't help it if I have needs- that I want to make love to you.." His eyes were pleading now, carrying the thread of rejection burning brightly in the irises, his calloused hands were open palm up to her. "But, I don't-" his voice caught. "I don't want to be the cause of more pain for you."

For a time she was utterly taken aback. _No one could take everything she did and still be so tender. So gentle even. He had to be lying. _Her surety of this faltered yet still, catching sight of his expression. "Ichigo..it's not you. Not **you**." She shook her head from to side. All the while sensing his hard gaze softening the longer he looked at her.

"What.." Kei was almost afraid of the answer he might give."Tell me _what_ did you mean when you called me-"The grass field shimmered under her peripheral gaze, a dark gray flagstone floor wavering into being.

"T-Tou-" _Was this what Touda was...seeing?_

Ichigo and the field near the sea melted into a narrow corridor. Red wallpaper with ornate scrollwork medallions in black. She could feel her heart in her throat. Covered paintings lined the walls. But the one-

-before her. Left only the impression of rain and a figure on the ground.

A sudden noise made her twist around.

Kei's eyes widened as the other's did. "You're-"

Something heavy collided with the side of her head.

-*-Getsu-ten's mindscape-*-

It was different when she awoke. Instead of grains of pale sand and grasses that tickled her skin; soft bedding and a firm mattress was beneath her. _Where-?_ As she puzzled in the yet again change of situation, her eyelids fluttered open to a room she recognized as rightly being within the confines of the castle in Getsu-ten's mindscape.

Kei started up, her vision swaying in the abrupt movement.

"Don't move." The distinctly male voice carried an undercurrent to it. One that she mistakenly believed to be despise. "You're-" Kei's eyes widened at the figure in the tattered cloak. _Ichigo's Zanpaku-to. Zangetsu_..

An uncomfortable silence descended.

She twined her hands together, her brow knitting. The spirit faced away from her as if he couldn't bear the sight of her. "D-did you bring me here?" Kei had difficulty speaking, feeling the disapproval grow thicker in the air. The sigh heaved his chest, his gaze straight ahead.

"Yes."

"..thanks." She found her cheeks coloring a little, her voice small. Her hand as had been accustomed to doing centuries before, rose, fingers sliding through the slight rise of the layered strands, searching for the tiny beads. Then, she remembered. Her fingers curled, falling back to her lap. A sudden, quiet rustling made her glance to the Zanpaku-to.

He had withdrawn from somewhere, the cherry hairpin.

"It must still exist!" she cried, scrambling up from the bed. Forgetting her momentary unease, their hands brushed as she took it from him. He recoiled from her touch. Kei couldn't keep the brief flash of hurt from tightening her mouth. Averting her face, she stroked the slender stick, feeling the warmth the metal had retained.

"I had lost it a long time ago." She smiled a little, clasping it to her chest. "I-I'm so happy it remains somewhere in the world. Maybe I'll find it one day."

A short pause. "I'm sure you will."

Surprised at the slightest change in the sword's tone; Kei pretended not to have noticed it. Her gaze darted around the room. "What happened to Ichigo?"

"He had to leave this plain of inner reality." Zangetsu answered stonily. The coldness had returned. Kei wondered at it. _Did his Zanpaku-to resent her presence? Perhaps find her a threat?_ Her lips pursed, contemplatively her thoughts turned morose as they drifted back to the previous conversation with Ichigo. _And...and __**that**_**.** _What he had said_...

_How? How is it possible that he knew those things? _ _I just don't understand!_ Frowning now, Kei abruptly spun about to find the sword had been looking at her. "Zangetsu-"

He turned away.

"Swear to me that you will not lie." Kei took in a deep breath, before continuing. "If you do I..." _he's one of mine, isn't he?_ She tried to recall the clash of the sword's reiatsu in the forest outside Arcadia. "..I will punish you severely." There was a flash of something in the slanted gaze he gave her.

Kei was unconscious of balling her fists, "I know you don't like me ...but try to understand. If I am Ichigo's choice..." her expression softened. "Then you **must **accept it."

Briefly then, he assented with a slight dip of his head, the unruly dark locks falling forward. Something in the motion, in the tilt of his face, in the hooded glance of his eyes..._was reminiscent of another_.

She took a step closer, her gaze riveted to his countenance; forgetting momentarily of Ichigo. "You.."

_It cannot be_.

The Zanpaku-to was impassive at her approach. Presenting her with only a sliver of his profile.

Kei wanted to see his eyes. "Please look at me."

His whole body stiffened.

"Zangetsu." The faintest hint of warning colored her even tone.

The sword remained motionless yet rigid.

"Look. At me." Her reiatsu filled the confines of the room as a more tangible threat. His proud form didn't bow as a lesser might have under such pressure. Kei briefly considered lashing him with it to teach him never to disobey then thought better of it. Such methods were unrefined.

And besides..

Her lips compressed, her hands lifting to lay on the sides of his face. Beneath her palms, the slight hair felt silken rather than bristly as a human male's would. Carefully, she turned him to look at her, fingers sliding up to grasp the edges of the tinted shades. Slowly she lifted them off, her breath catching.

_Those eyes~! _

"Tensa-?" Kei cried.

-TBC-

AN: I had more but some parts still needed quite a bit of work, so I cut it down.

Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated :)

omake-

Kagami holding a wrenching and twisting Hakuya in his hands: "Keiko! Talk to it, please! Find out what's wrong with it!"

Kei happens to be passing by: "It doesn't have a soul."

Kagami =.= "well, obviously it has some sort of intelligence! Now hurry!"

Kei "..."

Hakuya stops rattling around: "..."

Kagami in motionless suspense.

Kei comes back to consciousness: "..."

Kagami impatient: "well? What did it say?"

Kei: "It said it wants to cut your head off."

Kagami DX "Don't joke about things like that!"

Kei: "I wouldn't."

Kagami: "..."

Kazeatari: "How can it move around? I mean I've never seen a sword try and move on its own."

Kei: "They can." Frowning. "It's kind of difficult, but it's not impossible."

Kazeatari o.o

Kagami O.O

What they're imagining is a row of swords hopping after her shadow.

Kei hands Hakuya back to Kagami. immediately Hakuya senses the change and starts jerking violently around. "I'd be careful, if I were you. Hakuya also said that once it figures out how to escape the sheathe, it's coming for your neck."

Kagami D:

Kaze: -.- has already lost interest.

And that is why to this day, Kagami sleeps with no less than Sazanami's Genei barrier and Sazanami herself to watch over him.

Kei unfortunately didn't learn the lesson of why Kido and blood magic barriers are so important (Toya can attest to that) and is also why she gets molested quite often when she's asleep.

*See below for example*

Ichigo: "GET THE HELL OFF HER, YOU DIRTY OLD MAN!"

Zangetsu is highly affronted not to mention (Tensa whom thinks Ichigo doesn't deserve the Kouseitan'i of Fire)

When Zangetsu doesn't immediately comply; Ichigo lunges for him...

-Missing the sword's cloak by inches.

Ichigo yelling: "Zangetsu! I demand an explanation!" Meanwhile his hand for some strange reason has landed on something-warm-round and perfectly squeezable.

A small noise makes both sword and wielder look down. Sleepy violet eyes are open and staring up.

Kei ~.~ "Ichigo..."

Ichigo in his usual impulsive idiotic way landed halfway on top of her... blushes nervously. "Um..good morning, Kei."

Kei DX "Your hand."

Ichigo not understanding: "Wha~?"

Zangetsu of course sees but perceives it better for his upstart wielder to get his just desserts.

Kei deadpanning (remember she can't see Zanpaku-to spirits like Kagami, so she thinks Ichigo's just being a perv) "Is on my boob."

Ichigo still doesn't understand: "Eh?"

...a while later...

Ichigo D: "I thought you said she didn't know Hakuda!"

Kagami -.-; "I never said that."

Kei still disgusted by the species known as Ichigo Kurosaki: "I know it, I just don't LIKE it. Kendo is much more elegant. Hmph."

-Omake-

Kanzaki: "what are they doing?" Points to Kei and Kazeatari hovering over a tiny phone screen.

Kagami picking up after video shoot: "They're watching that one anime episode with Chrono and Rosette- I believe it's called _Chrono Crusade_. Anyway there's this certain scene with the main characters-and they know the dialogue by heart." -.-

Kei and Kazeatari say in unison: "I'll never live a day longer than you!"

Kanzaki ~.- "That is so sappy."

Kei glowering: "only a man would say that since they only **communicate **with their dicks."

Kanzaki D: "girls aren't supposed to use that kind of language!"

Kagami -.-; "Give it a rest."

Kazeatari suddenly has a bright idea and shares it with Kei.

Toya whom is still shirtless from the scene in the video is pounced upon.

Kei and Kazeatari say in unison again: "Tell me _you'll never live a day longer me!"_

Toya o.o "eh?" some hair is sticking up.

Takara hears and scuttles off to find one of the other guys to profess his undying love-er- and nabs Akashi from unplugging his guitar.

Kei: "Toya! Please?" Gives him teary eyes.

Kazeatari does the same.

Toya: "uh..um. Okay." Takes both their hands, clasping them firmly.

Kei and Kaze are very excited.

Toya is serious: "because you are everything to me, I swear to the heavens I will never live a day longer than you."

Kei and Kaze are silent then both burst out: "KYAHAAAAA!" And jump on him.

Kanzaki =_= "that was silly, but why not me?"

Kagami -.- : "Thank the Gods it **wasn't** me."

Ren shifts camera over to Akashi and Takara.

Akashi: "Uh.."

Takara looks hopeful.

Akashi tries: "I won't live a day longer than you. I swear it."

Takara: "Kyaaa!" Then adds sadly. "Too bad it wasn't Ichimaru-san. But, oh well."

- behind the scenes video ends

Kagami: "so, did you see what you need to tell to Keiko?"

Ichigo: "What?"

Kagami reminds patiently: "_I'll never live a day longer than you_."

Ichigo scoffs: "That's so silly! Only softies say that! It'd ruin my reputation forever!"

Kagami =.= "I'm beginning to think you don't have a single romantic bone in your body."

Ichigo proudly: "damned straight."

Kei appears behind him DX "oh. So, I guess you think I'm stupid, is that it?"

Ichigo miraculously stays calm: "No. I would never think that of you." Turns in spare desk chair. "Kei, I would never say **that** to you. But, I will say this, _I'll be with you for a very long time_."

Kei -.- isn't amused. At all.

Kagami -_- thinking: _Kurosaki is such a fool. Next!_

Kei abruptly turns around and whips out cell, speed dialing a number: "Oh, hey! Stark? Yeah...I'll take you up on your offer. How's tomorrow at six? Oh..it's alright, we'll leave Lilinette with Kaze."

Ichigo XC is sputtering incoherently.

Kei isn't finished yet and dials another one: "Hey, it's me. I was thinking about it and yeah I do have some info on Kurosaki Ichigo. Are you interested, Ulquiorra? Okay..Wednesday then. I know this little place in Arcadia that serves German type food. Meet you there."

Ichigo is clawing the air still sputtering.

Kagami fishes in drawer and holds up a scrap of paper with yet another number.

Kei takes it, dialing: "Uryu? May I call you that?" Giggles sweetly. "Remember how you told me that you were having problems with the Latin language? How about we make a **date**..I mean a **study date** and I'll help you go over it. Thursday's fine. Yeah..dinner sounds great! Okay, see you then, bye!" CX

Kagami withdraws from his pocket a tiny mirror-like item: "Since there's no working phones in Kurosaki's mindscape; I bound some of his reiryoku to the water mirror. He said to talk to him whenever you had a chance."

Kei CX "Thanks!" A few minutes later XD "Friday is now taken!"

Ichigo: "ET TU, ZANGETSU? URYU!"


	55. Come Undone

This time all I want is you

There is no one else who can take your place

This time you burned me with your eyes

You see past all the lies

You take it all away

-Take me away, Lifehouse

ShiKai CH.48: Come Undone

-Flashback: Third lifetime of the elements-

_Why did it have to end this way? _

The pain that savaged his chest was one thing he could never accept. It felt like something was being ripped apart, torn from where it had grown inside. Tensa Zangetsu likened it to losing a limb. The vital nerves of which still ached for that missing piece.

_No more_.

He shed no tears for swords didn't cry.

Why, though; he wanted to ask Sode no Shirayuki as the weapon Water had borne into that destroyed life. Why had she let him go? It was a selfish thought, one that no matter its consequences, would've urged the preservation of Keiki's life.

The Shinigami had been drawn by the reports of a Hollow. That Hollow had been what was once Water-is-was-gone.

-**Keiki**-

But, the sword had no sympathy for that other. Only **her** name resonated in his consciousness.

Soon, she would come and choose another sword to repeat the cycle.

**This time-this time**

Swords didn't pray.

..**take me as yours**. Tensa Zangetsu wished.

(*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)

"Tensa...answer me! Why didn't you say something?" Kei gripped his front, her fingers tightly grasping at the bunched dark cloth. The Zanpaku-to looked down at her unmoved even as she tried to shake him, though the effect was much like a child trying to move a mountain.

Uselessly now, her hands slid down his breast, beneath her palm his heart beat rapidly through the thick fabric. "Why didn't you tell me who you were?" Her voice had dropped to a petulant child's murmur, her downcast eyes unseeing of the change in his expression.

_Softening-hardening_. In contention with himself, Zangetsu strove to keep his emotions below the surface lest she suspect anything at all of how he felt at that moment. Above all, he knew it would be dangerous to give in.

The ghosting of fingertips along the rise of his cheekbone drew his thoughts back to the woman.

The traitorous shudder that rippled throughout his tall, lean frame was unbearable. "Don't touch me!" The harshness in his tone made her recoil, the warmth of her fingertips lifting. The feeling that gripped him, weakened yet did not fade entirely. Zangetsu had expected this, as much self-control he possessed; being in her presence alone made him feel _weak_.

"I see then." A quiet rustle disturbed the silence. The rustle of her layered kimono gown crinkled as she turned away. Zangetsu glimpsed it then; the look in her eyes. He had never meant it to have gone so deep. To keep distance yes, but never to wound. Acting on emotions had always been a fault of his wielder's. Never his.

He watched as her hand folded, fingers curling against her palm, falling to the side.

One shaking breath inhaled then exhaled as a sigh.

Then the emotion was wiped clean. Like a mask had been slipped on. It was imperfect however as Zangetsu soon perceived. Keiki could never completely conceal her emotions and like with all, it was felt intensely, deeply.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Her lips were curved in the corners. Bearing the hint of a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "If...it were at all possible I would make it so that you never had to see my presence again."

That he felt. As her very being gave both joy and sorrow; the sword could not wish for that lack. The very concept of it was frightening.

"Here..." she held out his sunglasses.

Expressionless, Zangetsu extended his hand, meaning to brush the tips of her fingers curled around the wide bridge between the lenses.

But, she pulled back and walked away.

(*)*)*)*)*)*)

It didn't hurt. Kei told herself that, half believing half not. She had gone through worse pain of shattered bones, cuts that ran deep, burning blistering of Ceros and loss of an eye. That eye hurt now. Strangely, throbbingly as if recalling the slashing motion that had sheared through the orbital bone and gelatinous orb. Kei raised her hand, rubbing at it dully.

The pain didn't recede.

There had been a time once when she had come near to calling that sword, hers. But, time and remembrance had stopped the offer from ever being made.

Because once there was a sword whom had protected her...

_She still remembered the warmth of his hand, the lessening pain in her eye as the ocular nerves struggled to regain sensory function. It hurt terribly but she didn't mind. Even bloody and beaten it all seemed to fade. _

_"I am your shield! Why did you allow yourself to be hurt when __**I **__could've __**protected **__you?"_

_Then, she had been flooded with understanding. There would come a day when the sword __**would**__ protect her and suffer the same fate as Oni-hime. Being cut to pieces before her eyes. _

_So she had simply swallowed those words._

_"...it's alright. Swords don't die, they simply cease to exist. I'd rather it be my eye than you- because I don't want you to stop existing, Tensa. But please, do this much for me...find someone worthy of wielding you. I know you've been alone for so long, so please when the day comes that you have a Shinigami as a companion, find me. Because I want to see __**you **__happy." _

That day was here.

(*)*)*)*)*)*)Mindscape(*)*)*)*)*)*)

The snow began to drizzle harder onto the white mountainous plain.

_"I'm not saying that, Ichigo!" _

The solitary woman in white lifted faded blue eyes to the graying sky indicative of Rukia's emotions.

_"Don't you see that I need someone too?" _The boy whom had stopped the rain caused by her mentor's demise; yelled in a way that hurt Rukia though her outward face never showed it.

_"You baka! Of course I know it! But, understand, Ichigo! I'm only looking out for you as a friend! She-"_

Sode no Shirayuki felt the anger and confusion seep into the mindscape.

The spiraling flakes grew sharper, falling faster.

_"Why are you so against Kei anyway? What's so wrong with her that you hate her so much!" _

Taken aback, Rukia opened and closed her mouth several times.

"Why?" Sode no Shirayuki questioned herself. What was there to that thing- that creature whom drew others to her like moths to the flame?

But, Rukia was too agitated to hear Shirayuki within her mind. _"Why not Inoue? Why did it have to be...__**her**__?"_

There were many different answers. Many different reasons that came near to encompassing the truth of why Kurosaki Ichigo had chosen to and fallen in love with that thing.

_"Where does Inoue come into this? She's just a friend-!"_ His voice was starting rise dangerously again. _"Kei's much more to me than her!"_

Rukia didn't understand.

Sode no Shirayuki closed her eyes to the driving whiteness that held a darker, less pure tinge to it. Resentment was tainting the purity of her world.

_"At least..Inoue has a __**real **__soul." _

The white sword sensed the change in the atmosphere immediately. Oppression was seeping in, the air closing in around her. _This was~!_ Through Rukia's eyes, Shirayuki saw the girl looking out from around the back door. His anger completely evaporated replaced by pain. _"Kei.."_

The girl seemed to recollect herself, _"Y-Yuzu-chan wanted to know if Kuchiki Rukia-san was still going to spend the night?" _

When Kurosaki moved, it was almost as if he were leaving. Distancing himself totally from her wielder's heart and presence. _"I think it would be best if you left."_ Standing by the other's side, his hand on her shoulder.

_"You can't-Ichigo-I wasn't-"_ Rukia faltered, her voice losing the force it had always carried.

Don't drive me away. The plea her wielder couldn't speak, rang out over the blizzard-locked skies.

His eyes were half-lidded, cold like the eyes of a stranger.

Rukia shivered into the very depths of her soul for that look.

_"Go. Now!" _

She ran.

(*)*)*) Tsukikage Castle(*)*)*)

"Oh, Captain Namaiki! Wait up!"

Kazeatari slowed her brisk stride long enough for the dark-haired man to catch up."Amakusa," she regarded him steadily. "What is it? Does Takara require something?"

"Uh, no, ma'am...I uh wanted to return this book I borrowed from you." A little pink-faced, he held out a large green tome embossed with gold filigree flowers. "Ah.." Kazeatari took it from him, coming to a stop beneath the arched window on the eastern side overlooking the outer wall of the gardens.

"Keats. Did you find one you liked? My personal favorite is _Lamia_." she cracked the spine open, turning over a few thick leaves. A smile lit up his dark eyes, "yes. _On the Sea_. I particularly liked the evocative reminiscence it called up of the power and majesty of the ocean. It makes me want to visit the eastern shores. You know we haven't...in quite a long time."

"Mm..true." Kazeatari's gaze rose from the inset of the ink drawing of a rugged coastline. "Once she's back-"

"That's right! Is it true that Captain Nanatsu is going to bring Captain Yamamoto back? I heard from the Lieutenant that he had planned to sometime today and that we had something that might bring her memory back-?" Toya looked very uncertain at the last part, his brows meeting in a slight little boyish look of confusion.

For a moment, the longish dark hair tied back in a ribbon, bangs hanging so unkemptly around his face reminded her sharply of another. A little boy tugging on his sister's skirt.

_"*Sorella, sono affamato..!" _

(*Sister, I'm hungry *Lit. Italian)

"Captain Namaiki-? Are you feeling okay?" he was peering into her face. Kazeatari tried to shake the vision of the sallow cheeks pinched in starvation from her mind. "You're starving, aren't you?"

Surprised by the question, he blinked twice before answering, "um..kind of I guess. I haven't had lunch yet-oh, but! Hey!" Expressionless, she had started to drag him off. "Come along then, I can cook for you at the very least." _I could do nothing then_...

Her obsidian eyes lowered.

*_Sono spiacente, il mio fratello piccolo_.

( * _I'm sorry, my little brother_ *Lit Italian)

(*)*)*) Seireitei(*)*)*)

The medicine sat on the table, measured out carefully by Kiyone. _I'll take it in a moment_. Now, Jushiro lowered the white handkerchief from his mouth, listening for the receding footsteps to fade. In time they did and the Taichou of Thirteenth breathed a shallow sigh of relief.

While he tolerated the clumsy efforts of his two seated officers; this was one task he wished to accomplish alone. Pocketing the linen square, Jushiro rose, hurriedly crossing the room to the interconnecting door that opened into another hall. The corridor was short and he traversed it with little difficulty, the beat of his heart increasing with each step.

_One more door_. This new portal was easily unlocked, an aura of mustiness and age passing over him as he stepped through. It was a cordoned off section of Thirteenth Squad. Jushiro gazed at the familiar walls, illumination spilling upon them from the tiny oil lamp he held aloft. So long ago...such a very long time ago, those very rooms had been the place where he had first met her. Murasaki.

_The youthful face hovered from a moment in time. _

_The worn crimson kimono and wide obi patterned with large chrysanthemums. _

_The curious yet trusting eyes. "Tonight?"_

_"Yes, Yamamoto-Taichou wished to have plenty of time to see you without obligations interfering." _

Jushiro remembered the moonlit walk. The flame in the lamp sputtered, casting strange formations on the walls. For a moment a sliver of fear asserted itself, but then he shook it off. Kiyone had promised to come and check up on him; knowing her it would be every few minutes. Jushiro meant to have finished this by that time.

Quickly then, he set to work. Dropping to one knee beside the floorboards where the imprint of a great desk had remained. Lifting up the first two loosened boards, he set them aside, drawing out from the hollowed space beneath the floor; a box made of plain maple.

Centuries of dust lay upon the polished grained top, his hands came away coated with a fine grayish silt which he ignored. Desiring only to retrieve the contents. His searching fingers found it connecting with the slender two-pronged stick then the silky whisper of chain. The faceted stone felt pleasantly cool to the touch. Jushiro held up the item in the light, the reddish beads though darkened with some brownish-rust colored ochre, still glittered despite the years that had passed.

It was the hairpin the young heir of the Kuchiki clan almost a thousand years earlier had given to Murasaki after she had saved him. Murasaki whom was now Yamamoto-Hisakata Keiko.

Jushiro only prayed that the tragedy did not repeat itself.

(*)*)*) Living world(*)*)*)

Ichigo rolled over and looked at the clock.

5:45 AM.

Damn Zangetsu. The sun hadn't even risen yet and he had said- more intimated that Ichigo was going to be late for school. Not that he particularly cared, but...intelligence seemed a high point with Kei, albeit his grades weren't anything to complain about.

But, to think that in her academy days she had shined- most likely at the top of her class...

That alone was enough to motivate him to study a little harder- if a Hollow didn't show up and tentatively consider asking to be taught basic Kido. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya could both attest to the fact that they had seen her perform a full Level 90 Hado one reminiscent of the traitor Aizen Sosuke had used on Komamura Saijin.

_On par to a Taichou_... that thought was frightening as it denoted that she still had that power somewhere inside. The power that placed her on the frontlines against Aizen. Ichigo didn't want that. _Sure he could protect her...but would she accept being protected? _

Her mindset was difficult to gauge as they had never been in that situation against powerful enemies. Part of him suspected that she wouldn't stand by and let him handle it then he was also sure that the Shinigami desired her full participation in the upcoming war.

The Juppongatana Captains were ranked in order of strength.

She was the Fourth so that meant she was below Kagami in skill. Ichigo hadn't crossed swords with the Water wielder before, yet again Hitsugaya and Matsumoto had.

He frowned at the ceiling, watching the slow creeping of light slanting in across the smooth plaster.

_They'd have lost if Kagami hadn't held back at the last moment_.

Ichigo heard the scuffle of footsteps in the hallway outside his bedroom door. Surprisingly they paused and he half rose, bringing the covers up to his chest. The steps hadn't been heavy like his dad's, nor light like his sisters'.

_Kei? _The slight hope tightened something in his stomach, anticipation made his mouth dry. Nervously he passed his tongue over his lips, wetting them. _What would he say~? After what had transpired between them last night...but was it a dream?_ He thought of how she'd looked, wearing a crimson kimono he had never seen before. Smelling of dust and the always prevalent ashen-musk. Come to think of it, the thick fabric of the kimono had been worn-seeming under his hands. As if softened by age.

And that hair ornament..

He shifted suddenly, sitting up only to have a peculiar stabbing pain lance through his shoulder blade. _What the_-

Ichigo reached back, running his fingers over the curved expanse of his upper back. Dots of red stained his fingertips. _That's right!_ At that same moment, disappointedly he heard her footsteps move on. _She had stabbed me thinking I was someone else...but why didn't it heal?_

(*)*)*)

The sound of sizzling onions greeted Isshin Kurosaki as he reached the bottom of the stairs. A smile came onto his rugged, unshaven face at the thought of his little girls rising early to prepare breakfast. Reaching the ground floor, his eyes traveled over to the open kitchen and the small head of short blond hair he expected to see standing before the range.

Instead..

His heart jolted painfully in his chest.

It was **her**.

Some sound must've escaped him, perhaps the shifting of the floorboards as he started back. Either way it drew her attention.

"Ah! O-hayo gozaimasu, Isshin-otousan!" The girl's voice was cheerful without a trace of hostility present. Isshin warily approached, taking a circuitous route to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting down, all the while keeping her in his sights.

"..pardon me, but I'm sure my son mentioned your name last night..." so very carefully, he probed around the subject which tormented him. "..Kanae..was it?" To his perceptive gaze, trained so studiously on her back. There was a slight quaver. A hesitation in the hand that pushed the utensil around in the pan.

"..Kanae?" An underlying question seemed to be there. As if she were questioning herself. "N-No. It is Yamamoto-Hisakata using respectively the kanji for _Strong Mountain _and _Moon_ and Keiko for _Fire Child_."

Isshin rose from his seat, "I see. Excuse my faulty memory then, Yamamoto-san."

"U-um.." she turned around again, worrying her lip to pieces.

"Yes?"

"It was alright that I used your kitchen-? I asked Yuzu-chan last night, but um.."

Isshin hesitated for a moment; the girl clasped the spatula in both hands, clad in a gray pleated skirt and white T-shirt that was slightly loose on the bosom, a small pink apron with ruffles was tied about her slim waist. She looked the picture of a normal, pretty teenager rather than an ancient spirit analogous to a piece of matter.

"That's fine." Despite the wariness he had maintained as a former Shinigami, Isshin felt himself softening toward her. Perhaps it was her expression so full of innocence that was so disarming or maybe it was how it hadn't escaped his notice the way his son looked at her. Isshin remembered what it felt like to look at Masaki and know she was the only woman he would ever love.

Maybe that was how Ichigo took after him.

The girl instantly brightened, "domo arigatou!"

"I must ask one thing however.."

Her eyes lifted to his face, the tilt of her chin showing curiosity.

"Please..let Ichigo protect you." Isshin began walking away, "don't die and leave him alone."

(*)*)*)Unknown level of the Meido(*)*)*)

The main stretch of the cave had slowly sloped downward, taking them deeper underground. Byakko had wrinkled his sensitive nose every once and a while over the rotted smell wafting around them. However all that had changed once they had crossed a small bridge suspended over a rushing river. The water had churned with darkness and shadows swam fast against the current.

Though it was unspoken, all were glad to leave the damp wetness of the underground channel behind. _It was like the reversal of night and day_, Touda thought, staring around at the open entryway that broke off from the monotony of the rock and into a lush red-walled interior. Thick throw rugs muted their steps on the dark gray flagstone where nary a crack nor destruction could be found. Sconces on the walls cast almost full illumination on the long, wide corridor ahead, while another branched off to the side.

"We must find Genbu and release the seal.." Soryu's harsh, imperious tones echoed strangely out of place in the lordly manor as if impertinent.

"Why?" Touda noticed art frame-sized pieces lining the opposite corridor and longed to go and see what they were. "Why do we have to let him loose? Didn't he go insane 'cause of Earth's influence?"

Byakko frowned a little, his golden eyes clouding over. "No, it wasn't so much like insanity...think of love as-as a sickness! Like something that spreads in the blood, burning the body dry. It becomes a mania, an obsession for that one thing. I could never understand wholly of why he did those things..but that's one thing I can say about the Earth element."

Bright blue eyes looked suddenly curious, "and what's that?"

"That he truly loved- loves Keiki still."

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

The first thing Ichigo heard upon going downstairs were Yuzu and Karin's voices raised in exclamation. "Ooh! That looks good!" Surprisingly it smelled good. Like eggs and the tart, pungent scent of fried onions.

Rounding the corner, the first thing he saw was Kei leaning on the counter, fanning a deep dish pie with a potholder. His sisters were standing on tiptoe at her side, looking at it. At his approach, they glanced up, Yuzu smiling; Karin bored, "oh, so you're finally up? There's some toast over there."

"Karin, that's not very nice!"

"That's my nicest way of saying more for me if you leave now."

Kei laughed a little, setting aside the paisley potholder. His heart raced a little more as she turned, favoring him with a smile. "Morning, Ichigo. Did you sleep well?" Absently he had reached behind, rubbing his shoulder blade, now he shrugged.

"Eh, fine I guess." Deliberately playing at nonchalance, he continued on easily. "Did you dream anything last night? I mean like have any nightmares-?" Then realized his choice of words hadn't been the best.

She didn't seem to mind. "No, none at all. In fact I slept very peacefully last night."

Somewhat awkwardly now, Ichigo felt Karin glance suspiciously at him. "Oh, is that right.." he was aware of some disappointment flare sharply in his soul. _So, she didn't remember_.

_Doesn't remember what I said_.

_"I love you."_

Unable to keep his emotions from showing, he moved away. Pretending to search the fridge for something. _What was it she was going to ask me-?_ Confusion clouded his eyes. _Was she questioning if my feelings are real? Is that it?_ _They're real, dammit!_

Almost angrily, he shoved the fridge door shut, the satisfying bang startling the girls.

_Or had he even touched it?_ Ichigo stared down at his fisted hands clenched at his sides. _The door...how had it slammed shut if_..

"Ichi-nii..is something the matter?" The sudden silence made him glance to Yuzu, who approached slowly, warily with eyes like a frightened rabbit. Karin stood by Kei's side, looking on yet her orbs were filled with a kind of intensity, like she knew-

Or sensed something.

Ichigo then let his gaze drift upward to **her** face and saw it filled with that same irrational hateful fear. "Kei, I...I.." _Don't look at me like that-no-no-no_

Yuzu had stretched her hand out to touch his.

**Don't turn away**- The piercing cry echoed deep from his subconscious mind, at once swallowing the persona of everything he was within that single instant as Kei took her eyes from him.

"Yuzu! Ge-" she had dived for his sister.

"**Don't look away from me, Keiki!**" The scream exploded like a shockwave in the air...

-TBC-

AN: thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Please review :)


	56. Cry of the wicked

_If you love someone...you never hurt them._

_If they cry, you cry as well._

_And when they bleed, you bleed with them._

_-Unknown.*Actually something the authoress tossed together. _

ShiKai CH.48: Cry of the wicked

She didn't understand where the feeling had come from. That underlying sense of tension, of apprehension gripping her as his jaw reflexively tightened.

_I didn't dream anything_. It was true, her sleep had been undisturbed, peaceful. She hadn't minded so much the narrow, hard bed with rumpled sheets in that little cramped room. It was nothing of course compared to Ipponzakura- the place of her birth. Yet, here there was a homeliness to the surroundings. A grounded sense, a place filled with a lot of love.

Surprisingly she could feel it.

That and _**more**_. _Why was Ichigo angry?_ Reviewing her actions, she saw nothing in her behavior that could've altered his disposition so. Yuzu and Karin sensed it as well, watching their brother with strange, almost wary eyes as if he were a sleek cat, stalking angrily upon velvet paws. _When had his motions changed?_

His stride was long, rippling almost like a great beast.

She felt a shudder travel up her spine. _Why was this familiar-?_

The fridge door slammed shut, but he hadn't touched it.

"Ichi-nii...is something the matter?"

Fear gripped her heart. The emotion wasn't hers. But, he saw it anyway.

"Kei, I...I..." the hurt was like a kicked dog staring after its master. Just pain swimming in amber-colored irises then it changed.

Yuzu's movement drew her eyes down.

A small hand extended across the space between. In her mind, an image flashed. _Oh. No. I know...I know where I've seen this...No. Please. NO!_

It was instinctual, pitching her body forward, her hand grasping the thin shoulder.

His scream exploded seconds later.

A swath of crushing weight collided against her wide open eyes.

Then she saw and felt nothing more.

(*)*)*)*)

Plip.

_So much...blood._ Disoriented, Ichigo clasped at his forehead, attempting to get the world in focus. _Whose was it?_ His first thought was of his sisters then as the haziness faded. A new horrific realization made his chest tighten. _Kei...!_

The entire kitchen looked blasted, as if a swath had cut through it. Wood shards from the cabinets littered the floor, glassware sliced in half remained neatly stacked on the open shelves. But, it was the body reclining back, resting against the cradle of the smashed in counter. _Not smashed..._

_She had hit so hard, the counter had folded in around her. _

_What could've...who_...his gaze trailed to Yuzu on her knees, blood spatters dotted her cheeks like obscene paint. Her large eyes were frightened, wide like a doe's. Vaguely he seemed to recall an outstretched hand that closed on air, a shoulder jerking back before everything blackened.

"I-I-Ichi-nii.." his sister's voice was so thin and hollow. Karin was on the floor as well, accusation sharpened the pinpoints of light in her eyes. Blood spots too darkened the collar of Karin's white shirt beneath the black vest.

It was all **her** blood.

"Why did you do that to Kei-san?"

(*)*)*)*)*)Tsukikage Castle (*)*)*)*)*)

Kagami had never felt good about himself. folding over the thick cowl collar turtleneck. It fit snugly in a way around his torso and under the arms that he disliked. Perhaps it was the loss of loose dresses with flowing skirts, the difference being of gender that changed everything.

The jeans were close-fitting in all the right places. It had never seemed to bother Kazeatari; wearing floral print articles as a woman. Or, he was inclined to admit. _Her attitude had a lot to do with it_. Lifting up the last item from the pile on the dresser, he slipped it on, staring for a time at the reflection the mirror showed.

A tousled flaxen-haired man in his mid-twenties stared back.

Not a woman with hair falling in golden sand-colored waves to her shoulders nor with eyes the exact shade of the deep blue sea.

Mizuna-that wasn't Mizuna; drew back a fist and punched the glass, destroying the hateful image.

Cracks spread from the center of impact, his smile a distorted, twisted thing. One smiling, the other frowning. That was what he couldn't stand. _Those covetous, greed-filled stares_. From men who wanted to own, possess a human being like it was a fine object. Fragile like glass. Beautiful as a dream.

Shards tinkled forward, the hand that hovered inches above the shattered surface, curved two fingers down. Time reversed. The mirror became whole. Kagami stared at himself a moment later, then sighed, running fingers through the hair swept back from his face.

He had said evening but his instinct said to leave early.

It was time to go.

(*)*)*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)*)*)

_That reiatsu-! _ Rukia's eyes flew open, on the rooftop of Inoue's apartment, she started up, her senses discerning the location several blocks away_. Ichigo's house!_ Rukia's gaze darkened, her immediate thought of it being the Elemental.

Movement blurred in the corner of her eye. Hitsugaya had left his Gigai behind, his white haori flaring with the sharp motion. "Kuchiki! You're..." His brow curved, she heard some confusion in his tone, then abruptly it was gone, his turquoise eyes hardening. "Never mind. Let's go!"

"Hai, sir!" Rukia knew better than to hesitate. Popping the Gikongan in her mouth, she had exited the temporary body within seconds, her hand dropping to the hilt of the sword stuck through her sash as reassurance. If it came to that, she wasn't afraid of fighting **her**, even knowing how far the other's skills surpassed her own.

_It was only Ichigo she worried about_.

They took a running leap off the building top.

_Because Ichigo was such a big idiot he didn't see how true her words had been. Once upon a long time ago, the thing with a form and pretty face had been equivalent to a piece of matter. Not human. Not with a real soul like a human...just pure energy. _

Hitsugaya lead, while she followed a step or two behind.

_He might try and protect __**It**_**.**

"That wasn't..." Hitsugaya's voice took her out of her reverie.

"Sir?"

He glanced back at her, the look in his eyes deeply troubled. "That was not Yamamoto Keiko we sensed. It was some_thing _ else. Be on your guard, Kuchiki."

Confused now, Rukia nodded jerkily. "Y-yes, sir."

_If it hadn't been her...who else could it have been? Oh, she hoped Ichigo was alright..._

(*)*)*)*)*)

"What was...that?" Orihime paused in cutting the leeks for their breakfast, the knife resting against the worn wooden slab. Rangiku tensed, light blue eyes slanting toward the door. "Don't worry about it, Orihime-chan. Taichou and Kuchiki-san are heading over there to check it out as we speak."

Orihime though somewhat reassured, glanced down at the trembling hand clasping the knife handle. "B-but..it felt like it came from Kurosaki-kun's house." Her eyes filled, "I hope he's okay."

(*)*)*)*)*)

"Kisuke..." Yoruichi's golden-green eyes slanted, meeting his.

The last resonance of the energy vibrated.

"I know. I felt it too...or rather I've never sensed such a force possessing such intensity- no." His smiled sardonically, tipping his hat to her. "Only once. Have I felt one equaling that, but it wasn't the same. It was...Yamamoto Keiko's then."

(*)*)*)*)*)

The floor rocked beneath his feet. Isshin swung out a hand, grabbing onto the doorframe to correct his stumble. _Ichigo_..as a parent, his thoughts went to his children. Worry hastened his steps, for the first time in a very long time, Isshin missed the ease of Shunpo.

Rounding the last corner however...

"Karin-!" Relief was an exhalation of the breath he had been unconsciously holding. Obsidian eyes turned back. Isshin saw blood on her, but seemingly no wounds. He had began to advance closer, his gaze going to Yuzu whom was pallid beneath the dousing of red.

"Dad!" A little surprised at her outburst, his arms encircled the small body that had gone flying to him. Karin clambered to her feet, moving to his side as well. Isshin patted the small blond head then drew Karin's unyielding form closer, her eyes never leaving something farther in the kitchen.

"Ichigo, are you-" the words died a slow death. Ichigo alone bore no blood. His motionless form stood apart, never hearing it seemed Isshin's approach nor the girls' movements; no. The amber eyes hadn't lifted from what was directly ahead.

Isshin looked.

He looked as Karin did and felt Yuzu's tears soaking into the lower half of his lab coat.

Yuzu was saying- "Why..why did Ichi-nii hurt Kei-san, dad? Why?"

Isshin couldn't even begin to describe the various emotions the scene aroused.

_His son...did this? _ He couldn't believe it..or maybe didn't want to.

Plip.

The sound of the blood dripping from the mutilated eye sockets was sickening.

Plip. Ichigo's own eyes filled.

That was all the confirmation Isshin needed.

(*)*)*)*)*)

Rukia felt the hum of Ichigo's familiar spirit pressure as they landed in the street. Hitsugaya tapped the hilt over his shoulder, a brief nod to her. She held back then from running to the front door of the Kurosaki clinic, following at a more wary pace. _They didn't know what to expect to find_...

Passing through the outer exterior wall, her gaze went first to Ichigo's rigid back. _He wasn't hurt!_ She then saw Ichigo's dad and the girls. Her brow quirked, _was that...blood-? Where had it come from..no one seemed-_

Hitsugaya had taken faster stock of the room, starting back then with a suddenness that made her eyes snap to his blanched face in question then follow to what he was looking at.

_Wounded_.

She couldn't help the gorge rising in her empty stomach.

The word failed to convey the horror that bled into her veins. In that moment, for a short time, Rukia forgot why she had wanted nothing but for the girl to disappear from their lives. She wouldn't have wished this on any_thing_.

The upper half of the Kouseitan'i's face had been smashed in.

Yet _she_ still lived.

(*)*)*)*)*)

The voice cut through the air like a knife.

"What have you done to her?"

Feeling bled from Rukia's body. Numbly she heard the steps, fear a bitterness on her tongue.

"I suppose I must blame Urahara...as his negligence lies at the heart of the matter."

_N-N-Nanatsu K-Kagami_. Rukia couldn't speak.

He was...the one whom had created Sode no Shirayuki.

**Water**.

A shaft of mid-morning sunlight lightened the ashen tints in his hair making the strands seem almost like spun sand. The blackness of his clothes accentuated the glow of his skin. Rukia felt as though she had never truly seen him before.

(*)*)*)*)*)

Kagami stood in the middle of the street.

His hand wrapped about Sazanami's scabbard.

Within seconds, he was at the doorstep of the Kurosaki clinic. Inside, the reiatsus of several Shinigami pulsed, Kurosaki's was familiar as the strongest. But...

His brow furrowed, jaw tightening. There were remnants of another, some of Kurosaki's was mixed with it.

_And blood_.

He'd have known it anywhere.

"What have you done to her?" His voice was quiet. The sound of the door opening hadn't drawn their frozen gazes from the reiatsu-crushed body. No, that wasn't exact. Kurosaki heard and a ripple shuddered throughout his form. "I suppose.." a slight smile interposed itself on his lips, "I must blame Urahara as his negligence lies at the heart of the matter.."

Kuchiki looked back at him, her eyes large, her mouth forming his name.

One hand stuffed halfway in the left pocket of his jeans, he affected a calmness he didn't feel. "Honestly. I leave her in your care-for what...five days?" His short bark of laughter chilled them. "..And this is what I come to?"

"She needs.." Kurosaki sounded distant, faint even. As if he had run a long distance and hadn't quite caught his breath yet. "Inoue. Rukia..get Inoue!"

Kagami stopped deliberately, nearly abreast with the teen. "Inoue? What exactly can she do? I mean whatever it is, it isn't much."

No one refuted it, though Kuchiki looked anxiously between them, edging subtly for the front door.

"Or maybe it's because you want to _see_ her." A few more steps remained, his back was to Kurosaki, but he still caught the sharply in-drawn breath. "After all no one could claim to love one and yet do something like this to them."

"How dare-" The hiss was low. Kurosaki's fury was palpable in the rapid increase of his reiatsu. Clumsy though it was, as he dropped to a crouch, he found himself leveling off the pressure with a slight upsurge of his own reiatsu. _The kid's was still nothing compared to it_.

His hand extended, fingertips brushed the blood-flecked chin. "Hey there... Can you hear me, Kei?" Then a slight glance over his shoulder, "you know I'm right."

"-you bastard!" Kurosaki yelled, his hotheadedness coming out. "I love Kei! And I don't give a damn what you think! If I want to be with her then nothing and no one is going to stop me!"

"Ichigo..." Kuchiki began, but he ignored her.

Hard amber eyes bored holes into his back. "Least of all _you_."

That, Kagami decided to ignore, after all the injuries appeared to be more serious than he had previously thought. Carefully now, he wrapped arm about the shoulders, easing her head forward, his hand came away slick with blood.

The quiet murmur of another and the scuffle of footsteps drew near. "I'm a doctor, sir. You shouldn't-"

The smile came back, lifting the body up, Kagami was just surprised at how light and hollow it felt. "Cut the _fucking_ act, Kurosaki. We both _know_ there is nothing you can do. I guess though..what they say has more than a grain of truth to it. _Like father, like son_..." The man flinched, his eyes slanting guiltily away.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Isshin Kurosaki retorted after a moment.

His son looked between them, sensing the tension weighing the atmosphere. Kuchiki on her end, was as confused as well. Kagami didn't blame her, not knowing anything of the Shinigami's past. Hitsugaya however...stepped forward, his greenish-blue eyes trained on him.

"Soul Society had nothing to do with this. Kurosaki Ichigo at best, is an ally not associated with the Gotei 13. He is merely recognized as a substitute Shinigami."

Kuchiki rounded on him, her fists balling. "Hitsugaya-Taichou-!"

Kagami met the other's steady gaze.

"I believe that our treaty is still in effect then-" Hitsugaya reminded, not questioning as a denial could easily be formed. Diplomacy was one facet of being in command that Kagami despised among other things. Even if it was needed, depending on the next words he said; they could solidify the Juppongatana/Seireitei alliance or break it.

And that was one decision, he could not make on his own.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for that answer." Shifting the body ever so meaningfully in his clasp, one arm folded beneath the knees, the other around the upper half of the torso; he tossed off another half-smile. "Please excuse me, but there are other matters I must attend to."

He didn't give Kurosaki a chance to speak anymore.

(*)*)*)*)*)

_I'm a doctor. I help people_.

But, Water knew that already.

Just as Isshin knew **what** she was, so, Water knew who he was.

".. Like father, like son..."

That was truth of what Isshin wanted so desperately to hide. Denial was the only road left, his guilt hadn't been assuaged rather painfully increased as the years fell away. At that moment, with Water's eyes of that unnatural vibrant hue impassive on his face; Isshin could swear he felt the sword in his hand and the cry of the Squad member echoing bitterly too late as a warning in the night air.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." The irony of it was that he did.

And it was only a matter of time before his son knew everything as well.

(*)*)*)*)*)

His legs felt like rubber climbing the stairs, past Karin and Yuzu. His sisters stared after him like he was crazy, but maybe he was. Ichigo had barely a thought to spare for the weird tension between his father and the water elemental. He hadn't a fear even then for how the Soulreaper would take the demand.

**I'm going with you**.

Ichigo snatched up the bronze skull badge hanging from the headboard of his bed, phasing roughly out of his body. Hearing it hit the floor as he leapt out the open window. He had to make sure she was going to be alright. Even if he was the one...who had done that. He needed to know. No matter the selfishness of such actions; he _had_ to be there when she woke up.

(*)*)*)*)*)

"Your stubbornness while refreshing to see, is becoming quite the nuisance." Kagami's cool, well-modulated tones reached him as he landed a few yards away. Ichigo heard the metallic clack of the blade being slid from its sheath. Taking in a breath to try and steady his rapidly racing heart, he quickly said, taking a step forward. "I'm going with you!"

The Soulreaper remained motionless. "You are being, you realize, quite ridiculous asking this of me." The sound of the blade stopped.

"I already told you, I don't give a damn about you or anyone else!" Ichigo spat the words out, his eyes flashing dangerously. He had expected something like that. "I will not let you keep us apart!"

"Why would I want to do that?" Kagami turned on him, his voice rising. "There's no logic to your assumptions, kid! Use your fool head for once." The blue eyes had narrowed into icy slits, the jacket-covered arms tightened around her body.

_Why...why does he care-?_

Then he understood.

"It's 'cause...you don't think I'm good enough for her."

Silence.

Ichigo knew then he had hit it on the head. "You think that just 'cause I'm human-" his voice began gaining strength. "-some human punk that I don't deserve Kei's heart 'cause you want it yourself."

The blue eyes widened, incredulity coming into them. "What?"

A tiny smirk curved his lips. "You heard me. I _know_ that you're in love with her and that's why you resent my wanting to be near her."

-TBC...

AN: -.- (sleepy) thanks for reading

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated and loved! C:


	57. Burning the lives

Should it hurt to love you?  
Should I feel like I do?  
Should I lock the last open door,  
My ghosts are gaining on me.

-All that I'm living for, Evanescence

ShiKai CH.49: Burning the lives

_You're in love with her_.

Everything was wrong in that sentence.

It should've been easy to laugh it off, take it as a joke had they been friends or something other than Elemental and human. But. Some bitterness he did feel, other than the raging emotions hammering at his skull just beyond the mental barrier. Kurosaki _believed_ in what he so wrongly charged. That was the difference.

"You know **nothing** of us." Scorn edged the words like a razor. The overpowering stench of free-flowing blood clung to his jacket and had slowly begun soaking through his shirt. Anger pulsed in waves from Kurosaki's aura. Kagami began to regret ever possessing an emotion like pity for the human.

"You know nothing of _her_." he spoke it so softly that for a moment he even doubted the teen had heard.

Kurosaki's face transformed into a mask of rage, his hand wrapped around the bandaged hilt ready to withdraw it at a seconds' notice. "I know more about her than you could ever know!"

Such arrogance. Kagami could only wonder at the cause of it. What drove Kurosaki to presume he knew everything about her? He only knew the shallowest part of her true persona. Perhaps it was only the foolishness of youth.

"I give up." Pure reishii gathered at his fingertips. Sazanami slid back into her sheath. There was a slight _shfft_ sound as surprised, Kurosaki let go of the grip he had maintained on his sword.

"So, you finally-"The ground crunched beneath the settling weight of his movement.

"Take one step closer and I will not hesitate to sever your head from your body." Kurosaki froze at the ice in his tone. Kagami knew it was more from surprise than actual fear of the threat and that incensed him beyond the capacity of patience.

Kurosaki did not think he could do it.

Kurosaki did not believe he was a threat at all.

And that was his greatest mistake.

The look Kagami saw from the corner of his eye, was of defiance. Hard, stubborn defiance. Without hesitation the line was crossed. The gathered reishii glistened like droplets, shone iridescent rainbows like an encapsulated dream.

The _shfft_ sound was louder as the bandages unraveled from Kurosaki's large blade.

Kagami shunpo'd forward suddenly, his left arm remaining beneath the knees, the other drawing away from the shoulders. At the last possible second, he half-turned, bringing his wrist back in a sharp move meeting the shaded black cutting edge of Zangetsu.

"Put yourself in my place, Kurosaki." Kagami said coolly, the reishii wall surrounding his hand and wrist, vibrated, circular rings like ripples breaking out.

Kurosaki gritted his teeth, bracing his full weight. "Is that what you want me to say?" The amber eyes glared fiercely over the sword he held. "That _I'm sorry? _That I don't know what the hell happened?" A note of desperation came into his voice. "Well, I am sorry! Sorry for not being perfect!"

"Don't apologize for _being,_ as a simple human you cannot hope to contain it. I can only pray that I'm wrong..." Kagami stared back into the eyes brimming with confusion. "Otherwise eventually.._you will disappear_."

"I-I'm not going to lose to **it**, damn it!" Kurosaki stumbled over the words, his hands shaking with a tremor unlike his firm resolve-hardened strike. "I won't lose myself to it again! I swear to you, I won't! I'd rather die than hurt her-"

"Kurosaki." Kagami's gaze softened, his tone saddening. "You're _already_ losing your _self_."

Amber eyes with strange flecks of gold glittering in their depths widened.

Then, narrowed. Kurosaki swiped his sword back and lunged again with a wild yell.

Zangetsu met bare skin. He did wonder where the old man was and _why he hadn't interceded...was Kurosaki's hold on his own soul so precarious? _ _Perhaps everything was farther gone then he had assumed_.

"You..."

Kagami looked on impassively.

"..I won't lose to you-!"

He released his reiatsu in a rippling wave.

(*)*)*)

Sweat trickled down his brow. Ichigo tasted blood and spat to the side, passing the side of his hand against his ruptured lip. That bastard... his thoughts still somewhat muddled, shaken from the collision with the hard ground made him touch his hairline. Blood came onto his fingertips.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun! You're hurt!"

At the sound of Inoue's voice, he looked up to see her. She was a pretty girl, that much he could see. A kind-caring girl-but. Ichigo heard the worry in her tone, the fluttering ineptitude of her hands and the large gray eyes that looked at him so differently.

"Inoue...if I were to kiss you, would you scream and push me away?"

The eyes grew larger if possible, a tint spreading across her cheeks. "K-Ku-Kurosaki-kun i-is asking t-t-to k-kiss m-me?"

But, who was he fooling? Inoue could never be _her_. "Never mind." Shaking his head vigorously in attempt to clear it, he climbed to his feet. The hand she reached out, unclasped, clasped with indecision. Ichigo knew instinctively she wanted to pretend to steady him- but all she really wanted was to touch him.

He stepped away; Inoue's hand went to her other, meeting they then clasped to her heart. "Oh, let me heal you! You shouldn't-"

"Inoue." His fist tightened around Zangetsu's hilt, in one swift motion he had plucked the Zanpaku-to from the ground, flipping it over his shoulder as custom. The bandages rewrapped themselves about the blade. "Not this time. I'd rather be...alone if you don't mind."

Alone. Yes, that was what he needed. Ichigo caught the soft sigh almost like a sob, but when he glanced he found her bright happy smile.

"O-Okay!"

(*)*)*)

Urahara's shop.

Ichigo wanted to be alone, but he didn't want to face Toshiro nor Rukia. Besides, the man could open the gate to Assiah. The shopkeeper would do it for him. After all when had Urahara ever said _no_?

"No, I'm afraid I can't do that, Kurosaki-kun."

The words felt like a slap in the face. "Why the hell not?" Ignoring the throb of his forearm, the darkish purple bruise blossoming against the corded muscle, Ichigo stared at the man in the doorway.

"Ah...I have my reasons." A hand flicked lazily. "You know, this and that."

"Cut the crap and spit it out!" His tone was harsh and so was the glare he threw to the man, watching the smile slide off.

"What is it precisely that you wish for me to say?"

That caught him off guard. For a moment he felt like a child and Urahara the adult and that angered him more. "You could start by telling me why you won't open the gate to Assiah for starters!"

He was very calmly regarded by a few flicks of a fan. "And if I did open the gate to Assiah...what are you going to do?" Any hints of amicability had fled. "Charge across the southland into the gray area and pound on their gate demanding to be let in?"

Ichigo reddened, his eyes slanting away. "You know it's not like that..."

"Then, how is it, Kurosaki-kun? What is it about her that you can't seem to live without?"

_Live without? What was so wrong with wanting to know if she was alright? What if she was..._ coldness gripped his heart. _What if she was dying at this very second-! _

"I don't know what you're talking about. All I know is that I have to go there...whether you approve or not." His eyes became steely, resolution burning in them.

"Alright..." a tiny unwilling smile curved the elder man's mouth. "I see you will not be put off then, Mr. Kurosaki. But, understand this, if you go...then you go _alone_."

He had already known that. _Hadn't Toshiro as well as the rest of Seireitei discarded him?_ "So, what?"

Urahara chuckled mysteriously. "Just don't be surprised if you have a room of swords in your face. As far as I can tell, you've spent all of Nanatsu Kagami-san's patience. Also, please have a seat, Kurosaki-kun. The gate will be ready within the hour."

(*)*)*)Tsukikage Castle(*)*)*)

The doors opened. Through the thick walls of the large Colonial-style kitchen; Kazeatari at the brick-laid range glanced up, sensing without olfactory feeling, Water's return. Toya looked up from his plate as well, quickly snatching up a napkin.

Takara on the other end, rooting through the double-door fridge set back deeply into the wall, jumped up. "Kagami-san!" The blond couldn't say verbally just how much she had missed the one she had thought of as a sister; though Kazeatari herself could guess with her own rising excitement.

"I can leave this..." turning off the gas burner, she swiftly crossed the room, throwing open the doors; Toya was much slower rising from the barstool.

Three pairs of eyes eagerly scanned the entry way, Takara first catching a glimpse of the man.

Kagami-san! Is Kei-sa.."

He was carrying her.

Kazeatari felt her heart drop. There were slick dark patches all over his shoulder and part of his upper chest. The dull hair that spilled over his arm curved under the back was mottled with the same rust hue.

"Who the hell did this?" Obsidian eyes burned.

He favored her with a humorless glance. "Who do you think?"

Takara gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Kei-san-! The H-Hokuto-Shichi-"

"Too late for that." Kagami smoothly opposed. "Kurosaki held me up, attacked me when I refused to let him come along. I'm afraid something else is needed." He glanced to Kazeatari, holding her eyes for a moment longer. Then, lowering his gaze to Takara's frantic worry. "Please, Takara, Amakusa, I believe it is time for you to see this."

(*)*)*)

He lead them to a room off the main hallway. There, kicking the door open, he swiftly crossed to the heavy oak table beneath the overhead bowl sconce, laying his burden down carefully, arranging her arms and legs to lie flat.

"Toya, close the door."

"Y-Yes, sir." The third seat hastened to comply, easing shut the portal closed. Kazeatari had taken up position on the other side; Takara moved closer to Kagami's side, her horror increasing with each step. "What did he do to her? Is- was it a Doom blast?"

The mineral blue eyes passed over the face, lingering on the twitching sockets. "The residual energy doesn't feel like one."

"It wasn't. I had a brief stint as a specialist doctor known for bone-work in a day when leeches were used to bleed people of their illnesses." Kagami said, shrugging off the ruined leather jacket. "Ceros can melt bones, especially ones at such close radiuses. See," his finger hovered over the ocular bone. "The bone structure is intact. Only the outer flesh and muscle has been damaged- _blasted_, I would say ordinarily, however not even Kido could have been..so damned near perfect."

"Perfect?" Toya echoed, his dark brow creasing. As an ex Kido corps officer, he himself knew the infliction of a perfectly executed _Path of Destruction_ spell could do to a body. "What do you mean?" Takara demanded, her eyes hardening; Kazeatari looked more alert as well. "That Kurosaki did this _on purpose_?"

Kagami smiled some, shaking his head, his hands interlocking, sliding into the ancient mudra. "Perhaps. But not with true realization of _what_ he was doing. That aside, I must ask you two-" he favored the Lieutenant and third seat with a glance each. "-not to speak of anything that happens in this room. This..."

Light illuminated a semi-circle beneath her body.

"Is time magic."

(*)*)*)Getsu-ten's mindscape(*)*)*)

The bird had an absolutely terrible taste in clothing. Kei discovered that after a moment of glancing through the closet filled with hangers. Think- black leather miniskirts, tube tops, backless mini-dresses and other items she had never seen before in her life- this one at least. _Was that a babydoll?_ Her eyes widened at the slinky number in blood red lace.

She did though, consider another outfit consisting of a- ubiquitous miniskirt and sleeveless top that was vaguely corset-like and had a severe straight cut across the top of her breasts and a line of fabric that ran up to fasten around her throat. Kei held it up before the full-length mirror, wondering if there was a whip nearby. _That would definitely lift her mood, feeling dangerous and sexy_-

There was a shifting noise at the other end of the room.

Kei froze. _Oh, shit...Tensa was still_...

_She couldn't wear this! Not in front of him!_ Groaning silently, she let the outfit sag against her body. He was a sword-but still-no-he was male then a sword. It would not be proper sauntering around her mindscape in such _little_ attire. Cursing him then, she dejectedly replaced the hanger back. _Though that was silly...he was a sword and he had made it abundantly clear that he despised her without words_.

She had half a mind then take up the black leather two piece and not care what he thought as she could very easily demand that he leave. _Why didn't he then?_ That struck her as strange. If he couldn't stand her presence then why stay? Even without her senses reading his subtle fluctuation of reiatsu, she could _feel _ him still there.

_Tensa_...her heart felt heavy. Maybe he wanted something. More power in the form of another drop of pure reiryoku. Her reiryoku. That could be the only explanation. But, perhaps he wasn't sure yet on how to approach the subject. Her hands pushed aside stiff fabrics and met other silky things deep inside in the narrow aperture.

_Rough-edged though he was, some manners or grudging respect must've still remained. Otherwise he wouldn't have brought her here nor picked up the cherry stick if he was completely hostile toward her_.

That was what she wanted to believe. Sighing to herself on the improbability of it all, Kei withdrew the last article of clothing- a dress from the back of the closet. It turned out to be a strapless flowing gown with rustling tulle scallops overlaid over a shantung silk under-skirt. Taking a closer inspection, Kei fluffed her fingers through the foamy bunching that crowned the bodice. This had..

Potential.

Seven minutes later...

Rounding the corner of the folding screen, she fumbled with the zipper she couldn't quite reach at its lowest point at the base of her back. At the next step however, tell-tale rustling from beneath her foot heralded disaster.

Kei toppled forward...falling face-first into a very firm chest. The quality of the cloak which one would've assumed by appearance to be coarse was actually somewhat soft. Her cheeks did burn even though her tone remained frosty. "You're still here?" Her clawing hands caught at his upper arms at the same moment that his palms made contact with her bare shoulders.

Of course she knew he had never left.

(*)*)*)

She could feel his eyes on her skin. The sword stayed several steps behind, but his gaze was unnaturally intense like a predator's. Kei shivered despite the lack of any real cold in the breezeless passageway. "A little further now." she whispered aloud to herself, her eyes darting back over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" His sudden question, sharp-hinted made her whirl around.

"..Well, I can't- without reason she felt she needed to explain herself, "-without that accursed bird, I cannot regain consciousness as _myself_."

His eyes roved over her face, lingering on her lips.

"T-That's why.." _oh hell with it_. Kei turned away, forcing herself to keep moving. _She didn't need to explain every little breath she took to him_. _Now, did she?_ Frowning some to herself, she heard his steps .

She took three.

He took four.

Lessening one.

Kei tried to still the race of her heart. _He's just a sword. He doesn't know emotions like that_. Up ahead, she could see the partially ajar door of the Library. Her steps quickened as one does, when salvation is within sight. _Swords don't __**lust**__-they don't __**love**_-

She pushed the door open, the musty scent of aged books lining the walls from floor to high-ceiling of the long vestibule-like room. Zangetsu stopped behind her, a mere breadths from pressing into her back.

_All they know is __**loyalty**__. _

"This is...the library."

(*)*)*)

It was the one place that hadn't been destroyed.

Zangetsu assumed this was because her mental faculties hadn't dulled with age, rather sharpened to a knife's edge. She moved on ahead, almost loath to be in his shadow. Altruism wasn't something he was willing to compromise on. Yes, he had given her every reason to despise his very being, to place a barrier between them as it were.

But, it was selfishness that made his steps quicken.

"There are books, chairs here and there..." she waved a slim hand to the shelves, "just mind the order and please put everything back where you found it." The skirt rustled with each motion, her pause by the torchiere lamp seemed almost deliberate then he saw that she had taken down a tome and was flipping through it reminiscently. "It's been so long since I've looked at this.." a tiny self-conscious giggle. "Ah, if only I could show off for Byakuya now."

(It was *_The Joy of cooking 1877 edition_.)

His glance swept past her to the single item beneath the rounded cupola at the other of the room, beneath the stained glass windows was a large instrument.

_"I cannot sing that well. If there was a piano I would play for you upon that. I think you would like it..Tensa." _

"You promised...once." his gaze went to her face as she looked up. "To play for me."

_"Remind me one day and I'll play for you."_

She followed his glance. The book snapped quietly shut in her hands. "I didn't think you wanted to hear my piano-playing anymore." her voice was careful.

"You _promised_." Zangetsu persisted, pinning her with an inscrutable look; refusing to let it be known how eager he had been for this opportunity.

Her violet eyes narrowed, her lips parting as if to say something else, then abruptly she spun on her heel. "Fine...if you want." Carelessly now, she walked over to the piano, spreading her skirt over the small maple bench as she sat. Her hands interlocked, joints cracking briefly before her hands roughly swept the keys.

For a time neither spoke. He hadn't moved, expecting to hear the like of which Ichigo had been treated to during the stay up at the castle. _But...this wasn't it_.

"Chopin, Nocturne Opus 9 number two." Keiki clarified as she finished the piece. "One of Kagami's personal favorites."

She began another. The thrum of the keys deepening as the melody wore on.

"Rachmaninoff, number two in D-minor." her tone was very perfunctory, without feeling like her playing. "That was a piece particularly liked by Kazeatari."

"You..don't care for it?"

She shook her head slightly, the tawny strands dusted her shoulders in the movement. "It's okay. A bit newer for my taste, I do believe it was written sometime during the nineteen-twenties..."

Zangetsu knew nothing of music. So, he could think of nothing to say to that other than a quiet noise in the back of his throat. "Play something _you like_." The request seemed more of a command issuing forth in a gruff undertone.

"Alright." The tilt of her profile was visible for a moment. After a long moment of silence, her fingers simply resting above the keys, she began. The beginning notes were a resounding trill then slowly deepening, the graceful arc of her shoulders and sweep of her hands as she played far more evocative of beauty then the lifeless renditions performed with perfection.

Within moments he was caught up in the flowing melody, feeling the subtle hint of melancholia as each chord pierced and reverberated throughout his soul.

He was nearly breathless when it ended.

"How was that?" her chin tilted back at his approach. His fingertips grazed her cheek, the sword being unaware until the slight start of her motionless body of reaching out.

"Tensa-?" she sounded confused.

Conscious thought was irrational.

All that mattered at that moment was the feel of her mouth, her lips parting and her scent.

The sword could think of nothing else then.

-TBC...

AN: thanks for reading C:

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated and loved C:

-Omake: The art of making a come-on-

"Geez...you make a come-on to anything that moves- is good looking and/or is male." Kagami muttered, looking over the current chapter on . Kei rolled her eyes discreetly, affecting an innocent expression.

"I never made a _come-on_ to you."

He noted how she didn't deny about everybody else. "Admittedly that's true...but-"

"Besides that..it wasn't a come-on. It was a _come-hither _ look." Kei added smugly, propping her chin in her hand. The water wielder frowned, glancing back to the paper then to her. "The point isn't so much whether it was a look or a word, it's the fact that you do it to anything that happens to be male! I mean, Kei...Zangetsu's kind of _old_...don't you think?"

She shrugged, letting her lashes lower then flutter up, her face tilted at a coy angle. "More years...more _experience_." Her hand laid itself surreptitiously on his upper bicep, squeezing in emphasis. "Know what I mean?" Her voice dropped down to a smoky whisper.

For a long moment he was silent, then with dawning suspicion, he said, "you just made a _pass_ at me..didn't you?"

Kei flicked her tongue over her lips, smiling a little. "Mm hm. I couldn't let _even_ one good-looking blond pass me by."

"Uh-huh. I see-" -.-; his gaze drifted down to the hand still squeezing his arm then to the high-heeled sandal caressing his inner-leg. "You can let my arm go now."


	58. My precious

ShiKai CH.50: My precious

Nothing could go fast enough.

Refusing tea twice put a scowl on Ichigo's face. He didn't want damned tea. _He __**was **__calm_, unlike what Yoruichi in passing by had commented upon. It wasn't the first time he wanted to strangle the cat/woman.

_"Put yourself in my place, Kurosaki. You see someone you care for with their face smashed in and __what are you going to do__? Are you going to forgive the one who did it?"_

Sorry wasn't going to cut it. But, the thing was, was that Ichigo had no idea what had happened in the space of a few seconds in the kitchen. He felt he should've known, at the very least recognized the reiatsu so close to his own yet not the Hollow's. If it wasn't the Hollow, then whose was it?

"Tea?" The baleful voice of Ururu came close, the twin bangs hanging between large, sad eyes peering into his face. Ichigo started, jamming his back against the wall. "Dammit! Don't do that!"

"Sorry." But, she sounded as though she didn't mean it. "Tea?" The ubiquitous tray with a single tiny pot and deeper Winter cup swung his way. Rolling his eyes heavenward, asking for patience, he grasped the already poured cup. "Alright! Alright! I'll drink your damn tea!"

Raising it to his lips, a thought in is his own voice warned dimly. _Don't. Drink it_.

But, this time he ignored it. Downing the lukewarm liquid in one swallow, a slight bitterness remained on his tongue.

.._bitter?_ His vision swam suddenly, the cup clattered from his numbing fingers. Ururu stepped back, biting her lip to pieces, her nervous glance went to the opposite doorway where voices could be heard approaching.

"..I hate to say this, but, thank you."

"Just doing what I can..no need for thanks. Knowing your son, it should last about six hours in his system, that's why I'm giving you this." The clink of glass echoed. "Use it wisely. But, wait..I am curious about something."

He felt as though his throat was on fire. Slumping forward, he gasped at the firm line of flesh, feeling the hard rise as each painful swallow went down. "Wha-what the hell..." even speaking was painful. Ururu looked scared at the hoarse sound of his voice. "Mr. Kisuke-!"

"Coming, Ururu!" The leisurely pace of heavy footsteps paused in the doorway. "As I was saying, Kurosaki-san-" the shopkeeper hovered back, motioning with his hand for the little girl to come to him, which she did quickly.

"Do I need a reason?" Kurosaki Isshin said abruptly, his voice gruff. "What father wants to see his son cut to pieces?"

"Ah, so, you understand the gravity of the situation."

"I only know one thing.."

"And what's that?"

"Neither I nor Ichigo stand a chance against _them_."

The last thing, Ichigo's fading sight saw was his dad...dressed like a Shinigami.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage Castle(*)*)*)

"..That's all I can do."

"Kagami-san?" Takara glanced from the peacefully slumbering girl to the man's expressionless face.

"Whether or not she regains consciousness is no longer in my hands." Calmly he lifted up the white scabbard with large gold filigree flowers running in a single line down. "There are two personalities existing from one soul, imprisoned in one body. This sword as imperfect as it is, can only do so much to meld them back together. Whomever wakes up...is the strongest of the two."

Downcast, Takara stared ahead her third seat scooped up the body in silence. "It's all that man's fault!" Her teeth gritted, one arm clasping her elbow tightly. "That fool Kurosaki...if only he knew what his father had done-!"

Kazeatari walked past them to release the Kido spell from the door. Toya nodded his thanks, carefully shifting his bundle.

"Our bodies were never meant to be cut by a Shinigami's ghost cutter. From what Kotoko showed us, I can only assume Isshin thought nothing of severing her soul chain." Kagami explained, shaking his head slightly in unease. "Kei and Keiko...I wonder whose reflection she used to see every morning? Was it her own...or-?"

(*)*)*)...time passes-Living world (*)*)*)

Five days.

The vial on the bedside table was empty.

With each breath, the shallowness of sleep lessened.

Yet, still Ichigo dreamed.

_The Tsukikage Castle keep rising in the distance. The warm glow of the sun bathing his face and the warmth of the soft, yielding body leaning into his chest. The face that tilted up belonged to another then slowly changed into hers. _

_"Kei." The dark hair flowing through his fingers became fair. "Oh, Gods..." Ichigo could barely breathe for the relief flooding his heart. "You're alright-! You're alright...!" his arms lifted, wrapping about her slender frame, clasping her tighter to him, never wanting to let go. "I thought-I was so afraid!"_

_"Of what?" the silken robes she wore, rustled, the bi-colored eyes stared straight into his. _

_His gaze softened, their foreheads touched. "Losing you." _

_Sometimes they sat in the sloping grasses that encompassed the grounds. Him sitting, she between his spread legs, his arms around her, chin resting on her shoulder_.

Those were the dreams he liked best. _There were no Hollows, no world that needed saving. Everything and everyone faded away- disappear wasn't quite right. Ichigo still remembered his friends and family, he could never forget them_.

And that was the one thing..._she couldn't take_.

_"You're leaving me." Kei said on the fifth day, brow slightly creased, lips pressed into a pout. "You're going to leave me for them."_

_Distressed though he hid it well, Ichigo shook his head, looking back at her. "I'm just going to check up on them, I'll be right back!" The gates loomed closer and beyond the ornate grillwork, he could see the skyline of Karakura. _

_"Aren't I_ _**all you need**_?" her quiet voice stopped him.

_"Don't be stupid! I could never abandon my family or friends!" Yes, she was a lot to him but some part of him longed for the kicks of his dad and Yuzu's cooking...the world he had grown up in. She wasn't there but..._

_"I swear I'll come back." His fist clenched, but he couldn't face her, he felt like a coward then."You're very precious to me but so are they. Understand-"_

_"One day, you're going to choose them over me." The certainty was like a slap in the face. He quickly spun around, an angry retort near to bursting forth. But, it died in his throat when he_ _saw her face. For a long moment, he considered turning his back on the open gates and his town_. _'Cause how could he leave her when she wanted to cry-?_

_But another part of him, the part that remembered his fight with Rukia; the apology he had to give his sisters for frightening them...made his legs turn resolutely back to the gates. "I'm sorry. But, I have to do this." _

The grasses rustled- wind gusted through.

He heard the stifled sob.

She ran inside the castle; the great door slammed with finality moments later.

His fist tightened, resisting the urge to call after her. He set off anyway.

_I will come back._

He promised himself, but the moment he had passed through the gates, they sealed shut.

(*)*)*)

Nine days.

The eyes opened first, then shut at the sunlight spilling in from the arched window set deep into the wall beside the bed.

"You're awake. Good timing too. Seireitei and Hueco Mundo have been demanding communication on our quote "alliances." Un-quote."

"Why..couldn't you handle it?" A hand laid itself sluggishly over the forehead.

"Because you know I'm no good at things like that. Besides, what was I going to tell Kurosaki from Urahara's end?" The smile in Kagami's voice was unmistakable. "They've been calling for four days now."

"Tell him to go fuck himself."

The bed curtains shifted, being drawn back more.

Kei hissed as the bluish-tinted light from the panes fell across her face.

"Did I hear a note of pain in there?"

Her hand slid from her face long enough to pierce him with one hateful glare. "It feels like I have a fucking rod splitting my skull open. So, yes. _It hurts_."

"Ooh, sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Though, he kept his tone light, Kagami had the feeling she meant something else entirely. "Such sensitivity to light is going to be a problem on the battlefield."

"Shut up. Get me some kind of pain reliever...I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of it today." Kei lifted the hand from her right eye, the lid fluttering up to reveal a pale flame-colored orb.

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

Nothing had changed much other than the small mountain of work from school that awaited him.

Nothing from Tsukikage...either.

Ichigo tried not to be disappointed that day, or the next. The kitchen was almost back to normal after five days. He didn't trust Urahara anymore but couldn't quite remember why strangely...

At the end of the sixth day, he couldn't stand it.

_Why the hell hadn't they received any message or contact from Tsukikage? What if_...old fears plagued him then. Ichigo tried to fight off his rising panic by doing his homework in the dining room, thinking that the nearness of his family would take off the edge from his anxiety.

_"I swear I'll come back."_

But, he hadn't. Try as he might he couldn't go back to that place. _She was going to think he was liar_..._he didn't though, regret his choice_.

"Ichi-nii..." Yuzu's hesitant voice snapped him out of his dark thoughts.

"Yeah?" he tried to appear normal.

"C-Could you..." she looked away, biting her lip.

Karin walked up, rolling her eyes as she deposited an armload of her own textbooks on the dining table. "What she means is, get out. Go upstairs or something!"

For a time, Ichigo simply stared at her, then back to the fairer haired twin who nodded vigorously though looked guilty.

He could not believe this.

Gathering up the partially crumpled sheet and the pile on the side; he got up, feeling for the first time some regret. _What could he do to make it up to her?_

On the seventh day, he went to the Shoten. He needed something-any word that she was alive.

Tsukikage never answered.

On the eighth day, he left school early. Uryu took care of a few Hollows downtown for him, so he could again go to the Shoten and wait...

The ninth day came...Ichigo abandoned all pretext of going to school. Leaving instead by the window in his Shinigami form. When he got there...

"..yes. I too am eager to continue relations with Seireitei. I only regret, Hitsugaya-Taichou, that I'm going to have to ask you to be patient for a few days longer. November first, I believe is a good date for our proposed visit. On October thirty-first mind you is when we-" she broke off.

He entered. Urahara glanced back at him as did Toshiro.

In the screen, looking paler, thinner as her cheekbones were more defined than he remembered, a large white bandage was wrapped over her head, twining over her right eye.

"Kei...you're-"

"Oh, good morning Ichigo." her greeting lacked enthusiasm. "We were just discussing a reschedule of the visit to the Seireitei."

"I...I want to see you." he didn't care how it sounded nor the raised eyebrow of Kagami flanking her on the left, Kazeatari on the right. "When can you come?"

He saw that she paused for a moment, half raising her hand from the console top to her face, then letting it fall to her side. "I'm afraid it can't be arranged. There are too many preparations to make as it is." he knew he half-deserved the coldness in her tone.

"This is a test, isn't it?" Ichigo tried not to be angry. Not to snap the way he had before. "Well, if you won't come- then I'll go to you!"

"Don't bother."

He froze. "What..?"

"I haven't the time nor the energy to waste."

He stared at her, feeling something unpleasantly sharp twist like a knife in his chest. "I just wanted some time with you..is that so wrong?" his voice was rising even though he wanted to remain calm above all else. "They get to be with you all the time-!"

"Don't be ridiculous! I can't just drop everything because _you feel like seeing me!_ I...am a Captain first and foremost. _My duty _comes before all else. Remember that." her voice had dropped to a thin whisper filled with ice. Her good eye glared through the screen, red spiked the violet instead of black. "And if you can't accept it, then you have no place in my life."

He felt his heart sink.

"Until next time. Good day, Hitsugaya-Taichou." She nodded briefly to Toshiro then to Urahara. The screen went black moments later.

_They'd had their first fight_.

-TBC...

AN: thanks for reading. No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Please review!


	59. BitterSweet

_Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one, two I was just counting on  
That never happens  
I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than this_

_-Crush-Crush-Crush, Paramore_

ShiKai CH.51: Bitter-Sweet

/Flashback, forest in Assiah, 111 years ago/

"-Kagami? Are you listening to me?"

The narrowed eyes and insulted assumption laced her words.

He had to forcefully avert his gaze. "Yeah, yeah..I am. Now what was it again?" Showing some annoyance was best, though he hadn't a clue as to why he had been staring so intently at her mouth.

"I said, I am going to go bathe first." Kei rolled her eyes. "Then, Kazeatari, and Takara last then we're all going for a soak."

"O-kay." He was having a difficult time swallowing, ever so aware of the tingling feeling making itself known across his skin, like the coiling of something tightening in his stomach. _I-I'm excited?_ The Kouseitan'i of water swallowed twice, his heart beating faster. . . _just because I know she's going to be naked-? What the hell!_

His face flushed and he felt strangely over-warm in his old uniform; Kei watched him suspiciously for a moment before turning away, gathering up from the knapsack sitting on a boulder, a towel and wedge of yellow evil-smelling soap.

"How in the hell can you use that stuff?"

She shot him a nasty glare over her shoulder. "Don't complain! You're the one who said I stink!"

"I didn't mean it like that." _Actually_, his mind helpfully supplied for him. _There are __others__ whom happen to adore your stink and I only get the residuals_.

She ignored his mutter. "Whatever." Her eyes rolling again like a classic teenager's response over a century later. Kagami couldn't help then but notice the undoubtedly feminine curve of her hips as she rose. _Oh, damn...what is wrong with me? _Clasping a hand to his forehead, mentally groaning, his suspicions quickly went to Kazeatari and Takara as the purveyors. . .

It wasn't them.

Kazeatari was bored and a little hungry judging by her sigh and aura color. Takara was worried about being attacked by Hollows and scared that a roach would fall into her bathwater. Nope. Definitely_**not**_ on the verge of lust.

Kei was merely sleepy, flipping the purple bath towel over her shoulder. Getsu-ten was reclining against the bag and...

"Wait!"

"What is it now?" she came close to snapping. His gaze was riveted to the square black guard and hilt in her hand. _That sword-! _She saw his look of horror directed downward and waved the scabbard slightly in the air. "You're the one who said..."

He didn't hear her anymore. Slowly he looked past her, the night forest fading away. The Zanpaku-to leaned up against a tree, arms crossed, legs straight, his aura expectant.

The realization of course wasn't entirely surprising, however no less irritating.

_Perverted sword!_

(*)*) A few hours later...

"Would you mind...getting the hell off my wood?" On his own low-seated boulder, Kagami glowered moodily into the fire. The black Zanpaku-to leaned against the studious pile of fallen limbs trimmed to manageable sizes, on top of which the sword's spirit form was perched, glancing interminably toward the deepness of the forested woods behind where voices and occasional laughing could be heard.

"And quit ignoring me -"

Water hadn't much opinion therein of love and lust.

"I wasn't." The sword said, his voice carefully clipped so as to waste as few syllables as possible. "I knew you..could see me."

"You are a strange one." Kagami wondered aloud, watching the slight flutter of the cloak as he stepped down. "I've never known a Zanpaku-to quite like you before."

"That is most assuredly so. Water Zanpaku-to are as cold as ice."

Kagami felt his eye twitch at the veiled insult. "Hey, they're not all like that!"

The sword said nothing in response to that, sinking to sit at the edge of the log pyramid, the firelight dancing across his thinly compressed lips, creating hollows along the narrow sliver of flesh showing at his throat.

For a time silence reigned, only the flames crackling disturbed the quiet.

"How long?" Kagami asked suddenly.

The eyes he couldn't see, slanted to the side. "You. Would not understand."

The Kouseitan'i of water blew a puff of air lightly from his lips. "Try me." If he'd had a cigarillo, he'd be champing it now. Biting off the end of the flavorful old world spice. Drawing the perfectly aged tobacco into lungs that still _breathed_. He wished then, he had one. Comparing his craving for nicotine to love was like cupping a single droplet of water in hand and saying it was an ocean.

"No.." Kagami smiled slowly. "I suppose I wouldn't understand. "Tell me something though. How are you going to feel when she kisses another man. . . lets his hands caress her and stares deeply into his eyes, saying those words that _**you**_ want to hear?"

"I'm satisfied with standing by her side." The sword insisted, or drop or two less sure than before.

Kagami knew it was a lie. Unclasping his hands, he smiled again. "Ah, I see. Denial then. That's what you would choose and pretend it didn't tear you apart. You have my pity then, you miserable blade."

"I don't want your sympathy." The edge of a bite tinged the words.

Another smile this time containing more genuine warmth. "You have a little of my respect now. I admire that spirit in fire swords.. it reminds me of Kei as herself."

The sword being a quiet type perhaps acclimated to loneliness with no one else to speak to save for himself; lapsed into silence. But, Kagami had the feeling it wasn't out of despise. That lead him to gather a sphere of water from the atmosphere, shaping the ball with careful acumen into the very size and exact depth of a hand mirror.

The solidified reiryoku rippled as he stared down at it.

"Take it."

There was no reflection in the crystal clear liquid.

"What is that?" The tiniest hint of curiosity came into the sword's speech.

Kagami felt Soryu's discontent radiating from within, but ignored it, extending his hand. "You can see her whenever you want."

The sword looked at his hand. "Why would you do something like this?"

The water wielder frowned some. "You know, that is a good question!" Then laughed quietly to himself. "What I mean is... you don't have to keep it if you don't want it. I don't even know_ why_ I'm doing this..."

A slim hand reached out, fingers sliding around the edge of the water. For a moment, Kagami thought it might reject him, but it didn't. Staying whole and perfect, reflecting the night and then as it was tilted toward _him_, the face beneath the hood.

Kagami nodded, still smiling faintly. "All you require is one droplet of her blood to change it into blood crystal."

(*)*)*)Present day, Tsukikage castle-

"I'm surprised. Why so angry at Kurosaki?"

"What?" They were walking down the hall to the office of the First Division, the recessed lighting casting many shadows along the walls and slate flooring. "If I had given him encouragement of any sort, he would be here now."

"And here I thought that was the point."

"It isn't, not with the tasks that still lie ahead."

The man smiled faintly, "the test-trial for the position of Third Division's Captaincy."

"Among other things. There's still Aizen to deal with; the completion of the Sixth Division, procuring of course a suitable Captain from the previous entrants...and _the party_ which is in five days."

Kagami ran his hand through his longer bangs hanging over half his face, smiling wider now. "What would we do without you?"

Kei turned around, propping one hand on her hip, the one visible eye narrowed in mirth. "I have no idea."

"Oh, you-!" Though that attitude had been one hell of an annoyance ever since they had first met; the water wielder was damn glad to see it now. He laughed and this time she joined in.

(*)*)*)

"Kyou! Bring that duster, the dustpan and the broom over here, now!" Hana yelled from the other side of the door to the dining hall. "C-Coming, Hana! I..I think." The beleaguered other half of the Retsu twins, had been forced to take a few days off from his sparring lessons with Fifth's Lieutenant now that cleaning duty had been assigned to officers ranked fourth to seventh.

Sighing some to himself, Kyou cradled the broom handle against his shoulder, stooping forward to drag the cleaning solution-filled bucket down the hallway. In passing, Aki Shikouten stood, flattening against the built-in cabinets, a Mikasa Holiday plate in hand. "Careful there, squirt." The Arrancar said, reaching over Kyou's head to open the door wider for him to pass through.

"Ehehehe. Thanks-agh!" Laughing a little self-consciously, Kyou missed the extra step into the dining hall, catching his foot and stumbling forward, banging into the bucket. A large splooshing sound and a thud came then silence. Flat on his face, Kyou lifted his head to find a pair of stilettos squelching in the sticky cleaner.

"C-C-Captain-!"

Kazeatari lifted one high-heeled sandal up, glancing at it inscrutably. Hana's shriek came moments later. "KYOOOOU! YOU IDIOT-HOW STUPID CAN YOU BEEE?"

"What..happened?" At the other of the room, Kei looked around Kagami, she had just been pointing out simple window treatments they could do. "Is everyone alright?" _It was so good to see the Captain of Fourth_.

Tear sprung to his eyes. "I-I'm sorry!"

Hana continued to rage, fists shaking and stomping feet marching over to where he was, that is until Aki peered around the door, sounding quite cross. "Retsu, hush!"

His twin opened and closed her mouth several times, green eyes flaring. "Kyou-!" but, she persisted, blaming him for being scolded. Kyou watched with teary eyes and trembling lips as sisterly wrath descended.

Two voices barked out. "HANA!"

Captain Yamamoto and his Lieutenant Sakurai looked livid.

"..It's alright. I was going to wear these for the party..but it's okay." Kazeatari said quietly, finishing her inspection of the ruined footwear. Captain Yamamoto nodded, vanishing then reappearing beside the Fifth Division Captain."Damn straight. You're going to have _dancing slippers_ for the party. You can't be wearing any of that modern crap."

"Oh, really? Then why are you wearing a prime specimen of that modern crap right now?" Kazeatari of course eluded to the thick wedge sandals that Kyou had a perfect view of.

"Because." Kei tossed her hair haughtily. "It's the official start of summer in a few days and they make me look taller."

"I didn't know you were so sensitive about your height." Kagami said with a raised eyebrow from across the room.

"Only when everyone else is so irritatingly taller than _me_." she replied matter-of-factly.

"I suppose you're referring to Kurosaki."

She sniffed, smirking some. The effect of the wink was lost by the medical bandage covering the damaged side. "Maybe." Then, she sobered, extending her hand. "Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

Lieutenant Sakurai and his Captain crowded in as well, asking the same thing.

Hana still glowered.

"It must be nice..having all the girls coddle you. I can think of several guys that would just love to be in Kyou's place." Kagami could be heard muttering across the room.

(*)*)*)

"Should you be up and around so much?" The voice was like the rustle of soft velvet. The speaker was Zoe Elbe, standing over the fax machine receiving the expense reports from the First Division. The machine whirred to life, printing out the complex graphs while Kei moved on the opposite end, rifling through one of the drawers in her desk.

"I'm alright." Her hand absently covered one half of her face, fingers beneath the delicate arch of her eyebrow, impressing into the cloth bandage. "I've had worse, you know."

Zoe made a noise of disagreement, shuffling the first two sheets of paper together, awaiting the third. "Shimizu said your wounds were terrible. I wasn't there, but she was. Said they were some of the worst facial mutilations she had ever seen."

Kei paused, her eye focused on the contents of the drawer, the vision blurring at the edges. _Shit_. Her other hand clumsily rose, knocking against the glass water globe of New York City, sending it pitching to the floor with a crash. Zoe started toward her, a concerned expression creasing her kindly, dark face.

"I-I'm fine-no really!" Against the light of the green-shaded desk lamp on the other smaller desk; Kei shut her remaining eye, wincing with the brightness.

The Lieutenant stopped, recognizing the implicit command. Then, she changed her tact. "Aki and I were talking."

Kei covered her face as an instinctual gesture, but now one hand slowly slid down, peeking between her fingers at the woman. "What...?"

Zoe's voice gained strength, her dark brown eyes hardening. "We believe it would be best if you didn't see that boy, Kurosaki anymore."

"My-"

"He is losing control of himself and his power. He poses a threat to _you_ and everyone else. Yes." Zoe held up a hand ceasing the retort before it had even been formed. "I understand that you are an Elemental and lack the fragility of a human. But, what if he had crushed your throat? What if next time he does more than break your face in?"

She closed her eye, breathing in shallowly. "Zoe, I am aware of the danger I am-"

"No, Captain. I don't think you are." Zoe shook her head from side to side. When she spoke there was a barely concealed sob present. "My mama..was beaten to death by my adopted father. She tried to protect me, Captain! I watched _her_ face be smashed in...I won't stand for the same thing to happen to you!"

_So, that's...what that was_. Kei remembered the moment Shirahime and Getsu-ten had been crossed on that field so long ago, the strange vision of the former's awakening flowing into her consciousness.

_"Trust in me and I will take everything away!"_

_"S-S-Shirahime-!" The girl-child stumbling over the name from a foreign land. The explosion of ice and pure frost that enveloped everything. The man's heart stopping in his chest, bloodied fist upraised for the blow that never fell.._

"If he ever lays a hand on you again...I will kill him myself." Zoe swore coldly, her aura as hard as Shirahime's ice-sheeted blade.

(*)*)*)Living world..

_Girlfriend_. In his room, staring up at the ceiling; Ichigo found it hard to believe he had one. _A girlfriend._..the one thing Keigo talked about non-stop and which Mizuiro ignored most of the time.

Rukia was a girl and they were friends and so was Inoue.

But, girl-friend didn't make girlfriend. _My...sweetheart_. Ichigo shuddered distastefully, making a face up at the light. He could never think of that word without getting an icky crawling sensation in his chest. It would totally ruin his image to say something so sappy out in public. _But, didn't girls like that kind of stuff?_

A little troubled, he was sure they did. While being tender and holding hands and..and..kissing. His face still burned, the color extending to the roots of his hair. He liked kissing her, especially when she responded.

_But, now...what was he going to do? _

She didn't want to see him-making it abundantly clear that he was getting in the way of her duties...

_"I ...am a Captain first and foremost. My duty comes before all else." _She had said it so coldly. Looking at him so distantly without a trace of the emotion or warmth he had come to expect. In this situation...was he the one who needed to apologize? Was it something he did?

Thinking didn't suit him at all. Taking action, standing for what he believed in...was. Ichigo growled low in his throat to himself. If he needed to apologize, then he'd do it-! Anything so that she would stop keeping him at a distance...

Maybe he should buy her something-? Wasn't that what guys did when they needed to say sorry? Sitting up, Ichigo winced, rubbing at his sore shoulder muscles. Whatever Kagami had thrown at him, had struck hard. _Damn bastard_...

Grumbling to himself, he reached over, digging into the jeans tossed by the side of the bed. From the back pocket, he withdrew a plastic billfold, discovering an amount equivalent to ten dollars in yen. _Shit..I'm screwed_. His hand folded over the money, knowing what he had to do even though it killed him to ask for anything, especially from his dad.

He needed to ask goatface for extra cash.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage Castle grounds(*)*)*)

_What if I was alive? _

The persistence of the thought-the what might've been in another time, another place, refused to leave her mind in peace.

_No Hollows. No other worlds, no Shinigami, no war.._

She cupped some of the falling water in her hands, staring at her hazed reflection in the muted light.

_Just me...and him and an ordinary life_.

The bathhouse was quiet, the separate building on the edge of the Fifth Division emptied out for the close of the day. On a rack just outside the low-walled stall, hung a pair of black Capri pants and a short-sleeved T-shirt. The netflix rental had been hooked up through the Windows 7 media center, traversing the boundaries of the two worlds at nine American dollars a month; so they were going to watch a movie.

Hana had wanted something scary.

Kyou wanted something un-scary.

And everyone else wanted popcorn.

Idiots. They never change.

She herself wanted to go to her room and read.

No...actually...Kei closed fist around the streaming water. That wasn't true. She felt like talking to him despite Zoe's warning. One might've assumed they had little in common, being from completely different worlds. As long as he wasn't being an idiot; he was actually nice to be around however. Kei could do without Inoue and Kuchiki, Matsumoto too. Gods...how she despised them.

Them..and Matsumoto's plan to help Inoue win Ichigo's heart.

Smirking to herself, Kei clasped her hands to her breast, imitating silently the human girl's repeated 'Kurosaki-kun.' The silly fool. When would she get the picture that Ichigo had chosen another? Sometimes it was so aggravating that innocent obliviousness. Running her hands through her wet hair now, Kei bunched the ends together, piling it high on her head.

_...maybe if she came upon us..having sex?_

That thought of passing the final level of a relationship was enough to make her heart race a little faster and something clench like anticipation in her stomach. _He was young..but that was good in a way since that meant she could use him how she wanted._

_Slowly...oh so slowly tease him to hardness_. Her palms curled around the sides of her breasts, subtly feeling the roundness. _Certainly she would never be as large as Matsumoto or Inoue. But, she wasn't flat like Kuchiki either_. Pressing them together, she studied the vise they made. _It was enough to make him come_...her fingers slipped around her nipples, swallowing the gasp that threatened to escape.

_She had to stop that already. It had been over two hundred years. That should've been long enough to forget that horror_. Kei took a few deep breathes in, experimentally applying feather light touches to the sensitive tips. She tried to imagine _his hands- larger, rougher against her skin, cupping and fondling_. _His mouth trailing down her throat and chest, circling-licking_..

Moments later, her eyes flew open. _That feeling_..!.ignoring the wetness and ache of her unsatisfied body. Her gaze traveled around the room suspiciously.

.._the feeling of being watched_.

Seeing nothing, Kei draped one arm around her bosom, the other fumbling to turn the water off. For minutes at a time, she swept the area, her senses searching for the trace of something other than reiatsu. .._a Hollow-?_ Shutting her eyes, she concentrated harder, probing the spot near the door.

_No..there's no Generation_.

Her sight told her there was nothing there. But, the sense that went beyond normal reiatsu-detection, picked up the slightest fluctuation of something else.

.._A Vizard?_

_Ren's maybe-?_ Kei considered for half a second the possibility that it was the Fifth seat's reiatsu trace from earlier in the day. Then, she realized suddenly why it felt so familiar.

.._wait a minute-! I recognize this...Ichigo's Hollow?_

(*)*)*)

"Kagami!"

The water wielder looked up at her approach, waving a slim black remote control to the TV mounted on the wall. "Found it." Then addressed her fury. "What happened now? I haven't borrowed any of your precious Honoo no Miraju books in case you're asking."

Kazeatari yawned some from the chair near the French doors. "I have the prequel, Exaudi Nos."

Kei glowered, her cheeks unusually pink. "Well, you'd better damn well not lose it either!"

Noticing her flustered aura, he immediately realized _something was wrong_, "hey, are you okay? I mean how'd your-" _bath go?_ Was the logical question as he saw her dripping hair leaving wet spots darker than the black of her T.

"Why did you give it to him?" Kei hissed, her hand snaking out to grab a fistful of his button down Sailing ships shirt.

"Give what to who?" He hadn't a clue what she was talking about.

"The mirror-!" her eye snapped to the others, sensing them looking. Jerking her head meaningfully to the open door, she released him, implying that they should speak privately. He shrugged, tossing the remote to Takara, mouthing, _'I'll be back in a few minutes.'_

Once in the dimmed hallway, the windowless length gathered gloom and shadows. Kei turned to face him, her gaze unusually hard. "The mirror. Why did you give that mirror to Tensa Zangetsu?"

For the longest moment, Kagami searched the depths of his memory for that which had eluded him before then suddenly it became crystal clear. His eyes lit up in comprehension. "You mean he still has it-?"

"Of course, _he still has it_." She said slowly, in a manner an adult would adopt to a slow child. "Why would he not still have it?"

Kagami shrugged again, blowing air from his lips noisily in place of a sigh. "How should I know? Maybe 'cause I thought it would ease his painful infatuation?" Whether he wanted to or not, his voice was rising, rebounding off the stone walls. Soon they would draw attention to themselves.

Kei mouthed the words, a thousand different emotions fleeting over her face, then, drained, leaving only anger. "You knew-! You knew how he felt!" she hissed, "And you didn't tell-"

"What was there to tell?" His nonchalance only served to add the proverbial fuel to the fire. "I told him so, I told him that you wouldn't know. That sword seemed to place a high degree of feeling in your heart that you _don't_ possess."

"How dare-!"

His blue eyes narrowed, "listen to me, Kei, and listen to me well. I gave him a piece of the water mirror, I told him all he had to do was get a drop of your blood on it and it would become blood crystal. A one-way...mirror. So, he could see you."

She stared at him wordlessly.

Kagami continued with effort, "I never meant for anything else. So, I can only assume that Kurosaki's power resonated with it through Zangetsu keeping it, projecting images...or who knows? At this point I don't give a damn anymore. The one thing I have to warn you about is...do not give _him_ false hope. That is the worst thing you can do."

(*)*)*)Ichigo's p.o.v..?

The sound of the door slamming reverberated hollowly. The room grew blurry at the edges then came sharply back into focus. From his vantage point at the foot of the large bed, Ichigo could guess why.

"Bad day?" He asked aloud knowing perfectly well she couldn't hear him. _But, hey, it was the thought that counted, right? _His gaze shifted up to her motionless form, her back suddenly slumping against the door, her hands raising to her face.

"What am I supposed to do...?" she sounded strained, agonized. "I don't want to hurt him-!"

His ears perked up. Propping his chin in his hand, the other folded under his chest. Ichigo noticed the absolute absence of any plush toys. Maybe Rukia had been wrong about everyone liking Chappy. _Stupid rabbit_..

Kei frowned, walking over to the laptop on the bedside table, flicking out the white plug from its side. _An IPod?_ Surprised at the square-screened item tucked in her hand, he felt the bed shake a little as she dropped down. Scooting back until she could comfortably fall against the pillows her knees remained bent, arms at her sides.

"I guess I was upset earlier." Shifting to a more upright position, he pressed his palms into the bedspread, leaning back. "Maybe I _should _give you some space, then again that seems a little hypocritical if I'm right here even though you don't know it."

Her hand slipped down to the music player lying near her hip. Cycling through the song selection without looking at it. If he leaned a little..squinting some, Ichigo could just see the illuminated LCD screen.

_All I need, Within Temptation_. It reminded him of what she had said_. Aren't I all you need?_ There had been so much hurt in her eyes . . .

What was there to his family after all?

He could still hear Karin's voice and Yuzu's fright.

They were scared of him...the brother who left his dear one for them. Some compensation-! Even though it went against his general nature to feel that way, some token indignation refused to be quelled. _Maybe it was even because of his failure to keep the promise...that she was still angry!_

In the midst of his thoughts; the trill of a ringtone broke the quiet. Kei sat up, removing one earbud from her ear as she dug around through the tissue box on the table. A slight frown touched her face, glimpsing the number flashing on the Caller ID.

"..Captain Yamamoto speaking." The hesitancy in her tone was unmistakable. "..Cain. How are you?" A short pause. Then a curl of her lip. "Your arrogance hasn't changed at all with time. You will never supplant my Lieutenant for as long as I hold office."

Ichigo could see the fury radiating from her aura. He wondered who the speaker was and what they had said to cause such a reaction.

"Oh, fuck you- _I look prettier when I'm angry-!_" Her eyes flashed and her fist shook. The parallel to Rukia when she was angry, was rather scary. "I don't want to hear it! Let me talk to my fourth seat!" She snarled something minutes later and hung up, glowering still at the piece of red plastic in her hand. "Stupid..." her mutter trailed off.

Her gaze was unaccountably drawn to where he was.

Staring. Searching.

Ichigo stayed quite still, unmoving though she looked, then looked around again. Shrugging to herself finally, she dialed another number, folding one knee under, settling her weight more comfortably. After a few minutes, the other line picked up, her expression darkened.

"..hello, Urahara. I memorized the number, is that so difficult to believe that was how I procured it?"

_Hat'n'clogs? Why was she calling him?_

The man must've laughed since her jaw tightened. "..No, actually the reason why I called is because I wanted his number." A few seconds then she rolled her eye, rubbing at the other irritably. "Preferably not the house phone. Doesn't he have a cell? No-" another eye roll this time more pronounced. "We never exchanged numbers."

She made a face, sounding on the verge of cussing. "No...no reason, just that it never came up." With effort, her tone softened, attempting to regain some civility. "Could you _please_, just give me his number?"

All through this, he was becoming more and more perplexed. _Whose number did she want?_ He didn't dare to presume it was his...although he would've been..._happy_ if it was because it meant that she wasn't upset with him anymore.

"Yes, I got that. No, Urahara-goodbye!" Again she hung up- probably when the shopkeeper was in the middle of talking. Kei squeezed the phone, glaring unseeingly ahead. "Ooh, I hate that man-!"

Ichigo had to concur there, lying on his side, frowning in agreement. Urahara was terribly maddening, particularly when one needed something from him.

Kei sighed to herself, brushing back a few strands of hair from her face, tucking them back behind her ears before taking up the cell again, swiftly punching in the acquired number. For minutes at a time, she waited, holding it up.

_Two rings_.

Her brows drew together.

_Three rings_.

Her lips pursed.

_Four/five rings_.

Then a message came on.

_"We're sorry, the party you requested is unavailable right now-"_

"Turn on your damned phone, Ichigo!" Kei snapped before the recording had even finished.

What was beyond her normal senses felt the change in the air, her head jerked back to the spot beside her on the bed, noticing for the first time, the long body-shaped indentation imprinted into the coverlet.

(*)*)*)

The ring was cut off abruptly. From his outstretched position on the bed, Ichigo hastily rose, snatching his cell from the desk. He had turned it off, not wanting to hear Keigo's incessant calling; now he regretted it some, cycling through the caller ID. The newest of course being hers. Ichigo hit the redial, leaning against the wall.

The orange glow of the sun was fading, the remaining light fell across his bed from the window. A little stiff still, he cradled the phone against his shoulder, rolling his back muscles.

Five rings.

Then nothing.

Disbelieving, he lowered it from his ear, staring at the tiny digitalized version of a telephone ringing off its hook displayed on the screen. _She wasn't answering-!_ _What gives-!_

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

She wasn't amused. True, maybe he had been out or simply forgotten his phone then went back to get it and saw the new call flashing on the screen...but still.

Kei refused to forgive.

Glowering heavily at the ringing apparatus in her hand, his number flashing repeatedly. So, maybe she was being unreasonable. Okay maybe he had a perfectly good excuse for not answering...

No. She wasn't buying it.

Folding the cell in her hand, she placed it to the side, taking up her paused player instead. After a few more seconds, the incessant rings stopped, blissful silence reigned then...

They started up.

Kei leaned over and checked just to make sure. _Of course it was him_.

Six rings.

He was persistent. She just turned up the volume on the _Classic_. The next song on the playlist began.._You and me-Lifehouse_.

_/And all of the things that I wanna say just aren't coming out right../_

A minute into it, she pressed the skip button.

_Long, Long time- Linda Ronstadt. _

_/__ Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine/And I think I'm gonna love you for a long, long time/_

Kei wasn't appreciative of this now. Her frown increasing as _Are you the one_ came up in the queue.

The phone was on its twelfth ring.

This wasn't funny anymore.

She shut the player down, puzzling over the fact that every song reminded her of him. Like a question that needed an answer. One that she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know.

-I love you-

It was easy enough to see that his feelings were deep.

Those feelings were flattering...sometimes.

_Perhaps it was lacking somewhat in morals_, Kei reflected, sliding back down to lie flat, one arm thrown beneath her head. _To know she could sleep with him without returning the sentiment_. But, then it would only be to satisfy her lust for his form. So, yes she could admit, he was attractive in a way.

Although...that did bother her a little. _She would be taking his first time...wouldn't it hurt for him to look back on it and realize later she hadn't loved him at all? _

No...that definitely bothered her more than it should have. Stretching her arms above her head, she held her palms up to the canopy, listening to the urgency in the ring. Her previous thoughts came back. _If the outside matched the inside, then she would no more than a year or two older than him_.

_A young woman again_...she had forgotten it seemed, what it felt like to be young. Maybe that other part hadn't. _Kei__ko_...the poor girl had only gotten a fleeting glimpse of life tainted by paranoia and horror that wasn't so much hers as theirs as a whole.

-_Isshin-otousan said_-

The memory was vague, almost completely erased from the time reversal.

_"Let Ichigo protect you...don't leave him all alone."_

Kei pressed her fingertips to her forehead. _The image from the chikewa_...

_Poor kid...blamed himself for his mother's death_. _Just like how I did for_...

Suddenly she couldn't take it anymore.

Shutting her good eye, she dropped into her mindscape.

(*)*)*)

A sideways thundercloud was just weird.

She actually liked the rain, even though a combination wind and rain wasn't too good especially since she hadn't even tossed on her surcoat over the thin black PJs. Her power was also limited here, she found, rolling her hand through the air.

_Something's-! -coming! _

She swiped her palm out toward the east, saying sharply, "Sai!"

The kido pinpointed the Hollow's Sonido, slamming up the four restraints seconds before his white sandals scraped the building edge. Her hand started shaking, the light of the written kido wavering. _What the_...

Grinning madly, the Hollow began pushing back.

.._this shouldn't be happening-! __His Hollow is...overpowering me-? Impossible...the spell Ren did-!_ _Why isn't it working?_

Minutely she could feel the tremor down to her very bones, the vibration going against gravity itself. _I have to take it down-!_ The realization was startling. _If this thing continues to grow at this rate...it could even surpass myself! _

Kei gritted her teeth, slowly bracing her right hand against her left. _And that I cannot risk-!_

"The crest of t-turbidity seeping out-" _A perfectly chanted Hado 90 would be enough, but what if_-_That was no good! _The pressure was like a wall bearing down on her, the weight of her own Kido laced by the Hollow's dark reiryoku was immense. Kei shook her head from side to side, _releasing a Kido cage equivalent to the compressed amount required to force open the Senkaimon wasn't such a good idea to let loose in a mindscape_..._but what to do!_

_Unless-!_ Desperately now, she dug her socked feet into the cold steel frame beneath her, spacing her legs apart and bringing her right arm out, fingers opening to the air. _The Clear Night_... _the sword that purified all darkness_. Her eye shifted to the Hollow. _One blow, one single move of Kosokuken and she could destroy it_.

"I..command..you..." she forced her mouth to move against the suffocating vise of the energy. "Hare-" _Destroying __**it **__from the inside out_..._What if she hurt Ichigo?_ Her trembling lips refused to finish the summoning. _The last time __I __used...Haretosora..oh Gods.. I..I can't!_

The cry from her innermost depths of her soul lent strength to her flagging Kido. The tenuous flow strengthened, her right hand slowly fisting, pressing hard to the back of her left hand, Kei found her vision dimming from the liquid stinging the corners. _I killed...him then_.

_..__**There is only one thing left I can do..to buy us all more time**_. _This thing cannot be allowed to escape.._

"I am a being who knows a much larger world." She felt the air begin to revolve at her voice. Swirling into untold eons, splitting the fabric of space itself. "It is the sky, it is the heavens..." Kei paused, turning ever so slightly to say over her shoulder, "Zangetsu. Stay behind me."

The Kido vanished.

Yellow eyes blinked, surprised at the loss of resistance.

Kei used that moment. Her fingers folded, the middle and index remained straight, slowly she slid them up sideways to her left creating the distorted form of a cross. Her right eye opened. "It is infinite."

The atmosphere rippled, devouring the Hollow in an instant. Her fingers shook, breaking them apart forcefully, she collapsed to her knees. The sword was beside her in seconds, one arm catching her about the waist before she could fully hit the ground.

"Are you alright?"

She leaned against his side, frowning when he didn't complete the circle. Instead of answering, she snatched at his other arm, pulling it around her middle. "I will be in a few minutes." Kei couldn't keep the testiness from her voice nor her eye roll against his shoulder, when his hold tightened.

_Stupid sword...if he had wanted to pull her close then why not do so from the start? _

"You hesitated...twice. Why?" The harsh note returned, as well as deep disapproval that she couldn't help but feel was meant as chastisement.

"Why didn't _you_ embrace me right now, when it's clear that you wanted to?" Turning the tables on him at that moment felt good...almost as good as the subtle pressure of his reiatsu around her. Kei wondered how she ever could've missed it? Had she been so focused on bloodlust during their early battles that she hadn't recognized _his?_

Then, again, she wasn't surprised when he chose not to answer.

_Tensa had always been annoying that way_. She still smiled, even though she felt like passing out. "It's okay if you don't answer me. But, I would have you know, I showed reluctance because I thought out my strategy, unlike your current wielder."

He still said nothing. Kei turned her chin up, her brow creasing, "why the hell do you have those ridiculous shades on? It's not even sunny!"

That produced the slightest twitch of an unwilling smile.

"Besides.." she sounded petulant, but didn't care. "you shouldn't hide your eyes like that. I always thought they were beautiful." There she had said it. True. She had only caught a sliver of the younger's face a long time ago...but it wasn't a lie.

The trace of the smile faded.

Pressing the side of her face into his chest, Kei folded her fingers into the dark fabric, maintaining a firm grasp on it. "Let's see..first of all I figured it wouldn't be wise letting lose a crushing wall similar in size to a Kido cannon in here, since...this is _your world_. I couldn't..." she bit her lip, forcing herself to go on. "Risk...harming you."

"Why not? I exist merely as a weapon and nothing more." The dismissal of his own importance struck her deeply.

"You are _mine_ first." She twined her arms around his neck, hands threading through the unruly locks. "I would never willingly cause harm to befall one of my swords!" Their breaths intermingled, their faces inches apart from one another's. "_That_..is what it means to be an Elemental." _They come before all else. Like a Taisho of old_ _with his soldiers_.

Kei let her eye slowly close. Her grip didn't relax but rather became gentler, their noses rubbing. _She was so close to it_..

Suddenly Kagami's warning resounded in her mind. _" The one thing I have to warn you about is...do not give him false hope. That is the worst thing you can do."_

Her breath caught, her lips of their own accord were pressed against his.

She was torn between wanting and rejecting what was happening.

_I want to kiss him_..._but I had wanted to kiss Ichigo just an hour ago_. _At least until the phone thing_, what was left of her sarcastic mind response reminded helpfully. _I can't_- Kei started to pull away, then felt the circle of his arms tighten around her lower back, his mouth slanting against hers, unwilling to let it go.

_Stop_. The word was as forceful as a command yet silent. The sword froze, being restrained by more than her lack of response. Though she was relieved, she despised taking the same approach as _before_.

"I reversed time on the Hollow-without using the slipstream I can only guess it'll last a month until _It_ regains its former strength. I tried to only affect a small portion of the entire area..."

_My excuse_...

"I'm sorry, Tensa." It was so much easier to speak with her eyes shut. When she couldn't see his face nor that pain swimming so vividly in the dark depths of his eyes. "If it hurt you even the slightest bit." Her fingers poised on the sides of his face, subtly traced the curve of his jaw, the facial hair soft beneath her fingertips. "This is to make up for it."

_Is such a bittersweet lie_.

He remained absolutely motionless when she kissed him.

When she explored the warm, wet insides of his mouth; he didn't respond.

Because she wouldn't let him.

(**)*)**)

-TBC...

AN: ;) thanks for reading

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated and loved :)


	60. Saints and Sinners

_My hands are searching for you_  
_My arms are outstretched towards you_  
_I feel you on my fingertips_  
_My tongue dances behind my lips for you_

_-All around me, Flyleaf_

* * *

ShiKai CH.52: Saints and Sinners

Yes, he was a fool.

Only a kiss.

A kiss to make it better-? The sarcasm was killing him, though the words were kept inside. Because no matter how it hurt, Zangetsu would never complain. Keiki was Keiki. And he was _her sword_. That made him happy-

If he let it hurt, then that was no fault of hers. It was impossible to ask for more; because no one could truly control Fire.

"Can I sleep here tonight?" The lack of guile made the honest query worthy of an answer. A human male-particularly one of Ichigo's age would've construed this as an invitation to something _more_.

Zangetsu tried not to see through his wielder's eyes.

No blush-No discomfiture brought on by the subtlest hint of insinuation. Merely a monotone answer denying he himself could ever hope for anything else. "Whatever you want." There that should suffice.

Predictably, she didn't like that answer. Tapping a finger against his sealed lips; she disagreed. "You need to learn how to think for yourself. It should be what _you want_-" she didn't understand how enticing that was. Just the slightest indication of her previous command lifting, then he could show her _what he wanted_.

"-You are saying I should disobey you?"

The smile was a little chagrined, a hint of belatedness as she realized how her meaning could be taken. "N-No.." her murmur washed over his face with the exhalation of breath. She pressed her forehead against his, shutting her eye again. Reluctant to see the burning intensity of his gaze.

"That wouldn't be good at all." her pout slid apart, her lips hovering inches above his.

In many ways she was such a child. Knowing how he felt and only wishing to inflict torment. To take pleasure in dangling a flask of cool water before a thirsting man.

_Damn that face, those eyes and those lips_. But, no matter how it hurt, Zangetsu could never hate her.

Because he was hers and would do anything she wanted. So, then those arms that held her securely around the small of her back, enfolded tighter. This was the feeling he wouldn't trade for anything in the worlds, other than being called her Zanpaku-to.

Her feeling of trust.

Trust- Ichigo had lost it as even Zangetsu was inclined to think the boy's frustrations would induce him to a rash course of action. Ichigo was a _young_ male after all.

As it was, Kei would sleep in _his_ arms, her head tucked beneath his chin. She would sleep because she trusted him in the same way she trusted only one other male so implicitly. _The water Element_.

The sword vowed to himself, never to break that trust.

(*)*)*)Living world...

The ringer was set on a lower volume, his outstretched hand becoming lax in sleep. Ichigo didn't hear the door to his room opening cautiously, he didn't know Yuzu peeked in, stiffening once then steeled herself for entering.

"Ichi-nii...here's dinner. I-I'm just going to leave it right here for you." Briefly the fair-haired Kurosaki twin had thought of simply shaking him awake, then decided against it. He would find it when he awoke, that was good enough. Eager to escape the confines of the room, Yuzu had almost not noticed the item sitting on top of the small TV.

"..Chappy-?" her squeal was breathless. Quickly snatching up the plush rabbit dressed in a gray kimono, she saw the tag twined around the right paw.

_Forgive me-? What I should add is-please...I love you, Kei._

_-Ichigo_.

_So, it was for Kei-san_. Yuzu looked it over, tugging on the tiny bell sleeves and perfect pleats on the hakama. _How cute!_ _But, why traditional dress?_ A little puzzled, she replaced it on the TV again, casting a warmer eye to her brother lying full length on the low bed. Her smile faded some when she saw the state of his wrinkled shirt- it being worn longer than a day. _Why hadn't he changed-?_

_Come to think of it_...there were dark circles bruising the under of his eyes. He hadn't been running out as much and had hardly spoken to his friends. _Maybe he was sick_.. Yuzu remembered Karin's flippant dismissal of the excuse that morning; _"He's just playing hooky." _

But, now she wasn't so sure. Their dad hadn't offered to give him a checkup-even of the more physical kind which Ichigo had always yelled _pervert_ and evaded like the plague. Worry creased Yuzu's brow, knitting her hands in concern, she turned around. The space between the bed and where she was, wasn't far. _Just a few steps_.

One.

"Ichi-nii.." her voice was more hushed than before. Afraid almost as the analogy put it as waking the sleeping monster. But, that was silly of her! Ichigo would never hurt her or Karin...he was their big brother!

Two/three.

She was almost there. So, close now, Yuzu could see that the dark circles were much worse and his skin was paler from lack of sun_. He was so thin too-!_ Her worry-filled eyes passed over his face. But...no. It wasn't so much a loss of weight. More... a sleekness to his cheekbones, a symmetrical balancing out to the angular gawkiness of his ascent to becoming a teenager. His chin was less sharp, tapering instead to a subtle point, the line of his jaw was firm but graceful. Suddenly it seemed to Yuzu's ten year-old eyes, her brother had become.. _good-looking_ .

He looked older as well.

The realization came to Yuzu slowly. Who was this person? The longer she looked at him, gazing down at the figure in slumber, the face half-turned toward her; she wondered. When had he become someone she didn't recognize anymore?

"I-Ichi-nii?" Yuzu extended her hand, fingers folded slowly opened, the tips mere inches from the powerfully built shoulder covered by thin purple fabric.

The flicker of movement was brief, the orb beneath the lid revolved sharply toward her. The lid retracted revealing a reptilian eye.

Yuzu started back, a stifled scream erupting from her mouth.

Moments later, her pounding footsteps could be heard on the stairwell, her cries changed to pitiful sobs for parental protection. "Dad! Dad!"

Then, Isshin's soothing voice came with a high note of worry lacing it. "What is it, Yuzu-chan?"

"I-Ichi-nii! There's something wrong-" she blurted out in a rush.

The door off the landing was slowly closing behind them.

He smiled but they did not see.

(*)*)*)Dream world...

_"Ichigoo..."_

Who was calling him? Scowling irritably, Ichigo strode from one end to the other. Seeing nothing but the same stretch of twilight darkness. His steps were silent, yet there was an odd ringing in his ears, like the distant tinkle of a bell.

_"Ichigoooo!"_

"Who is it? What do you want?" He was getting damn tired of this!

_"Ichigoooooooo..."_

He spun around to snap out something smart when he came face to face with a mirror. It was taller than he was, oval-shaped with a concave center. His reflection stared back at him from the glass, showing a teenage boy in jeans faded at the knees, the shirt was hastily thrown on and crumpled some. He had worn it for a few days already, but it was his favorite now because the color reminded him of her eyes.

_"Ichigo!"_ The voice was right beside him.

Ichigo jolted, his eyes darting around wildly for the source. Then slowly, he looked back at the mirror. "What the..?" The edge of hysteria, of the sense of something beyond his comprehension was frightening.

His reflection was smiling...and he wasn't.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded roughly.

_"I am you."_ The reflection said. The voice was like his, just with a distortion, an almost hollow ring to it as if coming from a great distance away yet Ichigo could hear every word clearly spoken.

"Like hell you are!"

_"Ichigo."_ The lack of inflection, of svelte, perfect calmness was so unlike him.

"You aren't!"

_"I am. I am your face, your body, your soul. You are me and I am you. There is no separation nor division to make between us."_ The eyes were opaque liquid brown, motes of soft gold flittered through like dust before a shaft of sunlight. The lips that curved were fuller, possessing a subtle sensuality though they hovered between disdain and amusement. It wasn't a happy smile. It was one of mockery.

"You-! I am nothing like you!" Ichigo was proud of the hard edge he affected. Yes, there was no likeness between him and this _other_.

_"...ah, I was afraid of this."_ His reflection-that wasn't him, shook longer locks of sunburnt orange. They framed his face and fringed his brow taking away something of the rough-edged youth Ichigo had tried to cultivate. This other...

_"So much precious time was wasted before I could touch your consciousness." _There was true lament in the intonation.

"Are you...really _me?_" Extending his hand, Ichigo meant to brush his fingertips over the smooth glass, recoiling violently moments later from the electric shockwave that emanated from it. "Yow! What the hell is-!" Ichigo cried, cradling his stinging hand to his chest.

_"Careful now." _The reflection tilted his head at a slight angle, the eyes half-lidded.

"-You could've said something sooner!" The Shinigami sub snapped.

_"I did."_ The hint of a smirk. _"Just now."_ From the other side, a hand rose, idly pressing against the concave center. Ichigo watched fascinated as ripples broke out over the glass, thickening into ropey flames spreading outward. The hand withdrew, revealing a round design burned into the mirror.

"Hey, what is that?" Despite himself, Ichigo had a curiosity about the flame patterned circle.

_"The seal of Suzaku."_ The reflection answered, gazing at it solemnly.

Suzaku? Ichigo racked his brain trying to remember why the name was familiar. Then it came to him.._from Chinese mythology, Suzaku was the name of the Phoenix Goddess of Fire. Suzaku...the Southern area...the Southern Wing of Tsukikage was hers_.

"..Did Kei put this..here?" The suspicion was mounting, though Ichigo knew she had to have had a reason for it. This thing, he still refused to believe was any part of him.

Sadness came into the eyes. _"She did. But, not the one you know."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo could only think of one Kei in existence.

_"I see you doubt me."_

"Why shouldn't I? If I had Zangetsu, I'd-"

_"Ah, Zangetsu...you mustn't regard that Zanpaku-to as your partner no more."_

"What..?" Ichigo could only stare aghast into the mirror. "What the hell did you say?"

_"He is a dark fire Zanpaku-to-"_

"He is my partner! I would never-!"

The reflection shook his head again. Eyes closing in tiredness. _"He...wants her." _

Ichigo stiffened, the blood in his very veins seemed to freeze. "What are you talking about-?" Gone was the belligerence.

_"He's in love with her."_

"No." He couldn't believe it. Zangetsu was his partner! His most trusted comrade who vowed to never let the rain fall again as long as Ichigo trusted in him. Zangetsu would never betray him in such a way!

_"She became his...first." _

His heart seemed to stop. "N-No-no! You're lying, bastard!" He let his fist go, punching the glass violently. The reflection regarded his seething anger, shutting the strange almost inhuman eyes. The shockwaves began within seconds; Ichigo doubled over from the pain, gasping breathlessly, clutching at his torso as twin sensations of fire and sharp spikes stabbing into his insides assaulted his body.

It felt like it lasted an eternity.

But, in reality it could've been only a minute.

Ichigo raised his face dripping with sweat up to the glass, catching almost the same, haggard expression echoed on the other. Then, he saw what had crisscrossed the entire surface of the mirror, in thin, fine tracing in red like blood. Six circles containing written words and pentacle-like pyramids, reinforced the central Phoenix.

"I don't..believe you." Breathing hard, Ichigo dragged the back of his hand across his mouth. "My Kei would never do that."

The reflection dripped blood from his temple, but didn't wipe it away. _"You will see, Ichigo. You will soon see for yourself-"_

"Fuck you." Ichigo flipped him off. Scowling harder when the reflection remained impassive.

_"He will take her. . .from you."_ The voice faded away and Ichigo woke up to the sunlight streaming in through his window. It was 7:25 AM.

A single glance to his cell, indicated no calls had been returned.

Sighing heavily to himself at the prospect of another long day of not knowing how to fix what had gone so wrong, he turned off the automatic-dialer. Rising with the intention of at least for the time being, pretending this wasn't tearing him inside. He headed to the bathroom.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle...

_What have I done...?_

The recollection of the previous night sometimes eluded Kei's memory processes, only for a short time however. So, it must be noted that upon awakening in- Tsukikage castle in her bed that Kei felt entirely well-rested.

A perfect, untroubled night of sleep she had received and when stretching, her eyes drifted to the cell also lying on the bed near her hip. She thanked the stars for not rolling over and crushing it, then noticed the flashing light that indicated unchecked messages/or calls.

It was both.

Fifteen calls in total and eight of them with messages.

She read the number twice then set it aside, rubbing at her forehead, hair a little mussy from the pillow. Maybe she could call him later...preferably after some coffee was in her system. Thinking this was a good plan, Kei shifted her legs over the side of the bed. Her head suddenly spun from the motion and she gripped at the edge of the nightstand, fighting off the spell of dizziness.

"Why..am I-?" the hand covering her eyes slid down over her mouth. _I was...I was in_..._Kagami was so going to murder her. If Ichigo didn't first_. Kei took a hasty swipe at the water carafe standing beside the candleholder, swiftly uncorking it and pouring herself a tiny glassful.

_He loves you so much_...

_What do you want me to do about it-? What am I supposed to do? _Rather than gain a clear perspective, she felt like she had lost it. _Why though...?_ _She didn't love Tensa __**that way**_. Her streak of rebellion rejected the notion that she had done anything wrong. _It wasn't even like she had slept with him...it was only a kiss..maybe two_.

_So, that didn't constitute cheating. Did it? _Kei rolled her shoulders, sighing a little contentedly. _No, it didn't_. Her conscience was appeased. _Ichigo hadn't even 'asked' her if she would be 'his girlfriend' officially dating which back in the day was a custom called 'courting'_.

For a moment, she entertained herself imaging Ichigo in period garb. _If his hair was a little longer and tied with a tiny ribbon then in some tight breeches and a double-breasted coat_..._it was certainly a pity_. He would've been the most perfect accompaniment as a partner during the Halloween Ball.

She could've even forwarded time to lengthen his hair...

Kei sighed again, heavier now. But, they had agreed. _Everyone had..that it was only officers and the Zanpaku-to invited._

Besides, he was probably still pissed off at her for not answering his calls.

(*)*)*)

She listened to the messages while she dressed.

The first five were the predictable: "Pick up, Kei!" All spoken in his usual way of a demand which automatically made most people do the opposite. If they were of the persuasion that they didn't like being told what to do; especially by a sixteen year old boy.

Fire wasn't _Fire_ for nothing.

So, Kei was of the mind that he could wait-until tomorrow maybe, to receive a call back. Satisfied then, she began gathering up the necessary accoutrements for her morning toilette. Being a towel, a pair of socks and an outfit of modernity perfect for dress-shopping later in the afternoon.

Messages after the five ran nearly the same way as the early set, though the note of desperation was more evident as were the times.

Kei had washed her face and was slipping on a pair of form-fitting dark gray jeans and a sweet-heart neckline camisole with matching lace shrug to go over; when the last set replayed.

"Kei..do you hate me?"

That she considered, pausing in fastening the side strap on the slate sandals. Perched on the foot of the bed, she could hear the angst quite clearly in his voice. A glance downward told her that this was the second to the last one.

The beeper went off, leaving the question unanswered. The mechanical announcement said, "Message fifteen."

She unknowingly held her breath as it played.

"Kei...if you do hate me, I don't think I could stand it." The catch in his voice pained her to a degree that it shouldn't have. Burying her face in her hands, she rubbed at her temples, her features scrunching up. "Ichigo..."

_Maybe I was...a little harsh_.

Kei knew how dangerous that line of thinking was, even as her hand reached for the cell. Her fingers flying over the keypad without looking. _Now_.. so, she was trusting in what her heart felt like doing.

It rung and rung...and rung.

She was starting to get a little...peeved.

Then, just when she was going to give up; a click sounded, expectantly, she began, "Ichi-"

Then just as abruptly another click as the other line disconnected.

Kei lowered the phone from her ear, staring at it disbelievingly. _He had...hung up on her_. _That little-_

"HAVE IT YOUR WAY THEN!" she roared, pitching the phone across the room as if it was somehow its fault, now she felt quite disgusted.. "I hope a Hollow eats him."

(*)*)*)Living world. . .

He was zipping up the fly on his jeans, when he heard the ringing of a phone. Was it-_could it be? _Scrambling to the door, he paused long enough to mutter a hurried 'move,' to Karin waiting outside. The dark-haired twin stared after him, brow creased; _he seemed normal enough_.

This perception didn't change as the door marked with a 15 plaque banged shut.

Once inside, he dove for the light gray cell vibrating to the edge of the bed.

_Yes! Yes! She's returning my call-! _

It must be said, that the moment his fingers would've latched onto the phone, it fell to the floor.

Ichigo dropped to his knees then, chasing after it.

Moments later, out of breath and flushed. He hit the talk button triumphantly...

"Ichi-" her voice was heard for a second.

Then complete silence. Dumbfounded, Ichigo lowered the cell from his ear, discovering the flashing light and warning.

"Shit!" he cursed.

Low battery.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle...

"Renko...would you please desist from opening your mouth to talk while aforesaid mouth is still chewing?" Kanzaki's snarl made the table grow quiet. From his side, Kagami paused with a scone still lifted halfway, a steaming cup of mint tea at his elbow. Facing him on the other side was the addressee of the Division one Captain's ire.

"Ren." Ren corrected. Unfazed, the Vizard intook another large spoonful of oatmeal, chewing it noisily. "My name is simply 'Ren'." Disobeying the reason for his ire, she spoke again, allowing a brief view of...

This time even Kagami looked away, making a face to the fireplace. "Blimey..can't a guy even enjoy his morning tea anymore?" The comment didn't go unheard by Kanzaki.

"What the hell's up with the faux British accent?"

Blue eyes rolled, "it's not faux, fool. It's been slipping out more and more...I guess it's because-"

"How many years has it been since we've had a Ball?" Kanzaki switched tracks.

"Fifty years." the water wielder said automatically, rather annoyed from being interrupted.

"Eighty-seven." Ren countered, in between bites.

Kagami mentally counted, exclaiming after his calculations were done. "Since nineteen-twenty three?"

Ren patted her mouth with a cloth napkin, setting it aside to attack the half a carafe full of orange juice. "Yeah. Why? Something wrong?"

The water wielder had a look of horror on his face. "I-I- feel...I feel.._old!"_

The Vizard and the Quincy's eyebrows rose some.

"Well, aren't you ancient or something?" They said together.

Kagami thudded his fist on the table, "I'm not ancient!..I mean...I guess.." his blond head slumped forward. "I am old."

Kanzaki leaned forward, adjusting his glasses, "cheer up, *ossan. At least I don't see any white hair yet."

(*old man)

The water wielder's eyes narrowed, "you're not helping. Anyway, I think what I'll miss the most are the costumes."

Kanzaki propped his chin in his hand, becoming thoughtful. "Yeah..me too. The Sailor Moon ensemble that Keiko did in nineteen-ninety four was awesome!"

Again the water wielder rolled his eyes discreetly. "I'm beginning to notice that's all your mind runs to." The tea cup was set down with a note of finality. "In the gutter-!"

"...then as Tokito Muramasa in two thousand-seven." The Quincy finished dreamily. "Boy, can I tell you! It was hard to stay _calm_ during that Halloween whenever she dropped her Tarots.."

"You don't say-? Is miniskirts and short-shorts." Kagami muttered behind his hand. "I didn't suspect it until now, but _what a perv_."

"Oh, I've known _that_ for quite a while now." Ren said in between shoveling down the platter of scones that she had inched over to her side during the course of the conversation. She was now helping herself quite liberally to the thick triangle shaped cakes studded with raspberries.

Kagami turned to the voracious eater Vizard, eyeing his breakfast be gradually washed down with black coffee from the glass coffee pot, the orange juice had been finished a while before.

"I honestly.." the water wielder said aloud, after a few minutes of noisy chewing and introspection. "Am not going to miss _this_."

"What? Where are you going?" Ever sharp, the Quincy had caught the change in the last part. Continuing on in more suspicious tones. "Since, I was going to say that we should start planning for next year's Halloween party already!"

_Next...year? _The water wielder thought of all the days left, the numbered ones and all the ones he wasn't going to know pass with a mortal's ken. He felt just the slightest bit sad then. "..yeah." But, knew it was better for them not to know. "We should."

(*)*)*)Living world, Urahara shoten.

"...Matsumoto? No, I'm afraid she doesn't like her at all."

Ukitake smiled, never thinking the worst of anyone. "Oh-ho! Then am I to assume that Ms. Yamamoto is quite stunning?"

Hitsugaya stared at the elder man, his eye twitching. "..what?"

"Oh, you know how women are!" Ukitake said breezily, waving a hand. "Matsumoto-Fukutaichou's dislike could stem from a little envy...let me tell you something! When Ms. Yamamoto was young, she was very pretty already." A mischievous chuckle, "little Byakuya was quite enamored of her then... so, I can only imagine now!"

Slowly it dawned on Hitsugaya what the other was implying. _Matsumoto jealous...because of Keiko Yamamoto's looks-?_ He had never thought of that before, but even then dismissed the idea as silly. _When Ukitake said __Byakuya__...he didn't mean-?_

Hitsugaya had to confess to himself, it was something he hadn't _**ever**_ thought about.

"I guess..some would say that Ms. Yamamoto is..pretty." He finally answered cautiously, maintaining the hope that the hint would be taken and the subject changed.

"Merely pretty?" Ukitake sounded disappointed, brightening visibly moments later. "And what about Ichigo-kun? How does he receive Ms. Yamamoto?"

"Kurosaki-?" Surprised, Hitsugaya had to collect his composure before blurting out something potentially ridiculous of the sub. "He likes her.. _ahem_.. _a lot_." That was safe enough.

"Aha! I thought so!" From the man's joyous exclamation; Hitsugaya could only assume he had just confirmed something.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, no, it's just something I had guessed from Ichigo-kun's reaction back when Ms. Yamamoto had been taken prisoner."

"I see." Hitsugaya folded his arms over his breast, thinking back on the time. "You don't..." it was a question of inanity though he was genuinely curious as to Ukitake's response. "..Think it's wrong if Kurosaki and Ms. Yamamoto...pursued a relationship together?" The last part ended barely above a whisper.

Ukitake was silent for the longest time, his brown eyes containing the most inscrutable expression. Then the frail Taichou finally said with a slight shrug. "I can only wish Ms. Yamamoto the most possible happiness imaginable. Ichigo-kun is a good sort...and I'm sure he will take care of her...but..." a shadow came over his face. "I do worry about one thing."

Hitsugaya frowned, thinking it to be some obscure objection from other quarters of the Court Guard Squads. "What? What is it?"

"...how he'll feel when she dies." Ukitake finished sadly.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle...

"-as I saying-" Ren had reached for the last scone only to have it vanish with the flash of gray that descended from the ceiling. "What the-" Kanzaki started up from his seat, hand going to Shoukyaku's hilt. Kagami calmly yawned, his gaze traveling to the Fire wielder pouring herself a cup of coffee from another pot on the other side of the room.

"Impressive. You teleported from the roof to this level. Since I'm guessing you were timing yourself, how long did it take?"

Kei took a bite of the pilfered scone, stirring in a teaspoon of sugar into her coffee. "Four seconds. I was aiming for at the least amount, two."

The water wielder looked on as she walked back to the table; Kanzaki's eyes wide behind the thick frames. Ren pouted some at the loss of the bread then occupied herself with what was left of the tea.

"Ah, ever the perfectionist. You should be proud though," he smiled some. "Even I lost track of you once you flipped off the table."

"Oh, that? That was nothing." Kei said, disregarding it. "When I fought Kazeatari shortly after we first met, my speed was below that of Shunpo. My Kenjutsu however, was much better, so I was able to match her Shindou nearly blow for blow."

"Who won then? I don't remember either of you telling me." Kagami had managed to snatch back the teapot, glowering slightly at the low, swishing contents. "You just showed up one day dragging Kazeatari saying you had found _Wind_."

"Neither did." The girl paused, the curled ends of her hair draped along her right side. She had dressed in clothing from the human world, choosing only because of the lack of a Gigai, to wear the slimmest covering possible over her eye.

"Because neither of us could bear to stand down and let the other win."

(*)*)*) Days pass...

"Meh...I don't care for that one so much." Kanzaki frowned, feigning important judgment on the ankle-length empire cut light shell-colored dress. Kagami noticed the modest round neckline then as Takara pouted and spun on her heel; Kazeatari entered in a dark lace overlaid over creamy satin. A slight bustle filled out the otherwise straight dress, the rest of the fabric gathered to cascade in folds.

The water wielder also noticed the generous amount of cleavage spilling out the top.

"Perfect!" Kanzaki announced in a sing-songy voice that reminded Kagami of Urahara for some reason. _It's too early in the day for this, what a perv_...

"I do think...I like the other..better." The quiet intersession made them all turn to the woman in flowing robes made of a pale rippling material.

"Kagami! Is this-"

"-My Zanpaku-to." Kagami answered before the Quincy could fully formulate the question. Clasping at the growing headache pounding his temples, the water wielder waved his free hand to the spirit. Gill-like fins adorned the sides of her soft, round countenance, upswept hair possessed a muted bluish tinge. Sazanami's smile was hesitant, shy as Kagami finished.

"..Everyone, this is Sazanami. We thought to materialize a few choice Zanpaku-to for the day in practice."

Kanzaki beamed, "oh, then, it's nice to meet you, Saza- wait!" his eyes widened behind his glasses. "Not Shoukyaku! Please don't say-!"

(*)*)*)

"-this color looks good on me, doesn't it?" The high-pitched voice was familiar as was the dry-sounding mutter of a child.

"You're so vain, Houou."

The sucking of teeth and the rustle of clothing being dumped from hangers.

Kei's eyes flew open. One shut immediately, her hand rising to cover it. From the next room the voices came, the sliding of drawers and banging as they were shut growing louder with each passing minute.

"Now, where does she keep that makeup!" Wailed the young phoenix in disappointment.

The fire wielder's jaw tightened, her hand balled into an indignant fist. Rising silently, she teleported to the doorway, gripping the wall with clawed fingers. "Get out."

Houou-hime looked up from the purse she had rummaged out of the mini chest that served as a table between the chairs. "Oh, good morning-"

"Get out_. Now_."

The phoenix looked over her shoulder, tears quickly springing to her eyes. "You don't have to be _so mean_ about it!"

"Need I repeat myself? Get. OUT."

Haretosora hopped off the back of the chair where she had been perched, spindly legs folding then straightening, glasses pushed back up. "Drop that bag, Houou. You know you can't keep it."

More tears glittered, "but-but~! I like shiny things!" In the grasping fingers was a large satchel in golden-bronze, the key fob having various dangling metallic baubles hanging off it.

"Hands-off! That's Kazeatari's present-!"

It must be said that various crashing sounds and yelling ensued with the end result being Houou being kicked out by a foot planted in her behind, Haretosora following -but not being thrown out bodily.

"GO BOTHER YOUR WIELDERS!" was the last thing Kei hurled at them, before giving the door a mighty slam shut. Shoulders heaving then, the Fire elemental stalked back to her bed, rubbing at her arm where Tensa Zangetsu had dealt her a particularly painful blow during their sparring.

She thought it might bruise, but even that annoyance faded when she caught sight of the thrown-back bed covers, shifting, lifting as something tiny moved under them.

What the-! Snarling unintelligibly, Kei ripped the covers off, revealing a tiny round squeaky ball of sleek black feathers. "SHOUKYAKU!"

()()()()()*()()()()()

"...It is very noisy today." Shirahime's soft cultured voice mirrored Zoe's. The Soulreaper and Zanpaku-to were at the desk, the wielder sitting behind it, the spirit perched on the edge, little gray kiddie shoes of the fashion from over a hundred years prior on the dainty feet swinging over the side. Pearl buttons marched up and the leather gleamed dully with age.

"Indeed it is." Zoe answered, tapping the sheets of paper together then handing them to the little princess whom took up a stapler and clicked down at the corner.

They worked in perfect harmony, while outside the yelling of many squad members disturbed the morning quiet.

"I sense...Haretosora's wielder approaching." Shira began at length, lips pursing. "I advise a course of repelling Kido spells to keep the interloper-"

The door burst open.

"That pervert!" Takara exclaimed, her fists shaking, her dress for the party in somewhat disarray. "I never-" the blonde's tirade came to a dead halt, her wide eyes finally alighting on the petite little princess. "OH MY GODS! HOW CUTE!"

Shira of course held up a little tiny gloved hand, frowning at the nearly rendered speechless blonde. "Do not-"

She was swooped up and bounced in the air.

"-touch me." Shirahime finished, mantle and pale hair mussed from the jouncing.

"Just like a little doll! I always wanted one like this!" Takara crushed the white princess to her light blue scalloped-edge empire line bosom, ignoring the mutter.

Zoe looked on, hands clasped peacefully atop the desk. "I'm glad to see you both are getting along so well." she said with a quiet smile.

()()()()()*Ichigo's mindscape*()()()()()

This was surprising. She had merely gone back to tell him the reason for her rude awakening; being the arrival of Houou-hime and Haretosora. Shoukyaku was a little perv and had been attempting to wriggle into her shirt during the period of comatose-like sleep while she sparred.

Tensa hadn't made a single remark, save for disappearing then reappearing behind her before she had even had a chance to react. Clumsily then block his swift, ruthless strike with a hasty guard. He quickly broke the position, slashing back and forth with his black sword, expressionless even when she uttered a painful gasp.

Kei then had flipped sideways, kicking him in the solar-plexus, meaning to gain a few seconds to catch her breath when suddenly an iron grip wrapped fast about her ankle, harshly yanking her forward. With an inaudible cry she had slammed back into the cement, the crash reverberating dully throughout her insides.

_What was_...

He had dropped between her spread legs, the black blade plunging in so close she felt the whisper of the sleek cutting edge ghost the flesh of her arm. "Does this hurt?" his hands had crept around the bruised area just above her elbow.

She hadn't understood. "No. It _doesn't_." The skin he touched seemed to have an electrical charge as something tingled the nerve endings inside. Was he trying to test her pain threshold?

"Does this _hurt?"_ his voice was becoming dangerously soft, the pressure of his fingers tightening.

Kei stared up at him defiantly, the faintest throb emanated from the area, her heart racing more. It hurt, but she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. "No...it doesn't."

A flicker of something passed through his eyes, his gaze hardening minutely. "I see." his tone was cool, with a hint of frost as he persisted. "Does this hurt?" his fingers clamped down viciously, his nails digging deep into her flesh.

She wanted to scream then, her lips parting to emit tiny bird-like cries, her free hand let go of Getsu-ten's blade, lunging forward instead to grab a fistful of his front. Her clawing fingers burrowed deep in the fabric, the pain made her feel faint. No. .

_It wasn't pain._ . .that made her feel so breathless.

"I-It hurts-!" she hoped it was convincing enough. The crazed desire drew the breath from her body, stealing the sanity until only the threads remained. _Oh Gods_.. her fisted hand opened, her fingertips just inches from the open collar baring the line of his throat. _Oh God help me_.. she could feel his knee between her legs. She wanted to shift lower and-and-

"Unh.." her gritted teeth slid apart.

The upper half of his torso had leant in low, the trail of his unruly hair gliding along her cheek then lower to her arm. His grasp had subsided to a gentle cradle, his breath was warm against her skin, but Kei could feel the coiled heat pooled in her belly.

"_Tell me_ when I hurt you." he said simply, in explanation for the mouth tracing the strike from the black sword.

()()()()()*()()()()()

"You can..put me down now." Shirahime said, glowering darkly at the blonde Lieutenant. Takara had one arm around the little waist and the other under the knees, carrying the doll-like spirit high nearly on her shoulder. Zoe followed at a more sedate pace, holding Haretosora's thin hand as the Clear Night was used to hovering not walking on solid ground.

Suddenly a voice yelled out from the distance, "fetch, boy!"

Then a blur blacker than the dark raced past, lean muscles rippling, feline snout raised to the sky, scenting prey.

A tiny round ball of black whizzed past the startled group.

Nekomata leapt upward, twisting in midair, jaws snapping down on the flying ball.

"Shoukyaku." Haretosora said dryly.

"Serves that little perv right!" Takara said moments after, her voice trembling with righteous anger. "He was trying to hitch a ride in the ladies' undergarments earlier!"

"That sounds about right." Shirahime and Haretosora said in unison. "Surprisingly, Shoukyaku is a pervert considering his wielder is stick-in-the-mud-Kanzaki."

()()()()()Living world, date: October 31st()()()()()

"...Kurosaki-kun. Perhaps you should communicate with your Zanpaku-to." Urahara had said it, if only because he had grown rather tired of the boy's moping, there being nothing earthly possible to be rid of it, accept for memory replacement.

Even then, Ichigo was much too stubborn for it to work properly.

_That or the lost art of Tokimahou_. The scientist thought wryly. There were only so many times he could be drugged, being left to sleep it off. Great lot it did previously. Isshin was at a loss on how to handle his son, not even caring how little he attended school.

The Hollows were still taken care of. That was the one thing Ichigo hadn't slacked off on, though there seemed to be less.

A lot less than usual for Karakura.

Urahara thought it might've been the word that the Elementals were near enough to respond. Assiah itself was blessed by peace now that fear had spread from the battle over a hundred years ago. The world was protected by threat of their power alone.

"Why?" The boy had sounded suspicious. "The old man doesn't know anything about us."

The shopkeeper could've pointed out the fact that Zangetsu did know, because he was always with his wielder; but what purpose would it do? Urahara glimpsed Ichigo's trademark scowl and tried another method of getting across his point. "Your Zangetsu is a dark fire type sword."

"What?"

"Ah, Kurosaki-kun, have we forgotten our lessons?" Urahara loved to tease. "You're trying to convince me that a sword whose blade burns the atmosphere, _isn't_ a fire Zanpaku-to?"

The boy turned many interesting shades of blotchy red in anger.

The shopkeeper went on smoothly. "Zangetsu-kun can more than likely speak to her directly-"

"Is that possible?" the light in the amber eyes flared suddenly.

"-yes." A flick of the fan. "It is. Zanpaku-to retain that ancient link to their Element, be it Water, Wind, Fire. If they so choose to, or are asked to, they can relay messages between the worlds. Simply go home- change your shirt-" the man smirked some at the boy's glare. "Then go into your mindscape and ask Zangetsu to take her a message."

()()()()()Tsukikage castle, date: October 31st()()()()()

The first steps, a hush fell over the transformed ballroom. The chandelier above cast a million diamonds over the expanse of the dance floor, the dancers themselves clasped hands, beginning the slow waltz as the first musical chords trilled.

The Captains lead the traditional first dance.

The floor belonged to them.

Kagami in formal men's evening wear and Kei resplendent in a green and white silk Regency style dress. Her hair was dark and luscious, spilling over her shoulders, the scallop of the dress flowed as they spun.

At that moment...they weren't their present selves.

"You know..." the smile reached his eyes. "If my seventeen year-old self had met you a hundred years earlier back then..."

The young woman-more a girl actually, with the slight pout to her rosy lips and undimmed curiosity in the blue orbs tainted by the faintest aureole of red around the rim looked up into his. "What..?"

He smiled again, the tiredness dimming the vigor of inversed youth. Kagami looked more himself then. "And...if we weren't what we _are_." He leaned in, pressing his forehead against hers. "I think I could've fallen in love with you."

She said nothing more, swaying back and forth as the chords deepened from a music box lullaby. The water wielder clasped her hands tighter, leading her in a circular path across the dance floor. In the wings, lining the wall from entrance to entrance were the officers from the five Divisions, each partnered and silent in breathless excitement as the two lone couples waltzed.

They passed Kazeatari and Kanzaki, spinning in an elegant circle. The two female Elementals' skirts brushed, whipping by really as they spun away.

_...someone holds me safe and warm_..._ Once upon a December..._

The tune was lovely, with an undercurrent of bitter sweetness to it that only lent to its fragile beauty. Like a dream of spun glass, or a winter's first snow. . .

He could see why she liked it then. How utterly it described their existence.

The last stanza, the lengthened vibration of orchestral-like music before the finale. They had spoken of it before, the last party. The one to etch into their memories- human memory not one of time immemorial. So, he scooped her up, gathering her almost bridal-style to his chest. _Alexander Haysworth_ whom he was physically at that moment, lacked the physical strength of the former Seireitei guard, Nanatsu Kagami; perhaps she sensed it, sliding an arm about his shoulders, her silken green skirt flowing in a cascade.

The gasps were audible as the strains of the song trailed off.

He folded her down, arching her back slowly, letting his lips hover above her exposed throat.

Rapturous applause broke out as the blue-tinted lights dimmed then flickered on fully to yellow incandescence.

Takara was the first one to reach them, her grin wide, her gloved hands clasping together. "Kagami-san! You and Keiko-san make such lovely couple!" Nearly jumping about, the blonde was barely restrained by her third seat, a debonair-looking Toya Amakusa, his dark hair tied back by a velvet midnight blue ribbon.

"Kagami-san." he greeted politely, dipping his head in respect. "I hope, Captain Yamamoto, you haven't forgotten my claimant for this dance-?"

Her smile grew broader, the sapphire blue eyes glittering like two diamond pinpoints. "No, sir. I believe I haven't." A rather masculine grin crept onto his face, extending his hand palm up, he waited for her to lay one of her delicate-gloved ones in it.

Takara beamed, moving to stand by Kagami's side; curious eyes darting to the large mounted speakers high in each corner of the room. "Hey, does anyone know what the next song is?" she wondered aloud, as did everyone else. Shifting from foot to foot, glancing about as near silence reigned.

Kei shrugged some, "I don't. I'm not the one who selected-"

Suddenly they espied Hisrio Shihoin giving the thumbs up to the feathered-shadow perched atop the chandelier. Almost immediately, the lights changed, wavering into soft pulsing orbs all over the dance floor.

Kagami raised a finger to his lips when Kei was about to speak again. "Listen!" he hissed, meaning the muted tap-tap echoing from the speakers. "-hey! I know that one-! How are we supposed to dance to this?"

She rolled her eyes at his helpless naïveté. "It's more of a Club song in the beginning, I'm surprised Hisrio chose it since he usually favors hair-metal bands."

The water wielder stared at her.

"-You know! Like how they do in Night Clubs in the living world!" she snapped, looking more like Kei than her two-hundred year old incarnation.

The water wielder still stared, looking more than ever horrified. "I-I can't do _that!"_

But, she ignored him. "Suit yourself."

Toya chuckled a little uneasily. "Shall we then, Captain?"

()()()()()Ichigo's mindscape()()()()()

The time had come yet he couldn't move.

Unafraid, retaining the dignity of strength however slight his form appeared now, that step. The single motion of Shunpo to the portal open to that other world.

He couldn't.

To go would be to renounce every amount of trust Ichigo had in him.

Because that would mean he was seeking her out.

Those other times, she had come to him- asked to spar, to talk. Tensa preferred the look of youth masked under the justification that ban-kai suited her power. It couldn't be far from it. She knew- he guessed, already something of the insecurity that made him falter. How the other Zanpaku-to spirits would laugh-

_Ossan. Old man_.

She was perfect. Forever frozen in the body of a young woman near to adulthood in the land of the rising sun.

So, Zangetsu, became Tensa Zangetsu. Ichigo wouldn't know, the tapering off of his immense spiritual pressure. The boy never came to him the way she said it was supposed to be.

_Our comrades_.

To learn like Amakusa Toya from his Zanpaku-to _Kage_.

But, she said _she_ wanted to learn.

_'Could he teach her?'_

Emotionless though he showed, lacking a change in expression. He had detected without real motion, the antsy sensations going on inside her.

Even if she held perfectly still, the nervousness could be felt.

"If you want." The choice wasn't his to make.

The frown again- the severity of the disappointment ruined by the bandage. That eye was still much too sensitive to the light. Nerve damage-? Yet, supposing everything, Tensa thought he should hate Ichigo for harming her.

Maybe he did.

Just a thread of it.

Then, why couldn't he move?

The idea was ridiculous, to be nervous over the space of a step or two. It seemed to stretch into eternity, a width greater than that between the sideways buildings and the ground.

_'There's a party in a day or so. All the Zanpaku-to are invited.'_

Why did it feel so strongly like a betrayal to cross that space and enter the old world?

_'Will you come?'_

"Do you want me to?"

_'I'm merely asking, not commanding. If you feel strange about it, then don't.'_

The illusion of choice... balling his hands into fists, the sword hung his head low, his tousled dark hair fell forward narrowing his line of sight.

His wielder wasn't happy. So, that meant the sky was gray on the verge of rain. Ichigo was sad because Kei was angry with him. She wouldn't take his calls and shunned whenever he tried to contact her through other means.

Sad... but what could Tensa do?

There was no enemy to cut down, no words to strengthen Ichigo's pained heart.

No one could make her accept the boy's love and therein lay the root of the problem.

The sword sighed at the dismalness of it all, sensing the despair-laden bank of clouds grow heavier, oppressing the sky completely. He hadn't an inclination to see what had caused the storm to increase, whatever it was had crushed anything remaining of the slate firmament.

_The gray had held an essence of hope. _

The sharp scent of rain filled his nostrils.

_Now all that remained was despair. _

How ugly love was. He knew, because he had felt the same way.

Brown eyes lifted to the blackening sky, the first drops of cold rain beginning to fall.

The sword sighed, this time with release. His choice had been made.

In seconds he had passed through, but not before..._another_.

A boy in a rumpled T-shirt and plaid bottoms had stepped onto the same building, shivering and glancing about with narrowed amber eyes.

"Zan-" the boy called, catching sight of the billowing cloak lifting in the wind.

But, his voice was lost to the howling storm.

The sword vanished moments later through an oval portal cut into the dimensional wall.

"Zangetsu! Hey, Zangetsu!" The amber eyes widened in disbelief. _What the hell!_ _Where was he going-? Was there anywhere he could actually go?_

Determined to find out, or at the very least garner an explanation, Ichigo started after him, racing through the gateway just as the top half started to collapse in itself. Shutting his eyes against the radiant shower of light cascading over him, he was unable to call out or even move as his body descended slowly..weightlessly through dimensions.

Darkness washed over his eyelids.

Solid ground like cool flagstone was beneath his bare feet.

Steeling himself for the unexpected, Ichigo opened his eyes to the illuminated grounds of Tsukikage.

-TBC...

AN: Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters!

Reviews appreciated and loved :)

-Alt scene-

"..what unattractive clothing you wear to bed, Master!" Houou exclaimed, taking a good look at what Kei wore. The fire element's eye twitched. "What!"

"I mean like- you should wear _frilly, pretty things_.." Houou said, holding up a finger for emphasis. "Like miniskirts and Maxi-dresses. They're perfect sleepwear!"

"...what?" Kei's imagining- (something that needs not be explained but involves running and twirling in a miniskirt wielding a sword) "I'd show my panties then!" she cried seconds later.

"Precisely." Houou said triumphantly then added in an undertone with a wink. "If you even wore _any_ that is."

"That would be..._much too_ distracting," Tensa muttered.


	61. Judas kiss

_It started out with a kiss  
How did it end up like this  
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss  
Now I'm falling asleep  
And she's calling a cab  
While he's having a smoke  
And she's taking a drag  
Now they're going to bed  
And my stomach is sick  
And it's all in my head  
But she's touching his—chest  
Now, he takes off her dress  
Now, let me go  
_

-Mr. Brightside, The killers

* * *

ShiKai CH.53: Judas kiss

The pendulum of the clock ticked, one single gong for each hour chiming throughout the great room, declaring the ninth hour of the evening. Her eyes flickered to it, then back to the man in charcoal grey, a slim black ribbon was threaded around his collar in lieu of a more modern tie-piece, his hair looked ashen blond in the strobe lighting effect.

"They'll be arriving soon." she said solemnly, her voice barely heard above the strains of _Livin' La Vida Loca_.

"Hn?" The man beside her more a boy older than Ichigo, yet still possessing a roundness to his face and lacking the common sardonic coldness to his eyes.

"-I said, the Zanpaku-to will be getting here soon." Kei repeated testily, her eyes narrowing. "You know, Soryu's going to bite your head off _literally_ when he sees you sucking on that coffin nail like that."

Kagami finally slipped the cigarillo from his mouth long enough to say, "well, you can protect me from the God of the sea's wrath. Can't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Actually I can. But, I'm not."

"Oh! That's cold..." he feigned injury. Still smirking as he exhaled a puff of thin smoke, he stared ahead, watching the heated dance come to an end. "Say... are you going to..dance with _him?"_

Kei's gaze drifted anywhere but to acknowledge the look of deep scrutiny he was giving her. "I don't who you're talking about."

"Don't play me for a fool, Kei!" Kagami hissed, the light blue orbs narrowing into slits. "You turned down four of our guys already- including trampling Hisrio's stupid pride as former Nobles both! I know you're saving yourself for him-!"

Her hand shot out, grasping the collar of his suit coat, yanking him closer. "Oh, then, let me allay your suspicions, _Alexander_." her lips pulled back, her nostrils flaring with anger. "I am not going to dance with anyone else tonight. Not you. Not any of the Juppongatana officers nor Tensa Zangetsu!"

(*)*)*)

So, she felt ridiculous.

Stalking off in a huff, her head held high, the wisp of longer curled strands of hair tickling her neck. Irritated then, she had grabbed a handful of the locks, raising her arms and twisted the hair in a loose chignon, lacking of course an apparatus to pin it.

_Like a Victorian heroine_... the similarity struck her halfway across the floor. Around, the other officers were exchanging partners, laughing, smiling before the next dance started. Kei pausing at the fringes, could sense a few curious stares, some hesitance as those she had turned down previously, wondered if they should make an attempt to engage her now.

_No . . .I don't want this_. Fitfully, her hands grasped at the silken skirt, bunching it up, uncaring of ruining the fragile fabric. She started off at a brisk stride, breaking into a run before phasing from sight.

The din and noise of the party had quite faded into the distance when she reached the doors to a room upstairs on the eastern side of the castle. A light frown touched her mouth. She had meant to phase inside it. Had some of the Fire Zanpaku-to come already, hence the lessening of the power at her disposal? Skimming the surface of the spiritual pressure floating around the castle, she didn't detect any, other than Houou-hime hovering near Hisrio's elbow.

_They made quite a pair_.

Kei closed her eyes briefly, her shoulders heaving with the intake of breath. Her hand then lowered, clasping the knob firmly and turning. _Ridiculous, yes_. She felt foolish for wanting to hide- it wasn't even that. There was no one to hide from. Her footfalls were muted on the thick Berber rug. The pattern was a pleasant ocean blue, tans and intricate swirls formed flower stalks and leaves. The wicker chairs were of a light shade, scattered around the spacious room.

She glanced about, feeling the overwhelming saturation of Water's influence.

_".. I know you're saving yourself for him-!" _

The very idea itself was ludicrous. Saving herself for...Tensa? It was laughable. _But, it would be mean to laugh, wouldn't it? . .he would want to dance with her. But, then again he didn't seem the dancing type_. _He wasn't sociable at all, being so abrupt and silent most of the time_. She rolled her eyes heavenward. Maybe it was all useless speculation for nothing. Since it was entirely possible he wouldn't even show up.

She made her way through the chairs then, throwing open one side of the glass doors to the balcony. The night air hit her in a rush, in the vista beyond the castle grounds was a great expanse of purplish sky, stars twinkling a million different lights. Walking slowly to the railing, Kei realized she had forgotten just how beautiful the night was.

Leaning against the railing, the skirt of her gown fluttered, rustling in the westerly breeze. The _guardians of West and East_. Her senses pinpointed on the first of the arrivals. A retinue had chosen to follow Soryu and Byakko, _some of the older ones_.

Kei recognized Katen-Kyokotsu without much difficulty. ._Suzumebachi_, her eyes narrowed. _Tobiume..and Kazeshini-?_ With a start, she felt the subtle tugging of their astral-ribbons, the bond between creator and creation strengthening. It was a given that her breath should catch; materialization of a spirit required mass amounts of pure energy, that which their wielders save for a few, couldn't feasibly provide.

The mildest case of lightheadedness assaulted, taking in a few breaths of the night air, she felt a twinge of something inside... _disappointment? He hadn't been among them_. _How stupid am I?_ Almost angry now, she glared out into the vista of darkness that had felt so soothing minutes prior. _He was a damned sword for God's sake!_ _Even if he hadn't been meant to be one..a long time ago. _

(*)*)*)

He stayed to the shadows.

The giggling grew louder, the sound of many pairs of footsteps ascended the stairs leading up to the veranda. Shafts of light from the storied windows slanted over the forms, Tobiume was first. Light brown hair interlaced with bronze bells, trailing kimono in light pink scattered with sprays of plum blossoms. _He was a little surprised she had chosen to leave her wielder, Hinamori, for the evening_.

The other whom Tobiume had turned her smile up to, was the dark grinning vaguely human-shaped form of Kazeshini. Touda nor Suzaku had escorted them. Instead they had gone along with the white tiger's attendants. Byakko being at the fore of everything, was strangely welcoming to the two Fire type considering, Tensa thought wryly; _the tiger's aversion to __**her**_.

Water as well. The scent of it came strongly, pervading the sharp, cleanliness of Wind. Soryu and a few other spirits in Shinigami hands. Sode no Shirayuki was one of them.

The dark sword's jaw tightened.

_Kuchiki Rukia's Zanpaku-to_.

It was doubtful the Yuki-onna had sensed him.

Byakko and the others had reached the front, standing back politely for Soryu and his group to enter first. Perhaps the tiger had more manners than previously thought. Soon however, even they too had gone inside the castle, leaving the grounds eerily devoid of sound.

"Are you going to go in?" A voice spoke suddenly, coming from a pool of shadow lurking beneath the stone balustrade. "I've been watching you, watching the castle for nearly half an hour already. You did know I was here, right? Or are you so distracted thinking about_ someone_?"

"Kage...I knew you were there." Tensa lied, stepping back as the shadow crawled over the ground, straightening into a mist-laden blackness.

Silence, then a burst of laughter. "You're such a terrible liar! Really, Tensa..we're old friends!" The shadow leered. "Aren't I the one who proved that your feelings were deeper than a wish to be wielded like Sode no Shirayuki thought?"

Tensa scowled, his eyes slanting away. Much as he disliked the reminder, it was in part true.

"You were such a sad little blade then..." Kage was still saying, looking vaguely to the sky reminiscently. "All alone and-"

"Not a word." hissing, he glared at the mimicker who simply laughed more, clapping hands without real form together.

"Ooh, so scary! I myself haven't a desire to actually attend, no matter how simply ravishing _**she**_ is tonight."

"What're you talking about?"

"Oh-ho! So, you haven't seen her." Kage sounded surprised, amusement creeping into his tone again. "I've just one word-maybe a line actually, of advice to give to you."

"Keep it. I don't want it."

The other ignored him. "Don't make a fool of yourself tonight."

"My actions are of no concern to you." he said coldly.

Kage shrugged, becoming one with the shadows. "I tried. Remember, your bearing tonight may have far more repercussions in the future."

Complete silence again.

Only the wind rustled through the full verdure trees.

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

_Guard duty. Must stay awake...Hitsugaya-Taichou is_...

Matsumoto leaned comfortably against the cushion, her Zanpaku-to braced against her shoulder. In the distance, the lights of Karakura faded to a soft glow, her eyelids slid shut.

Opening to sunlit illumination and a grassy field beneath a sunny sky.

_My mindscape_.. the tenth company Fukutaichou thought, glancing about. _That meant she had fallen asleep..oh but she was so tired! Surely Hitsugaya wouldn't mind-!_ Her excuses faltered as her eyes alighted on the back of her partner-in-crime. Haineko a lovely statuesque woman with neatly coiffed red hair and two tiny conical shapes like ears atop her head.

"Hai-" Matsumoto's brows drew together, her forward motion hindered by the grasses that caught at her black hakama. Haineko hadn't heard, or chose to ignore, self-absorbed as she was in primping before a little hand mirror.

Within seconds it seemed, she had finished, a satisfied sigh leaving her lipsticked pink mouth, a yawn and her arms stretching above her head reminiscent of a feline. "Time to go!" Haineko sang happily, skipping to the circular hole in the dimension. Matsumoto stared after her, noticing the portal for the first time as it blended in mostly to the scenery.

Except...it was dark. Night poured from the opening.

"Haineko-!" Matsumoto called after her Zanpaku-to.

But, she had already hopped through.

(*)*)*)

Hitsugaya didn't trust Matsumoto. Not when guard duty at night was concerned. His turquoise eyes had narrowed at her sincere promise not to fall asleep and after some intense mental debate he decided to give in a quarter.

"I don't care." The prodigy said, swiftly turning on his heel to avoid his Fukutaichou's excited clap and cheery call that exactly meant she was going to knock out in a few minutes.

"I won't let you down, Taichou!"

_Yeah right_. Hitsugaya's soured thoughts lasted only until he had curled up on the small futon Inoue had managed to procure from somewhere. The blanket was pulled up to his chin and he had dropped into his mindscape with the full intention of continuing a discussion with his ice Dragon Zanpaku-to.

What Hitsugaya didn't expect to discover was the said ice dragon sauntering in human form through a portal.

So, he followed.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle grounds(*)*)*)

_None of my business, eh? _The mimicker smirked, a hand of dark mist brushed past leaves blending into the night and shadow. "Zangetsu!" The boy came rushing through, orange hair mussed, disarray about his form and face. The light brown eyes darted around, searching, scanning the expanse of the main lawn.

_None of my concern_... the slow smirk extended outward. The boy whom was Ichigo Kurosaki was making tentative steps toward the castle side. The side where Tensa Zangetsu had hidden in such debate with himself over the morality of his feelings.

The sage advice, Kage had seen fit to part with on the other's behalf, seemed to hold a certain veracity that was hard to deny now. _Go to your lady love er-/our dearest Kouseitan'i_. The mimicker's split second decision came even as Kurosaki was about to break into a run.

_Let it not be said, that he wouldn't assist a friend in need. _

Kage allowed a little of his stored reiatsu to vibrate for just a moment, rippling his lower half into a trailing cloak made of shadows. The hem flowed around his legs, using Shunpo he became visible for a moment.

Kurosaki saw him. "Hey! Zan-"

Kage ignored the call, darting furtively in a human manner.

Kurosaki gave chase. Yelling, demanding that he stop and explain himself.

_Explain why I'm here-?_ The mimicker thought this was funny. _So, Kurosaki didn't __**know **__about his own sword_. _Better to keep up the illusion for a while longer_. A single footstep resounded from the top of the stone stairs leading down into the maze of the sunken gardens.

The slap of the boy's feet on the bare stone followed.

Weaving, melting at times into the darkness of the wall then appearing behind the boy's back only to phase into a lower level. Kage heard unrepentantly the snarl of impatience, the outstretched hand flinging out.

Ghosting through the tattered ends of the cloak.

Kurosaki was startled then.

"Z-Zan..getsu?" the boy whispered, confusion besetting his expression.

The mimicker went a step farther, brunette hints to color the imitation of shaggy locks. The boy wouldn't know the difference between Tensa and Zangetsu. Kage had even mimicked Zangetsu's taller stature, dipping beneath the archway.

The last flight of steps was crossed. The boy came after him, more confused than ever. Kage swung up, dissipating into an accumulation of shadow particles, crouching silently above atop the stone arch. Kurosaki ran from end to the other, spinning in circles, frantically searching for the spirit of the sword he thought was there.

"Zangetsu! Come out dammit! I know you're here!" Kurosaki stamped his foot down and cursed loudly. The shadow above shook its head, casting off its disguise of the black moon cutter.

_Was this human's intelligence so limited as to forget he wasn't appropriately attired for a night jaunt? __Perhaps_. Kage thought to himself, watching a little longer to make sure that the boy was thoroughly confused. _He had been lead into the heart of the gardens_.

The mimicker was sure it would take a long while for the boy to find his way...either that or give up. Losing consciousness would send him back to his real body. Tensa obviously hadn't realized his wielder had followed.

Kage smirked again..._after he had so vehemently denied his thoughts were distracted over the prospect of their dear Kouseitan'i. Clearly the black moon cutter was still in denial_. _Such refutation without understanding the loss that could ensue_...

It was fairly common knowledge between the Zanpaku-to, _the insanity of __**that one**_. The mimicker tilted his head back and observed the northern star shining the brightest out of all the rest.

.._lost his mind and killed her_.

The shadow's sigh was inaudible to the boy below.

_Kurosaki's mind had already started to slip_.

_The poor boy_.

Kage vanished into the night.

(*)*)*)

The sword had disappeared.

Calling did little use as his voice didn't carry far even if he yelled.

_How far did I go? _The gardens ran behind and to the eastern side of the castle. In his Shinigami form, it would've been easier to simply leap out of the ascending walls and out onto the main lawn rather than attempt to find a way out. In his human state however, lacking his badge, he had little choice but to walk around this cordoned off area and hope to rediscover the doorway he had entered through. Which was difficult enough in the darkness.

The teen paced around some, striding to a shadowy area believing it to be the exit only to find it was another damned corner! _Stupid._..Ichigo could've cursed himself for falling for such a ridiculous trick. Even more so giving into the confusion that plagued him. _Why would Zangetsu do something like this?_

Scowling he ran his fingers through his hair, eventually clasping the sides of his head, spinning around to face the next shadowed recess. The old man had never deliberately hidden from him; rather said harsh words and followed with even harsher actions. All to prove a point. They were strong. All Ichigo had to do was trust..trust..

_Where was that trust now?_

_And more importantly...why was the old man going to Tsukikage castle in the first place? _

(*)*)*)

The castle was brightly illuminated, lights blazed in each gothic window casting multi-hued patterns across the steps. Hitsugaya had shut his eyes upon the initial burst, his body falling through the space between the worlds. Upon opening them, he discerned with no great amount of chagrin; Hyorin-Maru striding across the lawn to join with a farther group standing on the steps.

_These beings-!_ As Hitsugaya drew closer, alternately breaking into a short jog to a fast stride; the figures came into focus. _Such magnificent creatures-!_ The thought was startling as he had previously heretofore taken for granted the persona of his Dragon, never once thinking of the others around him.

From the pale woman adorned in sylph-like robes, gills like an aquatic creature of the sea on either side of her face, hair upswept into an elaborate headdress dripping with dangling chains to which baubles of perfectly rounded sea glass hung. Beside her was a man a full head taller than Hyorin-Maru; long strands of greenish-blue hair draped to the severe mandarin-collared Cheongsam. Around the man's thick neck hung a massive necklace of dark blue stones.

Hitsugaya watched on as Hyorin-Maru sunk into a bow, inclining his head in deep respect.

A few words were exchanged. But he was too far away to hear what was said. In time the elder laid a hand atop the ice Dragon's head as if issuing benediction. Hyorin-Maru looked up, his shoulders easing like a great burden had been lifted off. The woman, Hitsugaya had noticed before, gestured to the doors they stood in front of, indicating that perhaps they should enter.

The imposing man smirked and murmured something. The woman frowned some but clasped her hands tighter, her head sinking in submission. _Who was he-? _Hitsugaya wondered, his bare feet soundless as he crept closer to the shadows. He had noticed as well that the small knot of others seemed to defer to the man's words, looking upon him with awe and respect.

_Was he a Zanpaku-to? And if so...whom did he belong to? _

Seven more figures came around the side coming into sight. A stocky male lead them, a wide grin across his good-natured face. Gold, black and white stripes ran through the shock of hair crowning his head. Mischievous eyes sparkled, his hands rising in a mock-gesture of _long-time-no-see_ to the leader of the original group.

The spirits whom followed him were a motley lot, lacking some of the former retinue's dignity and grace. A fur-clad woman chattered animatedly to a smaller more demure female in a light pink kimono, clutching her sleeves nervously. Somehow, Hitsugaya had the feeling, the latter didn't belong to the large, loud feline-like male. Whose booming tones didn't fail to reach him.

"Soryu! You old boy! How long you been?"

The elder whom had been addressed by the familiar name, looked as though he wished the youth to disappear. "Not..long. Byakko." The narrowed eyes gazed in rapt disapproval at the spirits filing in beside his.

"I see. I see. Anyway!" The one called Byakko clapped his hands together beaming widely at everyone. "Shall we go in? Ladies.." his eyebrow curled up impishly. On cue several titters resounded in the air. "Gents." The males looked attentively upon him.

The golden eyes flickered to the door and to the stiff jaw of Soryu. "After you." Byakko said courteously to the Dragon.

(*)*)*)

_Such a sad birthday_.

Kei reclined against her folded arms, sighing to herself. The coldness of the stone permeated the thin fabric of the elbow-length gloves, her eyes stared out into the night, sourness tinting her thoughts.

Part of it was disappointment he hadn't come. Then, more of it was anger at herself for being bothered by his lack of appearance. Selfishness made her contemplate summoning. Just a few words..

_I command you to appear_...

_But, what if he really didn't want to come? And even if she did command him to attend, what if he hated her for it? _She knew he was particularly intractable, one being only able to get something out of him only if he wanted to say it or do it. Which meant that he would most likely resent being forced. _Stupid sword_.

Kei glowered at the stars. _Okay...so maybe she just wanted to show off how pretty she could be. To both of them_. Without a uniform, without loose black pants and a shirt. With light makeup and a real evening dress... of course if Ichigo had commented anything like she looked silly...

_He would be one dead Strawberry_.

True though...he did seem to not have one romantic bone in his 5'8 frame. _The idiot_. No money either to at least buy her a present...preferably in the jewels and gold category. She sighed again, knowing she'd have to be content singing to herself.

"Happy birthday to me..happy birthday to me...h-"

"-Happy birthday dear Keiki, happy birthday to you." Crooned a melodious voice from behind.

Kei spun around, her skirt flaring out in the movement. "You-! Byakko!"

The white tiger leaned in the doorway, his stocky frame clothed in white robes patterned with gold and black fans. His feet were encased in narrow black boots, mizuchi knots ornamental across the tops. On his lips was a Cheshire grin.

"So, this is where you've been hiding." A note of teasing was in his carefree tone.

"I wasn't.." her back was pressed against the railing. "_Hiding._"

"Whatever you say." The shrug was reminiscent of Kazeatari's. The rolling of powerful muscles, the indolent smirk gracing his face. "Come on then. There's some of mine waiting to meet you downstairs."

She stared at the hand he offered. Palm up, the fingers thick and perfectly round-tipped capped by fine claws. Traces of his felinity remained. She turned away, knowing what he was asking. "Go to hell."

He didn't miss a beat. "Been there actually. Didn't care for it much though." His boots settled against the stone, two clicks as his hand hovered near her elbow.

Kei glanced over her shoulder, her lip curling. "Maybe you should've stayed there. It might've eventually agreed with you."

The golden eyes flickered, his mouth creasing into an amused smile. With a suddenness of movement, his hand had closed upon her upper arm, yanking her forward. She didn't have time to retort as the next second, everything rippled, the stable world distorting into undulating waves.

For a single heartbeat, they hovered. Immobile, rigid, weighed down by the current of movement itself.

_Shindou_.

In mere moments, the blurred lights became a scene, the world righted itself with color. Kei gasped, nearly crumpling to her knees. Byakko chuckled quietly to himself, announcing with a broad smile, "Found her!"

The Fire wielder shut her eyes tightly, her fingers hardening into claws. _Bastard_...dimly she was aware of the voices and the brightness of the dining hall. Raising her head, she stared the tiger straight in the eye, only to have him back up a step, sweeping forward gallantly to press a chaste kiss to the back of her hand.

"-Don't you dare-!" she started, her eyes flashing as his arm snaked out again, this time wrapping around her waist.

"Would you honor me with this dance?" Byakko leaned in to whisper, sweeping her off without waiting for an answer.

(*)*)*)

"...It's good to see you too, Katen." Kagami said with a smile, clapping the shoulder of the ornately dressed spirit. The eyes of the other half twinkled, her smile hidden by the mask.

"Both of you actually, how long has it been?"

Katen demurely covered her mouth with her sleeve, her robes styled after an Oiran of ancient Japan. "A very long time. Ages it seems since you've _called_ us." The tiniest hint of displeasure lingered on; Kagami winced inwardly, glad he wasn't the twin-swords' Shinigami, rather Elemental. _Poor Shunsui_...

He attempted to be light. "Ah, well you're right about that! It really is too bad the little twins couldn't come. I would've liked to have seen Sogy-chan and Koto-chan here..at least for now I can still see you as my children!"

Then, the jade green eyes of both sisters, flashed.

He suddenly felt as though he had said the wrong thing to the volatile spirits. "O-Of course, I always think of you as m-my-" _my children_.

"Then, why did you make those abominations-the soulless blades?" Katen very nearly snarled. Kyokotsu nodded solemnly, murmuring in support. "Aren't we enough?"

Kagami was mortified to see the sheen of tears in both pairs of eyes. "Now, ladies, those were a special case, you see," he held his hands up as both women started to look murderous.

"No. We don't _see._" They said eerily in unison.

_Help! Help!_ He scanned around covertly, seeing his first savior- Kazeatari, was speaking to a frantic looking little Haretosora and Kei-Kei was...

-_with Byakko-? What the hell?_

Houou-hime said it best. Clasping her pretty newly manicured nails-_more like_ talons to her cheeks, bright eyes going wide as Byakko swept past, dragging his reluctant and very pissed-off partner all the way; "Oh my goodness! His Lordship Byakko-sama and Captain Yamamoto are dancing!"

..._does he have a death wish? _The water wielder and everyone else whom had taken notice were watching with wariness, ready to head for the hills in case Fire let loose her wrath.

(*)*)*)

She_..hated him_.

Almost as much as she hated that other. _Soryu too_.

_**/..the most dazzling precious treasure/I'll be treasured over all the earth./**_

_Damn him_. She could tell he was enjoying himself immensely too. Never had she felt so humiliated in her current existence, except for that time when they had gotten caught spying on Kanzaki. _Those were the days_, she thought wistfully, glowering at every turn and spin. Byakko was doing it on purpose. Showing off what a _treasure_ the Fire Element could be.

The irony of the song wasn't lost on her.

_**/I'm in love and given a way.../**_

Ichigo and Tensa...both of them would without hesitation die for her. Ichigo...being Ichigo would do it for anyone, Kei supposing then, that fact took something away from it. Like a sacrifice he would make for Inoue or Kuchiki. A friend. Not a lover. Certainly not just her.

_**/..just look at what he's done/How he's layin' down his life/take this life/ Oh, most dazzling precious treasure/**_

That didn't make her happy. _Why couldn't it be just for her? Why did Ichigo feel the need to try to protect everything?_ Kei knew exactly how she would feel if he were to die in front of her while trying to protect Inoue. That was something the human girl would pay dearly for. She would make sure of. No one took what belonged to _her_, away. Even if Ichigo himself wouldn't care if he died protecting the foolish girl. Which made absolutely no sense. If he cared for her at all then he would consider her feelings. The idiot would actually probably think she'd be happy because Inoue was safe...

That was what sent a barb straight into her heart. _Such foolish waste_.

_Why can't __**I**__ be treasured?_

_**/Tonight I become the most dazzling precious treasure! /I am treasured over all ... the earth./**_

But. Tensa. He would unravel the threads of his existence if only it meant that _she_ was protected. But _only_ for her.

_For me_. She could only think, feeling a little better as Byakko released her.

(*)*)*)

_Frightening_. A few rapid flicks of the almond and black lace-edged fan dusted the curls framing Kazeatari's face. She half-expected there to be a tragedy-er _Byakko-be- sucker punched-in-the-gut_ or _Kei-shove-her-palm-up-his-nose_.

Neither thankfully occurred. As this unpleasantness would've resulted in the Wind spirits mobilizing to avenge their master's honor. Not many of Fire's had appeared- though there was a sufficient number to properly defend _her_.

"Haretosora-? So, you decided to come after all!" Kazeatari's point of exclamation came solely from the fact that traversing the back wall through the various milling spirits and Juppongatana officers; she had nearly stepped on the thin child spirit.

"-Indeed." The too thin, pinched little face scowled at the flat-heeled Bavarian lace covered shoe that Kazeatari hastily retracted. "I thought of coming merely to check out the snobs and to see how many were rude enough to choose their ban-kai form to appear."

"That's a little harsh coming from a child." Kazeatari remarked, nonplussed though trying to appear otherwise. "Children shouldn't be speaking thus about their elders."

The child rolled eyes heavenward in great annoyance. "I'm a not child, you know. Besides Shirahime had planned on attending in her ban-kai form since I can tell you didn't know what I was talking about!"

The wind wielder scooted closer to the side, allowing the tall broad-shouldered Hyorin-Maru to pass. _How much he resembled Soryu-! _Flicking a glance to the dance floor to make sure nothing else untoward had occurred, Kazeatari turned her attention back to Haretosora whom was on tip-toe trying to snatch at a cup perched on the edge of a nearby table. Yet failing dismally as her little arms barely reached the top of the orange and black crepe streamers.

"Oh, that's right. Shirahime is one of those who ages forward when they're in the second release." Kazeatari said, reaching over to pour the child a cup of punch.

"Thank you." Haretosora muttered grudgingly, staring down into the pinkish-red colored contents. "You know though..there are some who age backward..."

Kazeatari caught the tiny frown and puckered brow beneath the wisps of dark hair. Thinking something was bothering the Zanpaku-to, she said in more kindly, attentive tones. "Like in shikai they're old and in ban-kai they become young? It must be very rare since I can't think of any of mine who possess that ability."

"I suppose it is." A short silence followed, then the child began in a timorous, careful tone. "Kazeatari, if you...had sworn to keep a promise, no matter what the end result was...would it be your fault if something bad happened?"

The wind wielder felt some surprise that she endeavored to hide lest the spirit think she was being mocked. "Haretosora..." she saw the thin lips tremble, the large eyes staring deep into the well of the cup. Searching for the answer. .._Guilt?_ Kazeatari could only come to that conclusion.

"..is there something bothering you? Would you..like to talk about it?" It wasn't her place as another Elemental to interfere in the echelons of a fellow Element. However, she was willing to look past that fact as her long-dead sensibilities responded.

The child shook her head vehemently, her exclamation shocked that Kazeatari could ever suggest such a thing. "I could never!"

"Well, then if you won't tell anyone about it, then how do you expect resolution to be found?" she reasoned patiently.

Haretosora's expression became downcast again, "I doubt I could ever be resolved of it. Even if.._a promise was a promise_...he doesn't think that it hurt me at all to let it happen! But it did! It did hurt!" The cup in her hands shook, the liquid sloshing. "But, I promised! I gave my word..I mean that's what you do when you care for someone, isn't it? You keep your word.._to them_."

Kazeatari very nearly extended her hand, fingers curling in on themselves to withhold the comforting she longed to give. "Haretosora...do you mean Keiko?" The wind wielder knew the Clear Night had been carried once by the Fire Elemental..._but that's right. Hadn't Kei said that at the time...there were only two Zanpaku-to without wielders-?_

_A child and...one of the moon swords-?_

"...and who is-?" she began. _**He?**_

But, Haretosora had already vanished.

(*)*)*)

"..your eminence."

It was safe to say she stiffened. Froze like a statue as the woman knelt, reddish hair capped the cheery features, the slight peak on either end were vaguely reminiscent of cat ears. Byakko stood by, smiling at the proceedings, terribly pleased with himself.

_This had to be...one of his_.

Kei narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the feline hybrid, dressed albeit a little risque for a party where every female officer wore ankle-length dresses and the guys were restricted to old-fashioned tuxes. Then, again...most spirits weren't like Houou in orangey-red silks and Sazanami in ceremonial robes patterned after the different colors of the deep blue sea.

Or maybe she just liked to show off her considerable assets. _Why did this seem familiar-?_

The Fire wielder said stiffly. "Thank you." Then added as the woman's bright eyes looked up. "It's..good to see you too." For the space of a second, she hesitated, knowing how erroneous the statement was. Seeing as she didn't know who the spirit was in the first place. "Now if you'll excuse me."

She gathered her skirts up, moving away hurriedly before she was approached again. "Kagami-!" she hissed when she was close enough to the other. The man looked up, puffing contentedly on what seemed his seventh cigar. In a stoneware ash tray near his drink, resided the previous charred stubs.

"You're going to have Soryu's wrath on you." Kei couldn't help but mutter. The water wielder sputtered some on his next puff, eyes hastily darting around to make sure the blue Dragon was occupied on _the other side_ of the room.

"Phew! Don't scare me like that! I thought you meant that overgrown lizard was coming!" he snapped.

"Why would I tell you that Soryu was coming?" Kei sounded innocently confused at least until she smirked when he rolled his eyes. With an extraordinary amount of effort, the water wielder regained his former composure after making sure that the Dragon was still engaged in a company consisting of a mix of Fire and Water spirits. One in particular kept glancing their way with pure hatred emanating from her pale blue eyes.

_Sode no Shirayuki..? _Kagami looked back quickly to his fellow Elemental, gauging the distance between them. _Why is she staring at_...

"Anyway!" Kei declared, propping one curled fist on her hip. Her voice dropping conspiratorially the next moment, "who was that woman?"

_Kei..with such anger? _

(*)*)*)

Ichigo stared up at the object they called the moon, shining high above the castle and grounds. _It wasn't a moon...it didn't even vaguely look like a moon!_ His mind scoffed, his mouth working into a scowl. The four points were similar to a flower or even a kite. Pulsating softly, illumining all with a delicate purplish glow.

It washed over him now. Flooding the circular area with near morning brilliance. Ichigo felt the chill of his bare feet on the stone leave, the arms he had hugged about his torso falling away as something like soft warmth stole over him.

The moon in the living world and Soul Society had always shined with such cold brilliance.

_Distance_. Rukia liked the moon. He had learned that once when he had come back from a late night Hollow hunt, seeing her atop the roof, staring up at the sky. He hadn't understood why she did. _What solace was there to find in a great hunk of dead rock? _At least that was what he had thought at the time.

Now beneath 'the moon' of another world, he felt differently. _While the sun blazed with intensity, the moon murmured a silent song_. _The moon loves all her children and the light she sheds illuminates their way through the darkness_. The thought seemed faintly familiar like something his mother had once said. But, Ichigo could never recall his mom ever talking about the moon, she had always seemed like the radiant sun so full of life..

Maybe it was someone else- something Uryu had quoted. _The lines were so like the Quincy_. Ichigo smirked to himself_. Full of_ _sappiness_. Amber eyes trailed over his surroundings again, seeing with better light the aged quality of the stones. Moss grew between the worn smooth surfaces, grayish brown to pale green. His gaze traveled down to the sprawl of vines creeping across the ground. _Moon flowers-? _Surprised, he took half a step back as one of the trailing arms suddenly curled upward lifting to the light of the moon.

Within mere moments it had bloomed, unfurling to reveal pure white petals, a delicate elusive fragrance wafting softly from its center. A new sound, a rasping of fauna drew his eyes to the vines extending, crawling along the walls, sprouting outward, heavy with blooms. Stunned some by their appearance, he saw that unlike the first blossom, _these others...reached toward him_.

_Why-?_ Very slowly, carefully as though he had the fear that it might bite, he let his fingertips graze the nearest bud, starting back again as it quivered. The flowers opened simultaneously. _What the hell-? _As he gazed about at the beauty all around, he wished he wasn't alone. That _she_ was with him..

His thoughts turned morose, his hand lifting to clasp the blossom from its base. _Kei_.. the longing to see her intensified. _Even if she was still mad at him...there had to be a way to fix it!_ _He would fix it!_ The vines rustled in sympathy, reaching out linoid arms to brush tentatively across the backs of his hands. Ichigo recoiled and they retreated. Tiny leaves rippling without the aid of a breeze. _What the hell is_...

_This was crazy...it's too impossible_..

He shot down the thought, because it wasn't rational. _The plants couldn't read his mind and they certainly couldn't have reached out to touch him...right?_ The teen nodded to himself that this was sane thinking. _In the realm of normalcy. But it wouldn't hurt_...

Biting on his bottom lip, he stepped a little closer, leaning forward to whisper even though no one was surely around to hear him talking to the plants. Since it was crazy these suspicions of his.

"..hey. Can you guys..take me to _her_?" Briefly Ichigo wondered if he should've been more specific. Said her name. But it didn't matter. The vines rustled again, a ripple flattening their length, following it with his eyes, he saw they pointed perfectly to the south. "T-Thanks.." Ichigo nodded to them, picking his way through the tangled fauna covering the ground, careful not to step on any of the fragile green creeper.

Eventually he found what they had indicated to.

Half-hidden stone steps smothered in shadow.

"Thank you." He said a little louder glancing back over his shoulder to see the vines had retreated leaving only the solitary blossom blooming beneath the light of the moon. He went back and plucked it with the full intention of giving it to her. _He would worry about Zangetsu later._

Mounting the steps minutes later, he soon found himself rising above the walls, ascending to level ground. This was-! Glancing about sharply he soon realized he had been let out on the Southern side of the castle.

(*)*)*)

"How should I know?" Kagami muttered, remembering to smile at the passing Zanpaku-to spirit. Kei rolled her eyes and stomped her foot mildly. "I only asked since I thought _you would know_."

"Well, I don't." The water wielder snapped, in his temples a mild headache was developing. Partly from his system unused to the heavy intake of nicotine and a combination of Soryu's evil eye. A little irritated, he saw his suspicions confirmed.

Sode no Shirayuki was gliding toward them, a murderous expression twisting her delicately lovely features. Clearly this wasn't his night, as the yuki-onna most undoubtedly was intent on making a scene. _Not that Kei couldn't flatten the spirit with just the force of her reiatsu_. He thought somewhat wryly, _but_, from the corner of his eye, he observed the deepening pallor, the loss of rosiness from the girl's cheeks and lips.

_**This**__ was taking a toll on her_.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." He murmured from the side of his mouth, depositing his half-smoked slim cigar in the tray. Heading off then to intercept the yuki-onna midway across the expanse of the room.

Kei stared after him for a moment, her lips eventually pursing, eyes narrowing at what she considered an absolute betrayal. _Bad birthday indeed_. Her gaze still following the water wielder slanted back as a shadow fell over her. "No." she said flatly without looking then upon the persistence, cracking a little smile still shaking her head when she realized _who_ it was. "Uh..sorry no. Thank you anyway." She managed to remember the little dip that Katen acknowledged. _Any ruder and Soryu would've taken it as a great insult to himself. Damned Dragon_...she thought irritably as the first half of Katen-Kyokotsu walked off, her purple robes rustling.

_She personally liked them __**lacking**__ little skulls at the top of their ornate-er- coifs and of them being at the very least of ._._the male gender!_

And_...he_ still hadn't come.

Her eyes drifted over the heads of the spirits and officers, noting the time on the great clock high on the wall. It chimed eleven rings._ Silly me_. Her gaze dropped back to the thin dark brown cigarillo still smoking in the ash tray. _I guess I really had hopes he would come_... she picked it up impulsively. Lifting the still smoldering end to her nostrils, sniffing delicately.

_Cherry-?_ She looked around, making sure no one was watching. Kagami was still talking with the woman clad in a white kimono. Whose sharp eyes like two ice flints darted toward her every few seconds.

Kei dismissed it as unimportant. Her attention drifting once more to the coffin nail poised between her fingers. Should she-? She hadn't ever smoked once during her many lives, it being during ages past, _a very male pastime synonymous to drinking spirits of the alcoholic variety_.

Besides, no one was going to care if she took a little smoke, right?

Slipping it between her lips, she inhaled from the other end, the acridness of the tobacco immediately irritating her throat. She exhaled it quickly in a rush, her lungs burning as if they had been scorched.

The choking became worse.

(*)*)*)

Her hands flew to her mouth.

Coughing into the soft silken fabric.

She couldn't seem to clear her throat. Again and again, her chest rattled, her shoulders shaking with the force of the attack. _What's wrong with...me? _Her eyes rose meeting the soft doe-like ones of Tobiume whom had been approaching. Kei shook her head, indicating _no_.

The Zanpaku-to clutched at her sleeves, worry creasing her brow. "B-But-!"

Kei knew she had to move.

Another silent _no_ before phasing forcefully from sight.

_Thank God..Kagami hadn't seen_.

Outside the door to the hallway bathroom, a corridor down from the ballroom; she swayed. The full impact of the Shin-Soku struck her and she caught at the wall, her legs threatening to give out. _Damn it...damn it all!_ She heard footsteps and a cheerful tune mimicking the one playing distantly in the background coming up around the corner.

She pushed the door open hurriedly, not wanting to get caught. Stumbling inside the long L-shaped bathroom. Stalls lined one wall while directly across a row double sinks lay three deep. The L-shape was completed by the last corner, an alcove really. Kei weaved toward it, alternating coughs echoing and rebounding off the beige painted walls from the refurbished area of the castle.

As she sunk finally into the corner with as many minutes of labored steps; the door opened.

_Damn it_.

(*)*)*)

Haineko stepped inside the bathroom. Her sole reason for being there, the retouching of her makeup- not that she needed any. If her tail had been visible, it would've twitched in a most feline sort of manner.

_A sound-? _

The ash cat shrugged it off, turning to the large mirrors above the sinks, grinning widely at herself. She had just been talking to Houou-hime whom had the most interesting opinions on lip gloss- because her wielder, Hisrio, sometimes indulged her fancy and surfed Sephora online.

Matsumoto was very primitive with makeup since Seireitei didn't have much to offer and certainly not private laptop computers with Wi-Fi access. _They __**were**__ in the dark ages_, the cat nodded, wishing for some of the Buxom Girls lip gloss the phoenix had sported.

_That sound_...

Haineko's sensitive hearing caught it again, becoming alert at once. Bright apple green eyes revolved from the line of mirrors reflecting halfway open cubicle doors to the very last corner where the slightest trace of energy radiated.

_A barrier-? _Cautious now, the cat crept up the row, catching the sound again, muted as it was from within the high-level field. Pausing at the last stall, Haineko flattened herself against it, leaning slowly to peek around.

_That's_- she had to stifle the startled cry. Swinging back around, she clasped her hands to her mouth. The weak hacking continued, the girl's back had been to the opening. Sprawled on her calves, the pale green silk skirt had been mottled with spatters of crimson, the bodice the same. The dark head had been bowed, black strands of hair loosely falling forward around the deathly pale face.

Haineko breathed in quietly, attempting to even out the rapid, pained flutter of her heart. Gathering her courage, she peered around again. The girl had lowered her hands from her face, the silk gloves drenched in blood.

_Her eminence was going to...! _

Tears sprang to Haineko's eyes. She could only think of one other whom bled without physical wounds. Ukitake Jushiro. The sickly Taichou of Thirteenth. The disease was incurable.

_Die. _

(*)*)*)

Her dress was ruined. The dull, bloodshot blue eyes passed over the bodice and ran over the skirt, studying the blood flecks without much concern. She thought about then the long walk to the south wing, her hands dropping the skirt to rest against the cool sink top.

She didn't want to look at her reflection.

Not the hair falling freely around her face, nor the glazed, sickly look in her eyes. Her insides were sore now, aching violently the same way they would've had she truly thrown up. Her gaze finally dropped to the gloves lying on the sink next over.

She grasped them, dropping them to the floor.

They were incinerated in a matter of seconds.

Becoming nothing but ash.

Kagami and Kazeatari couldn't know.

The Fire wielder braved a look into the mirror, turning on one side of the fixture to splash cold water against her mouth, rubbing at the spatters, then rinsing her mouth to rid it of the coppery bitterness.

It was then that she felt it. _Damn it..! Can't anything go right?_ Her hands gripped, clawing at the sides of the polished silver faucet. Her eyes fluttered shut, her torso slumping. _Tensa was here_. She could sense him in the main entrance way, walking slowly, hesitantly up.

If it hadn't hurt so much to do so, she would've laughed.

Because she wanted to cry at the same time.

She knew she had to use shin-soku to get to her room and clean up somehow. But then, her legs felt too unsteady, her vision threatening to blur. _I can't do that_. The sobering realization made her hands loosely form into a inter-weaved gesture.

Even then..._time magic only encompassing the smallest of spaces, limiting the effects to the rest of the area_, was draining beyond the strength she had left.

_What am I supposed to do now?_ Her gaze fell to her reflection in the mirror. She bit her lipeyes closing resolutely..._I have to try it_.

(*)*)*)

Kage's words played over and over.

_"Remember, your bearing tonight may have far more repercussions in the future."_

Tensa Zangetsu paced in the shadowed covering of the low trees. Hidden from all eyes. The walls and windows of the castle were such that not even the faintest sound from the inside permeated the lawns. Only the vague suggestion of form and rhythm rippled behind the ancient glass as the party went into full swing.

_Repercussions. From what?_ That made little sense. Ichigo was restless at home; he had checked before debating on whether or not to go. So, Tensa had little fear of the boy suddenly receiving the impulse to visit his mindscape. _Was it one of the other Zanpaku-to spirits then-? Sode no Shirayuki perhaps? _

_Kage had known about the yuki-onna so it stood to reason the mimicker might conjecture a scenario based from past experiences and particularly of the white sword's despise. But even then. What could Sode no Shirayuki possibly do to the Elemental?_ Nothing that the moon cutter could see. Even then. Warning or not. He wasn't caring of nebulous consequences that had little form.

Not even if Ichigo himself saw them.

The moon cutter Shunpo'd to the doors. Grasping inside for the ribbon that bound them together, little surprised to find it stronger now than even the covenant between himself and his wielder.

The hand that grasped the great brass handle, possessed physical materiality.

(*)*)*)

"Taichou-!"

Hitsugaya turned at the sound of the woman's voice. "Matsumoto?"

The woman jogged up, surprise evident in her expression. "Why are you here?"

A nerve twitched above his eye. "I could ask you the same question. Weren't you on guard-"

"Ooh! Who is _**that**_!" the blond Fukutaichou's mind switched tracks, refusing to hear complaints about her laziness. Hitsugaya shook his head slightly, glancing back to the glass to see the stiffened form of the boisterous young male from before. _Byakko_..

He had been walking in front of the windows, but had stopped, head turning to the one where they stood on the other side of. Simply looking. Golden eyes searching as if sensing them there.

"He's looking straight at me!" Matsumoto's girlish excitement inclined her Taichou to mutter; "Idiot. He can't see us-in fact no one can."

If anything she ignored him, craning her neck around, taking note of the attire the officers wore. "Hey! Someone's having a party and I wasn't invited-?" she sounded furious, her blue eyes flashing with restrained ire.

Hitsugaya counted silently to ten, willing the dregs of his patience to keep him from wringing the woman's neck. "Yes. It is something they have every year- tonight is October thirty-first, All Hallows eve. In this world, however it is the beginning of the Summer Equinox."

When she turned to him questioningly, "how do you-?"

"Captain Yamamoto told me in our last communication." He didn't miss the narrowing of her eyes, the slight toss of her strawberry blond locks. _Why didn't she like the elemental? It couldn't be looks_..._there had to be something more._

The pit-patter of steps came from behind.

They both turned.

"..Kurosaki?" Hitsugaya said incredulously, as the Shinigami sub walked up the stairs in a daze. His bright hair was dull, messier than usual, his gaze cast down. He wore a days' old shirt and worn pants. "Toshiro.." Kurosaki finally acknowledged them. "Rangiku..? Why are you guys here?"

(*)*)*)

"That dress...you changed?" The water wielder had returned to their spot near the windows overlooking the veranda. His eyes swept the creamy lace dress then went back to her face. "Are you sure, you're-"

"Yes." Kei answered swiftly, unconsciously nervous as her bare hands swept the front of the dress, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles. Her hair was loosely bound, a small gathering sweeping her right shoulder. Her cheeks still stung from the pinching, her eyes passing over the circumference of the room. _At the doors_. She felt her heart rate pick up, beating a little faster.

"Why'd you change and where exactly did you go?"

"Oh, I ran into somebody carrying a goblet and my dress got splashed quite badly." She said without missing a beat. "So, I went and simply changed into something else."

Skepticism poured off of the water wielder.

But at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care.

One side of the doors opened.

He looked as always, the hood lowered to rest flat, the unruly locks framing his oval face, the deep dark eyes lifting as if sensing her gaze.

Kei exhaled sharply. In the blink of an eye, he had shunpo'd to them. Kagami narrowing his eyes, but not saying a word as the crackling speed of movement had drawn a few looks.

"You're late." she said, looking at him then askance.

The sword silently extended his hand.

She forced herself to sound light, "you don't have to be obliged to ask _me_ to dance. Unless you're so lacking in manners that you mean something else entirely."

That drew a response. His dark eyes flashed, his mouth thinning. "That is quite a tone in which to speak to one whom chose to only suffer you his presence for a single dance."

Kei couldn't resist smiling then. Taking a step closer so that she could tilt her chin up, staring straight into his eyes. "Oh, pardon me then. I wasn't under the impression you were serious." She slipped her hand into his, clasping it firmly. "I accept, if you'll have me."

(*)*)*)

There were five couples.

Standing in two rows facing each other with a small space between them. She raised her right palm, letting it hover like she was taking an oath of office. The sword mimicked her, maintaining a perfect illusion of space between their hands. Kei began to revolve in a circular clockwise motion, from the corner of her eye she glimpsed the others hastening to imitate them.

_/I'm dying to catch my breath/Oh why don't I ever learn.../_

The words were soft. The cadence of the music slow.

_/ I've lost all my trust though I've surely tried to/Turn it around../_

Kei paused, replacing her right with her left. Holding it aloft as before. Tensa followed suit perfectly. His steps measured as they slowly circled one another. His gaze was intense, lingering on her throat, her mouth and finally her eyes. To distract herself from it, she glanced to the side as they were at the end of the line. From Toya with Haineko to Takara and Hyourin-maru. Suzumebachi and Akashi to finally Tobiume gliding with an impish smile around Kyou.

_/__Can you still see the heart of me?/_

Surprised she felt her fingers folding, his larger hand sliding around hers.

_/ All my agony fades away_/

She stumbled forward when he pulled none so gently. The tiny cry that threatened to burst forth from her, fading as his arms wrapped around her. The gentlest motion of their bodies, the subtlest sway to the music.

_/ When you hold me in your embrace/_

(*)*)*)

The room he looked into was completely transformed. The female officers had their hair coiffed in elegant old-fashioned styles, their dresses were long flowing affairs and the men wore suits with high collars. _What was this-? Some sort of oldies gala? _For the first time in a long while it seemed, he wanted to laugh.

Hitsugaya shifted into his line of sight, glancing in as well. The boy prodigy wore a baggy light blue shirt with a rainbow over the heart. Ichigo thought it might have been originally Inoue's as well as the plain shorts. "Look at them..." he couldn't help but begin, a slight derisive smirk curling one side of his mouth. "Isn't this ridiculous?"

"Kurosaki.." turquoise green eyes lifted, askance to his face from the side. "You shouldn't pass judgment. And it's_Hitsugaya-Taichou__!"_

The teen rolled his eyes slightly, "come on, Toshiro! That's like a little kids thing! Dressing up on Halloween! I mean sheesh!"

The white-haired boy just gave him a look, shaking his head.

"Well, I think it's kind of cute!" Rangiku exclaimed, giggling to herself, she wandered off to the adjoining window, her eyes glittering. Ichigo had a remark to say to that, something about drinkies and excuses to get drunk when some of the people inside, moved.

Clearing a space for the four couples separating then facing each other in two perfect lines. It wasn't the particularities of some of the partners, nor Rangiku's _"There's Haineko!"_

That made his breath catch.

No. It was the woman at the end on the right side. The woman with black hair and pale skin. _Why did she dye her hair? _Ichigo admired the way the white dress draped elegantly over her curves, emphasizing only subtly the femininity of her body. She looked beautiful unadorned. Without pretension like some.

He thought of Toshiro's Fukutaichou then briefly wondered why he was thinking bad about her.

_**'Cause she can't stand **__**her**_. The murmur was in his head, insistent into the stream of his consciousness_. __**Matsumoto Rangiku wishes **__**her **__**ill...she hates **__**her**_. He tried to ignore it. Forcibly clasping a hand to his forehead, scowling down at the counterpane.

_No, you're wrong! Rangiku's a good person like Inoue! _He felt like he had to defend them. Defend his friends like always. The murmur silenced for a second, from the corner of his eye, Ichigo was aware of Toshiro's worried glance. "I-It's nothing." he said dismissively as the whisper hissed.

Angry at the mention of the healer._** Such a false creature that Inoue Terran is. **_

_Shut up! I won't hear Inoue slandered_-

_**Do you remember when Kei**_- there was slight hesitation. _**Almost drowned?**_

_What's that have to do with anything? _He began to grow irritated with the half-veiled insinuations.

_**They drove her to it**_.

_What did you say-! _He didn't want to believe it, even less explain the outburst echoing in the still air. Toshiro stared at him, "I didn't say anything. Kurosaki, are you-"

The amber eyes that had shut, opened. Ahead he saw what he had missed before. "Z-Zangetsu!"

Startled, Toshiro glanced back, searching for what it was he saw. "Wha- Kurosaki-?"

It was..the old man? Ignoring the fret of the small Taichou, he went back to the glass, nearly pressing his face against it.

Kei was moving in a circular motion, expressionless almost as..._but_.. his certainty faltered. For a second, the room blurred and Zangetsu appeared slighter somehow. But, that was impossible. Ichigo himself knew the sword's spirit form towered even over him.

_But-but it had to be-!_ His hands fisted, resting against the ancient rippled glass. His amber eyes taking in the sword's motions, the arms that pulled her close; boiling anger rising up inside.

She remained with a hesitance, a rigidity in her stance that gave him some sort of triumph. She didn't want to be there- but the old man was holding her against her will. _Yeah... that was it. Kei never would've betrayed him in such a way-!_

The slender arms rose despite his willing them not to.

They clasped the sword's waist, chin tipping back to stare up into his face.

And the sword- _his sword_ stared back just as tenderly.

Ichigo willed himself not to scream, not to yell uselessly against the glass, soundless as the world was. He only continued to stare straight ahead, insensible of the white-haired Taichou at his side.

They were..._**together**_.

His sword and his..Kei. The added possession drew a clamping sensation to his innards. Like they were withering, shrinking into themselves.

_They_ weaved slowly through the other couples, the faces mere dark blurs as he was only fixated on them.

She was saying something, tilting her head to the side in a quizzical manner.

One arm released its hold; Ichigo maintained the faint hope that she would step back. Stop betraying him.

But, she didn't. Kei tugged on a lock of curl-ended hair. Laughing then about something. The sword made no reply, the grizzled face flickering into a younger smooth-cheeked male whom seemed to be faintly smiling. _Who...was he mistaken-?_

_No, he couldn't be! _Ichigo fought against the questioning of his sanity. _He knew what he was seeing dammit! He wasn't crazy!_ All he had were eyes he wanted to tear out, a beating organ that was shriveling in on itself and terribly bitter shame that everyone was seeing it.

Zangetsu had caught her above the wrist.

They became motionless. The others went around them in slow circles, but Ichigo could see them **clearly**. The sword was lowering his face to hers now, mouth slanting, lips gently touching.

For a moment eternity had frozen everything.

_She wasn't kissing him_-

That thread kept him from giving in, letting the blackness consume his consciousness.

He saw her lips part.

_**'I told you, didn't I?'**_ The voice held a note of sorrow instead of triumphant mocking. _**'He will..take her from you... unless something is done.'**_

She returned it.

His heart felt like it was breaking. "."

"Kuro-" Toshiro began.

"DO IT!" Ichigo screamed, his hands slammed against the window pane hard enough so that the jolt rippled throughout his bones.

The glass exploded inward seconds later.

-TBC...

AN: ^-^; thanks for reading. *is exhausted*

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated and loved C:


	62. Broken happiness

ShiKai CH.54

"What're you thinking?" She asked, her right hand sliding into his, her other to his back.

_/Make my heart a better place/Give me something I can believe/_

The sword's eyes at once so clear, contained a darker hint of emotion that she couldn't decipher. "That perhaps _his_ arms would be better around you." His tone was somber so for the most part he meant it.

_/..Don't tear me down/ You've opened the door now/Don't let it close/_

"Tensa...you know, I would slap you right now, if I was sure everyone else wouldn't repeat it." Kei said very seriously, feeling his fingers tauten, their flow becoming stiffer as they stepped back then forth.

"Is that how you handle the truth?" His murmur was soft.

Kei took her time in responding, restlessly letting her gaze rove around. After a moment or two, she stared at him fixedly. "What truth? I'm merely stating that I'd much rather dance with you as I'm sure Ichigo would've stepped on my foot by now."

His mouth twitched reluctantly. "You are..probably right."

"You know I am." she closed one eye, winking as a flirt might have done. "Besides. You have a new supporter." she jerked her head toward a couple a few spaces away.

He looked on the next turn, then glanced down at her obviously not understanding. "Takara thinks we're a cute couple." Kei explained, smiling a little when he looked again.

"Cute?" Tensa echoed, his brows drawing together to a tiny point of a furrow.

"You don't think we look good together?" She tilted her head at an angle, questioning.

"I have no thoughts on such a matter." he said, closing his eyes briefly. Making it seem as though the very notion was ridiculous. Kei smiled a little more, pouting her lips to swoop in and plant a swift peck on his mouth. She pulled back triumphantly when his eyes snapped open.

"See...?"

Surprise flickered across his face before the usual indifference closed it up. "What was that for?"

"-Oh, nothing." she fought hard not to smirk, humming quietly a few bars to the song.

_/... I'm here on the edge again/I wish I could let it go/I know that I'm only one step away  
/From turning around/ _

"It's that your cuteness at the moment, didn't fail to escape my notice."

"You shouldn't lie about things like that." The sword looked away refusing to meet her gaze.

"..What makes you think I'm lying?" Kei murmured to herself.

Their pace picked up as the song descended to its final stretch.

_/ I've tried many times but nothing was real/__Make it fade away/Don't break me down../_

".._are_ you lying?" The lack of surety was surprising. He wanted to believe it, she saw. Wanted to so much yet refused to give meaning to the moment.

_/__I want to believe that this is for real/Save me from my fear/_

"Tensa..." it was hard to communicate in words what she felt. Was it contentment or did it go deeper than that-? Whatever it was, she could barely decipher it yet knew it stemmed from the simple motions, his hand clasping hers and maybe that for a few minutes.. "You've made me so happy.." she turned in an elegant circle, glad for the few seconds when he couldn't see the moistening in her eyes. "Just by coming tonight."

_/ Don't tear me down!/_

The sound of shattering glass punctuated the air.

A blur darted from the corner of her eye. Startled, she turned toward the windows, feeling the pure static surge of Kido blossoming upwards in a wall.

"Enkosen!" Toya barked, shielding his partner.

_And them_.

The song played on yet no one moved. The sound of tinkling glass resounded as the momentum broke upon the solidified reishii.

"What the-" Kagami was the first to speak. Shaken yet staring at the window three down from his, starting forward only to be held back by Soryu's restraining hand. "No. It's not safe." The blue Dragon nodded to Byakko, then to the night pouring inside from the gaping hole.

"Right." Byakko looked chalk-white, his golden eyes traveling from the glass littering the floor to the dancers. He turned to Kazeatari whom was looking also, her hand was on his forearm. "I-I'll be back. We need to secure the perimeter! Make sure whoever did this doesn't get away!" He squeezed the top of her hand briefly, then Shindou'd to the doors. Soryu gestured to Sazanami, the sea serpent understood, withdrawing her static blade form from the atmosphere.

"Hey, wait just a-" Kagami began as the Dragon turned once this was accomplished. Sazanami shunpo'd to his side, holding it out from the scabbard, the tear-drop shaped guard and light blue hilt extended toward him

"Stay!" Soryu barked, his blue eyes flashing menacingly.

The water wielder stepped back, his jaw tightening. The blue Dragon vanished in the swift crackle of shunpo. "Kagami-san! That reiatsu-" Kyou walked forward, leaving the small group in the middle of the floor, Tobiume clung to his arm, her brown eyes wandering around nervously.

"Wait- no one move." Toya held out his arm warningly. Slowly he eased the Kido barrier down, looking to the row of windows across. Kyou stopped, glancing to the third seat. Toya shook his head, indicating no. "It's not safe. At least until we know what's going on..sealing wards should be placed over all the openings to and from this main area."

A murmur rippled throughout the room.

She guessed what everyone was thinking. _An attack. But by who-?_

As a Captain, she knew it her place as well as Kazeatari and Kagami's, to ensure that everyone was kept safe; Kanzaki was hiding behind his Lieutenant in the corner. Kei started forward with the full intention of helping proceed the third seat's plan. She couldn't move.

"..Tensa..?" she looked over her shoulder questioningly. "What're you doing?"

The sword stared at her expressionlessly. Keeping a firm hold on her upper arm.

"-Good idea." Kagami nodded to Toya, setting aside his half-smoked cigarillo. Beside him, Sazanami clasped her hands, bowing her head. "Shall we draw upon some of the others, Kagami-san?"

"They're already drawing on me." he said bluntly, sliding out a slender strap from the scabbard, threading it over his shoulder. "If I do anymore, it'll have to be a reverse absorption, where I draw on the strength of their Shinigami."

"Perhaps." Sazanami's vibrant red eyes like coral met his. "But, you are of precedence before all else."

Katen and Kyokotsu nodded quickly, "Shunsui might be lazy, but he is strong. Let us help you now!"

The man colored some. "How enlightening. All this time I thought I was nothing but chop-liver to all of you." Sazanami beamed, Soryu-sama thinks like that sometimes. But, rest assured. We do not."

"Thanks for confirming that for me." The water wielder muttered, accepting the tasseled hilt Katen proffered. "Alright, I want Hyorin-Maru and..."

Kei tried tugging her arm away. "Tensa, let go!"

His hand tightened, "is that a direct order?"

Her eyes darted helplessly to his face then back as Kagami had chosen a select few to accompany him, the rest were to go a designated room in the northern side of the castle. Kazeatari and the buxom feline woman whom had said 'her eminence.' Were to lead them.

"-Hey! What about-!" Kei called, struggling to remain on her own two feet.

The water wielder looked back, nodding to her. "You, stay here." Blue eyes slanted to the moon cutter. "You, protect her."

"Wha-" _had she heard right?_

"I understand." Tensa said from behind her.

"-Kagami!" she struggled more, her hair falling into her face. "I can help-"

"I'm afraid not. The trajectory was just too perfect." he glanced to the jagged shards glittering on the floor. "It's safe to assume it was meant for you."

A short silence followed.

She could feel the worried looks, the rustle as Tobiume covered her mouth with her sleeve.

"I..can take care of myself." she insisted, her face flushing.

"No." Kagami said, silencing her with a look, he flicked a two-fingered hand gesture of cancellation. She felt the jolt as her body reversed back to its previous state.

"We cannot risk something happening again." It was final.

(*)*)*)Grounds of Tsukikage..

"..Hmm...that reiatsu." High above the thick beam of the gates to the phantom city, Kage sat, his thin legs crooked up, arms braced back. The Northern star flared brighter. "So, I was correct." The mimicker mused, head tilting to regard the sky once more.

(*)*)*)

The world stopped.

For a moment, he could see everything.

The Kido forming at the officer's, whose name escaped him, fingertips. The startled yet concentrated expression on the man's face, his dance partner, a woman in pink fur, grasped at his arm, her apple green eyes wide. Then to the back, a smaller boy staring in horror, hand clasping the other belonging to a taller girl, brown hair adorned with brass bells.

Then, it's them.

The split second hovered in the air. Kei was smiling, like she hadn't seen. Spinning beneath the young male's upraised arm. Her skirt flowed elegantly, the creamy white a perfect contrast between the solid black of the male's clothing.

_It wasn't...Zangetsu_. _They weren't_-

The horror of it struck full force. Filling his chest with lead.

_The glass_- Ichigo could only think numbly. _The glass was going to strike her breast_ _as she turned_.

The world started moving again.

"Enkosen!" The officer shouted. The reishii became a shield that the shards momentum broke upon.

"My Haineko!" Rangiku wailed loudly, running back to them and grasping his arm. "What did you do, Ichigo?"

Toshiro was on his other side, pale, shaken yet otherwise commanding his Fukutaichou to calm herself and saying they needed to move.

_Move..?_

_Where?_ Kei was looking now. Staring through the Kido to the window. Ichigo wondered how he ever could have seen the young man at her side as Zangetsu. _Zangetsu was old_. _Not young_...

"Kurosaki!" Toshiro struck him yet he barely felt it. "We need to go _now!"_

Numbly he let himself be pulled back up the lawn. _Was he really losing his mind like everyone believed?_ In the distance, two male voices of different cadences were up near the castle front.

"I smell humans..." A smirk was in the voice.

"Cut them down." The other was emotionless.

Toshiro heard as well. "Keep running!"

"..Can't see them." The first one said, "but. That won't be a problem at all."

Far above, a shadow in white robes sailed, twisting around over the tops of the trees.

"Reppu-Geki!" The figure bellowed.

Curving arcs of wind rained down.

"Kuro-"

One struck his side, cutting deeply through his shirt into the flesh.

"-saki!"

He blackened out.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle..

They were alone in the empty, echoing room.

Someone had turned the surround sound off, so complete silence had fallen. Around the perimeters of the room, Kei could sense Houou-hime, Tobiume, Kazeshini and some of the other Fire swords. Nekomata prowled outside the opaque wall of solid Kido encasing the windows.

It was ultimately demeaning to be protected thus. As if she were weak, powerless. Being guarded by the Zanpaku-to made her feel inside as though...she were like Inoue.

Kei despised that above all else.

"You shouldn't stand so close to the windows."

She stiffened at the warning, swallowing her anger. Slowly pivoting a quarter of the way to meet his gaze. "There isn't much that could get through Nekomata.._ and_ Toya's Kido.

_Damn him_. The sword's eyes narrowed. Kei could practically feel the sublimity of his stance. Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, long scabbard at his waist.

-_Come here, so I can protect you-_

The temptation to run to the doors was great. _Just to see what he'd do_.

But, she let go of the impulse. _He'd get plenty mad, besides she really didn't want to get yelled at_. _Damn him_... she saw his stillness from the corner of her eye, abruptly she swung about, her hands lifting up the trailing white skirts over her ankles. "I wish I could change.."

"Why?"

She dropped them, frowning. "Because I feel ridiculous still wearing this dress. That's _why_."

He looked at her inscrutably from fair hair falling to her shoulders to the slight sag of the dress on her smaller frame then to her light gray slippers, "..you look nice."

"Please!" Kei sucked her teeth. Rolling her eyes to the ceiling. _Talk about blindness_. Then, an idea occurred to her. Smiling a little, clasping her hands behind her back, she approached him. "Nicer than...shall we say, _usual?"_

He closed his eyes.

Kei slowly untwined her hands, snaking them up to clasp the sides of his face.

"Stop." Tensa said, his voice a quiet rumble.

"Why should I? I can touch you when ever..." she licked her lips, smacking them a little. "And _anywhere _I want." The shudder that rippled through him was more pronounced, yet his tone was steady. Even with a hint of coldness in it.

"...you're trying to make me show weakness." His eyes were warm brown pools staring straight into hers unflinchingly. A tiny furl of heat inside made her blood burn.

"Now, why do you always assume that?" Kei closed the distance between them, pressing her breasts against his lower chest. The sword stared down at her, "you want to see how much I crave your touch. What I can take before you break me down completely."

"Why can't you think that I might want it?" _You_. But, she didn't add.

Tensa grasped her hands, thrusting them away. "Because. That is what you do. You like to play and you like to tease...but." He shoved her back a few steps. She stumbled, not expecting him to use such force.

"_Giving _is what you hate the most."

Kei felt her eyes sting. Her mouth worked to come up with a sharp rejoinder to throw in his face. But, she couldn't. _I'm not going to cry- I refuse-I am not_-_dammit_.

Her hands balled into fists. Crossing the length of the room within seconds. She heard the light tap of a single footstep but she slammed the door shut to the small room. Sinking to her knees, she slumped, her back against it. The room was almost entirely devoid of furniture save for a table against the wall holding part of the control system for the speakers.

_She wanted to cry_.

_She wanted to throw things. _

_She was hurt. Terribly so even though burning, hateful anger laced the wound_.

Kei bit her lip, digging her heel into her eye, moisture wetted her skin. _Damn it_.

Her reiatsu would spike if she did. Then, everyone would think something was wrong, not merely that she couldn't handle a few words.

One fat drop. _Damn it!_ She dug both fists into her eyes, trying to stem the flow of liquid. Her vision darkened then became watery rainbow-like spots. _She was crying...crying_. Her hands fell to the floor, pounding them hard against the stone.

The very thing she didn't want to happen.

Her body crumpled in on itself.

Folding up into a tight ball.

The tears still stung, rolling continuously down her face.

She wanted to hurt back.

(*)*)*)

_"You've made me so happy..just by coming tonight."_

No lie. Of course it wasn't.

He stared at the door. Dropping silently against it. From within tiny sounds came. Tiny catches. Like breaths shuddering from a gasping mouth.

Sobbing. That twisted something painful inside.

He lashed out because he couldn't handle his emotions.

The sword shut his eyes tightly.

The sound of a door opening made him open them.

(*)*)*)

She was worried. _That reiatsu_... the plum tree frowned, sensing the quality of it as being distressed. _Was something happening-?_ "I-I'm going in." Tobiume jerked her head to the door behind them. The phoenix princess shrugged, "go ahead. I don't sense any other than Captain Yamamoto's though."

"Why do you call her that? Why not 'her eminence' or 'Keiki'?" Tobiume asked curiously, swiping across the sealant barring the entrance. Houou shrugged again, looking bored. "Hisrio calls her that. Anyway, _Keiki_ isn't really her name now is it?"

Petulantly, the Zanpaku-to wanted to argue it was_. What the Fire element was originally called anyway_. But, held back, entering instead to the large room. Carefully, she closed it behind her, walking a few steps, eyes traveling around. _Where was_...

"-D-Did something happen?"

Tensa Zangetsu leaned against the door directly across. His dark head rose at the sound of her sandals. The unruly locks framed his expressionless face.

"Did something happen?" Tobiume asked a little more demandingly, noting now that there was no one else other than them in the dining hall.

"No." The moon cutter finally said coldly.

The look in his eyes made her take a step back.

Yet she rallied her courage. "Then, where is Keiki? You were supposed to be guarding her-"

"She is.._fine_." For the space of a heartbeat, he hesitated. The black sword across his knees slipped, but he caught it, hand wrapping tautly around the charcoal scabbard.

"I asked _where she is_." Tobiume corrected, small hands fisting indignantly against the sides of her kimono. "Not-"

He interrupted smoothly, another cold look flashing her way. "In there." Indicating over his shoulder. The plum tree made a face, stomping forward, "well you could've said..."

.._crying?_ She had heard plenty of it from her poor little peach after that bastard Taichou's betrayal. Now, it angered her to see the moon cutter sitting so calmly though he obviously knew what had hurt the girl.

"You call that _fine?"_

He tilted his chin up.

Tobiume wanted to pummel him with her fists for that look.

"Bodily she has sustained no damage. There are merely..." he paused deliberately. "Certain truths that she cannot face."

She slapped him. Her hand stung but she was gratified to see the redness blossom on his pale cheek being the exact shape of her little hand. She thought of something Haineko had learned from Rangiku; a saying from the living world. Tobiume decided to put it into use now.

"Grow some balls, why don't you!"

(*)*)*)

The sobbing had ceased a long time before. The clock chimed four in the morning. Tensa felt disinterestedly, the leave-taking of the other Zanpaku-to. But, they didn't come. Perhaps it was because like him- they knew she was asleep.

For a while after that, footsteps echoed outside in the hallway, sometimes pausing before the doors then moving on after a time. He wondered what they had found, yet strangely felt loath to leave his charge even though the danger had passed. After a time of contemplation and noting the lights lessening; he stood, dissolving his static form so that he could grasp the knob and step inside without being encumbered.

The light from the lit dining hall slanted across her body. The white dress was wrinkled, tight in the position she was curled up in. Tensa walked to her side, looking down at her. "Hey, wake up."

No response yet the sliver of her chest he could see, moved in quiet breathing.

"It is late. You must-" he bent over, meaning to shake her shoulder.

"..G-go away." She mumbled.

Tensa froze, his fingers curling in to make a fist.

"..leave..me..alone."

(*)*)*)

_I'll leave you alone_.

He carried her.

_If it'll make you happy_.

The southern wing wasn't far. Not even in the half-lit corridors nor passing the near darkness of the main hall. The room was easy to find, going down the stairs then up a little. He chose to walk rather than Shunpo if only to make it last.

The bed was made inside, the covers smoothed over.

He laid her on top. Glancing about then for another blanket to lay over, he thought of the ones in the next room. The very same ones he had _seen_ be folded and washed the day before. One of those would suffice. Crossing the room in a few strides, he paused in the open doorway, eyes alighting on the woven throws. Then, he saw something else.

Brightly wrapped packages. At least a dozen or more piled high on the tiny chest between the chairs. On the topmost one was a square of white. Rare curiosity made him take it up, sliding a finger under the tab, the seal popped open quite easily. Inside was a card the kind Ichigo's sisters might've liked. Depicting a white cat with black dots for eyes and a red bow between the triangle ears.

The printed message had been scribbled out.

A written note was at the bottom.

_Happy- __last __birthday_, _how old are you...? Like as old as the world-? Hahaha :P_

-_with equal despise, Kaze_.

It was her birthday then. A tradition humans celebrated with gifts and things they liked to do.

Tensa slid the card back inside the envelope, staring down at the items the other two Kouseitan'i had bought her. _Useless human things most likely_. But, they were probably things that would make her _happy_.

Something about the message seemed off. He couldn't think of what it was other than Wind's lack of taste in writing. Not even, laying the throw just so over the sleeping girl nor standing back, closing off all other senses for a moment to simply _feel_ her presence.

No. None of it.

Not until the moment, he stepped back into the howling rain.

.._last_.

The word echoed. Tensa became _Zangetsu_ again.

The drops pelted him. They soaked into his cloak, streams trailed off the ends of his unkempt hair.

The boy's angst was meager compared to the well of despair carving into his insides.

.._last_..

Her last year of existence.

It was almost up.

"Zangetsu."

The sword heard his name called. In the living world it was nearly noon. The passage of time had completely escaped him. Footsteps splashed across the skyscraper. The bright hair stood out in the dreariness of the world.

"Ichigo." He acknowledged.

-TBC...

AN: -.- *sleepy* thanks for reading (ghost readers).

No flames-stupid comments!

Reviews are always treasured


	63. Fit for battle

_And this is how it feels when I  
Ignore the words you spoke to me  
And this is where I lose myself  
When I keep running away from you_

_-Breathe into me, Red_

ShiKai CH.55: Fit for battle

"Ichigo." The Zanpaku-to's voice was deep, gravelly. Ichigo had always felt an innate sense of security, a feeling he might've had for a mentor or his dad, had the man been something vaguely resembling a parent. Now, only irritation arose at hearing the calm, implacableness.

_Nothing's disturbing him obviously_. The teen scowled as was habit, turning the glare of his unhappiness upon the older spirit. "Where were you? I called and called and you didn't answer!"

Hesitation. Zangetsu's steps were silent as he strode by. The irritation intensified. "Why won't you answer now huh?" Ichigo was cold, yet tried not to let his shivering show. _How could the old man stand it? _The sideways sky pelted the world in hard raindrops, wind lashed the buildings, rattling the windowpanes with its sheer force.

"You weren't in need of my assistance." Zangetsu finally said in a manner which sounded as though the matter were closed. But, Ichigo wasn't satisfied, spinning around, he charged after the spirit, jabbing his finger in accusation, "you! You said that if I needed you-"

"You were not engaged in battle."

"Yeah but-!"

"You did not require my blade."

"Wait a minute!" Ichigo snarled, ignoring the pelting droplets to snatch at the old man's front. Zangetsu looked down upon him impassively, eyes narrowed at the suddenness of the outburst. "You said! You said that anytime I needed you, you would be there!"

The dark eyes hidden behind the frames, became mere slits. "I did not mean it thusly, Ichigo." Zangetsu hissed, brushing the boy's hands away. "I am not to be called for trivial matters merely to suit your whims!"

"M-My whims!" Ichigo roared, lunging again for the sword. This was the first time he had ever vented his anger on the Zanpaku-to, yet surprisingly it felt good to throw words back in the aged face, to see the nostrils flare, the mouth thin. "Then, what were you doing with her?"

Senseless though the accusation was, he refused to believe he was wrong. It had to have been the old man! He had seen him!

"..Her?" The slightest of pauses curtailed any other thought. Something flickered across the old man's expression, an emotion unlike his steady surliness. _Surprise?_ Ichigo discerned the vague unease within the form. "_Whom_ do you speak of?" the tone of pure frost did little to temper the burning in the boy's chest. _Zangetsu was lying to his face_.

"Don't play me for a fool! I saw you with her last night!"

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle...

Her eyes creaked, opening them blearily to the cotton pillow.

"Awake finally." The voice came from the side and was familiar in a way that made the Fire wielder shut her eyes again, burying her face in the pillow.

"Go away, Kazeatari."

"Do you have any idea what the time is?" The swift flick of air from a fan. The tapping of the clock on the bedstand, drawing reluctant eyes to glance to it.

"Eleven. So, what?" Kei groaned a little, "I don't want to ever move from this spot." For emphasis, she wiggled further under the blanket, hearing the rustle and strain of the dress. The old-fashioned stays cut into her bosom.

"Hmm, so something did happen last night." Kazeatari conjectured, "you didn't even open what we got you...by the way. When did you go to bed?"

"What do you mean?" she sounded suspicious, one eye peeking out. "Didn't Kagami bring me up here?"

"Of course not. " Kazeatari snorted softly. "Why would I be asking if I knew that?" The obsidian eyes crinkled some in the corners, tossing her head, the dark mocha hair tied in a ponytail swished over the green flower-patterned kimono.

"Y-You mean..?" Kei sat fully up, her expression wavering from horror to embarrassment. _Could it be...Tensa was the one who_-

"We had sensed..something had upset you." The wind wielder shrugged slightly. "But, you didn't come out so we assumed everything was alright."

She turned pink, collapsing back into the bedcovers. "I wish..."

"Huh? What?"

"..wish I could I forget last night."

Kazeatari looked down sympathetically. "That bad?"

She remained silent, unmoving for a time, her eyes staring straight ahead to the solid oak headboard, following the graining of the wood. At length she spoke. Haltingly. Quietly.

"Kazeatari..do you think I'm a bad person?"

The impulse of Wind was to say, _yes. Yes she was a bad person_. But, that wasn't necessarily true. So, she settled for: "A bit pig-headed, a little materialistic and with a tongue like a scorpion's tail...but not bad. Why? Did that sword tell you something?" Surprising though it would be for Kazeatari to believe given how he felt...

Kei was silent for a long time, prompting Kazeatari to shrug. "You know if he did say something to upset you, all you had to do was demand he apologize. In fact...why didn't you? I mean usually if someone does something to you then you get back at them."

"What do you think I could've done then?"

Kazeatari pretended to be thoughtful, "well...since he supposedly loves you-" she meant to sound teasing, but noting the stiffening of the body beneath the covers, hurried on. "-if he thrives on your presence, then maybe- _I never want to see your miserable face again_. That would hurt him pretty-huh? Did you say something, Keiko?"

"No." The Fire elemental said dismissively.

_But, what if I wanted to see his face again-? _

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape..

"..Her?" Ignorance was best to affect yet hardly it was believed. The amber eyes of the boy darkened, his mouth drawing tighter. "Whom do you speak of?" Blissfully ignorant as Ichigo had been, Zangetsu saw no reason to confirm that which was so desperate to be proven.

"Don't play me for a fool! I saw you with her last night!"

_Saw-? Then, he was there..? _ The moon cutter thought of their dance, those few stolen minutes of near bliss. Before the night and everything else had gone so terribly wrong. The old guilt threatened to resurface, but another stronger feeling repelled it back instead. "I've no idea what it is you are speaking of." _What good would the telling of such sentiments accomplish?_

The moon cutter believed it was over. She would never speak to him again for the duration of her existence and he would be helpless to watch her die once more. They truly were worthless sentiments.

"You-" The boy sputtered, rage twisting his scowling features. "-You." The boy seemed incapable of little else. The sword felt little concern, tilting his head back to stare up at the sky.

"-how dare you deny it!" Ichigo's fist sunk in.

No pain. Of course not. Physically the boy lacked enough strength to harm him. But, the damage lay in the act itself. His wielder..._had struck him_.

Zangetsu stepped back. The curled fist remained in the air then slowly the boy's eyes widened on it then flickered to him. Realization set in.

"Z-Zange-" there was pleading in the eyes. Lost a little like a child he had once been, the amber orbs swam with confusion. "-Zangetsu, I didn't-"

"Ichigo." he said sharply. Unstable. "Stop _this_."

"What's that supposed to mean-?" The boy could switch emotions almost as masterfully as _she_ could.

"Leave." Yes, the rain was terribly lonely.

"Leave? What the hell!" The stamping of a foot sent spray to splatter the ends of his cloak. "This is my world you're in!"

"Leave." But, it was tolerable compared to the eating away from the inside reflected in those eyes. _But, why?_

"-You know what! You get out!" Ichigo was shaking uncontrollably.

"Leave. Until you _regain_ your sanity." Zangetsu hissed.

The boy's mouth opened and closed several times. The amber eyes that had shown with such clear determination, darkened, glowing with rage. "Not you too. I AM NOT GOING CRAZY!" At his yell, the storm went into its pitch. Lightning crackled, splicing the darkness with jagged thin lines of electric white light. The wind screeched, whipping his cloak and lashing his face. Zangetsu felt the hard spatters of rain striking his glasses. The droplets were harder, faster now reacting to the violent torment of Ichigo's emotions.

"-I am never going to let you have her." The boy's whisper punctuated the pure fury of the storm.

He was struck a second time.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle...

The hand that pushed back the light blue bedcovers shook. _Of course, I'm nervous_. Toya though no longer as young as in his academy days, frowned before gathering the shorter strands of straight black hair twisting them high then fastening them with an elastic holder. Two longer slats fell over his face on either side nearly reaching his chin.

_It's today, isn't it? _ He wore a plain oatmeal colored shirt that was given to him last Christmas by the Lieutenant. For bottoms he passed up on the matching ones, settling instead for shorts to the knee. His physique was slim, less muscled than the other two entrants. At 5'7 he could nearly look the Kurosaki boy in the eye yet still stood four inches above the Lieutenant's head.

_But yes_...he was nervous. It showed in the hesitancy of his dressing for the day. Dressing more carefully than usual in the dark grey kimono with black under, sliding on the hakama and tying the black sash around his waist. Toya looked around the small blue-painted room, the bed was against one wall while a small closet was across. A tiny three shelf bookcase was beneath the window though the view afforded was half of the adjoining castle wall outside.

He breathed in and the warm spicy scent of cloves and oranges filled his senses. His glance wandered down to the aged photograph in the frame atop the bookshelf. Anyone who'd see it, would assume it was his family. The old couple smiled so happily, one hand each resting on the shoulders of the seated young man.

But, it wasn't _his_ family.

Toya looked for a long time down at the picture, then when he closed his eyes, he could still hear the elderly lady's voice and smell the orange cookies baking.

"Watch me today. I'm not going to run away anymore. I'll face and stand what comes...with everyone else."

No image existed of _her_, the one whom was never far from his guilt.

(*)*)*)

Takara liked mornings.

Maybe it was the light that suffused the sky or the whisper sweet promise of a new day. A day in which who knew what kinds of things could happen. She thought of the night before and giggled a little to herself. _Hyorin-Maru had been such a gentleman~! Worrying about her safety even though he was one of the ones Kagami-san had chosen to draw off of to place temporary barriers around the castle_.

.._even Kazeshini_. It was hard to believe a Zanpaku-to with such a reputation- Houou-hime had told her covertly in between dances; something about the Demon sword's wielder being afraid of him, _could be so nice_. Maybe a little mouthy though.

One of the few she hadn't danced with, because she had seen he only had eyes for Kei-san, was Tensa Zangetsu. It gave the blonde Lieutenant pleasant shudders to remember how intensely the moon cutter had stared into the Fire Elemental's eyes.

_He loved her- he loved a most deserving person_.

Takara liked the sword, she really did. _He was different...he was nice_. She had remembered that black sword from over a hundred years before. _The one that stood by while Sazanami fought a lone battle, he stood back because he was watching over Kei-san_. Such devotion was rare, nearly nonexistent in humans. Kurosaki was merely a human of sixteen years yet he was _devoted to his friends_.

She didn't like Kurosaki then. Something in the way he looked at Kei-san. There was something different than pure devotion than in Tensa Zangetsu's, something else...

The blonde Lieutenant paused in dressing, feeling strangely tired as she gazed toward the window. Sunlight spilled in across the flagstone floor. Her shadow stood tall across the throw rug beside the bed. The brilliance of the day seemed to dim, to fade. Takara was reminded of Kurosaki more. Of the brightness of his hair and the darkness that lurked in his eyes.

He'd had his fair share of knocks just like anyone else. Yet there was something-something the wielder of the Clear Night couldn't put her finger on. Takara finished dressing, tying her sash and sliding Haretosora through it. She ran a few fingers through her hair, combing out the tangles.

She still couldn't put her finger on what it was that seemed so wrong with the boy.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape...

"What a black mood your wielder is in." Kage remarked, peering up from beneath the misty black umbrella.

Zangetsu chose to ignore the mimicker's intrusion into his pained solitude. A thousand different pains ached. Shame battered at his eyelids, hammering at what was left of his sense. The hand folded over the red crystal mirror, unwilling for the other to see it. _Her power still was greater than Ichigo's_. He should've found that comforting.

"What is you want?" _had the spirit come to gloat?_ Zangetsu had a little semblance of dignity left. _His wielder had struck him. _Blood stained the ragged white collar. He should be ..._what?_ _Full of anger? Hurt because his wielder had betrayed their trust?_ But, Zangetsu was loyal to a fault.

Ichigo had asked a simple question and he hadn't answered with the truth.

"You know..." Kage made a wide circle around him. "I haven't a clue now as to what it is..._you want_."

"It isn't your place to know." _That_, he couldn't ignore. What did he _want? _ Her hand was preferable a thousand times over to the boy's.

"It's like.." a shadowy hand gestured, "I don't understand _you_. You practically have the girl in your arms and what do you do?" The mimicker made a noise of frustration. "What more is it you want, Tensa- pardon. _Zangetsu_ ? Why can't you for once- shut the hell up about weaknesses and just give in?"

His gaze tilted down. Droplets ran down the strong, straight nose. They rolled-nuisances they were from the corners of his eyes turning into pinkish trickles that clung to the faint hair on his face. _Weak? Everything faded away. . . when he looked at her. _"There is..nothing more I want." He was a solitary creature, craving that silence in the midst of the storm. Long loneliness had made him that way.

"Oh, please! I can feel from here just how much you want to be with her- don't you dare deny it either!" The mimicker repeated seriously, shaking the umbrella canopy. "Or I'll go over there and hit you with my combi-stick!"

"Then, I would use Getsuga-Tenshou to get you out."

Kage grinned, white teeth flashing in two perfect rows in the darkness. "You were serious, weren't you?"

Zangetsu didn't feel like answering. _If one did, then the mimicker would never stop talking_.

"-Anyway!" The click of boot heels trekked closer. "I'm sure you're wondering why I paid such a visit to your -er, humble world. Not of course for purely social matters. Mind you, I have a reason- a tiny exchange you might call it-"

"I have no interest in anything you could offer." Flatly. Averting his face. The rain still fell, but not as desperately. He was cold, but not as cold. As if a tiny flame staved off the chill.

Kage rocked on the balls of his feet. "Not even...if it was something about our dear-Kouseitan'i?"

The moon cutter remained expressionless. Affecting disinterest was vital. "What is your purpose for remaining here?" his tone was harsh.

The mimicker was unaffected by it. "Show me your ban-kai state. Pretty pwease?"

"What is the point?" Zangetsu questioned, gazing solemnly up at the sky, searching for a break in the clouds that would herald the rain over.

"Come on!" Kage wheedled, sounding like a child begging for a treat. "Show it to me again and I'll tell you something about our dear Kouseitan'i! Something that I know would interest you greatly!"

He did so, so the other would leave. Not because there was curiosity held. Within seconds, he was shaking dark, damp locks from the hood, standing still taller than the other spirit. The mimicker nodded briskly, finger poised beneath chin in a most human-like way of a _thinking_ pose.

"Could you..bring out blade-form Tensa Zangetsu?"

Tensa flicked his hand out, the long black katana formed from the atmosphere.

Kage grinned again, "thanks." Fingers shaped from mist, snaked out toward the tang. Tensa slanted it away, "your end-?"

The mimicker feigned chagrin, "man! You drive a hard bargain- just kidding." Rubbing palms that lacked solid form together, the shadow leaned conspiratorially toward him. "..about our dearest-Kouseitan'i..."

Breath rustled the shorter strands framing the sides of his face. Kage was close. Too close. Tensa tried to step away but felt a hand grasp his forearm.

"Wait." The head tilted just the slightest indicating the sky. "Who knows _what_ could be listening."

This notion made not the slightest sense to the black moon cutter yet once again he held still as Kage leaned near.

".._she_ loves you."

He tried to twist away. _That couldn't be true. Not after-_ the tiniest spark of hope flared in the coldness of his chest cavity. He hated how much he wanted to believe it. "You're lying-"

"No! - she loves you..she just doesn't realize it yet. But, Tensa.." the hand gripping his forearm, became tighter. The outline of fingers trembling with some vague fear that seemed hard to comprehend. _What was it...he was so frightened of-?_ Tensa hadn't an answer to that.

"..keep her away .." Kage strained, nearly brushing his mouth across the lush dark hair; his voice ended on a thin whisper. "From Kurosaki."

Tensa stiffened at the name of his wielder.

"..don't let _that thing_ get his hands on her."

(*)*)*)*Unknown* region in sub-consciousness...

The six circles looked duller. Less vibrant than they had before.

"Tell me who are you?" The edge dripped malevolence. Promising violence if the truth wasn't given. Ichigo couldn't figure out what felt worse. Bitterness. Anger. Hate. Such pain was like a driving wound to his soul. "Just how the hell do you know these things?"

The reflection- yes. The reflection wore the same. Pants in semi-camouflage print, black shirt beneath a white hoodie. "Because-"

"'Cause you're me?" he finished rudely.

The expression rippled, but nothing really changed. "Ichigo, you are not thinking clearly-"

"Like hell I am! I-" _what I saw didn't exist. So, what does that make me? Certifiably insane? _ The teen wouldn't give into what Kagami was so ready to believe. _I am not losing my mind! _

"I am you and I can feel your confusion." The dusted gold motes seemed more pronounced now. Glittering softly within the dark amber. "Your pain."

"_I_ almost killed her!" yes, he could see now what could've been. The shards piercing her chest- her heart. All the pain in the world wouldn't have amounted to what losing her would've felt like. Yes, he could take another man's filthy hands on her, hate it. Hate everything. But, to lose her to permanent death...that he could not face. Because then he would be a failure in protecting her.

"Ever so selfless."

Ichigo's head snapped up at the cool, well-modulated mockery. "Yeah, so what?" A cocky smirk played on his lips. "I'd be satisfied even if she wasn't mine." _As long as she was alive_.

"Such a lie when I can see your heart as though it were an open tome before me." Indolence curled like honey through his eardrums, wrapping in sinuous coils around the beating organ in his chest.

"T-That's not true." Ichigo knew his own heart and his desire to protect. "I-I could.." the words thickened on his tongue. _Say them. Just say it, idiot!_ "Give her up." Even as he said it, so proudly, so determined to prove the nobleness of his intentions; the reflection smiled. Just a shadowed half-curve of the fuller mouth.

"You greed. You lust. You cannot bear the thought of her belonging to another."

"I can too!" Like a spoiled child. Ichigo couldn't let the other win.

"..fine. On the second day from now, you will not think of her as yours. You will not treat her like anything other a friend."

That should be easy enough. "Fine!" Ichigo snapped_. It wasn't like Kei was around or anything_. He could just go to school and act normal. Be around Tatsuki and Chad. Tatsuki didn't know _her_, so it wasn't even like she could come up in the conversation.

He would win this and prove he was selfless enough to let her go.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle..

_Those things_.. _those feelings_. Kei wished a thousand times over she had never been so foolish as to feel and say them. Not to admit- but to keep them close, hidden beneath the layers of the spiritual body.

-_I'm not happy you're here_- is what she should've said. -_Why did you come when you weren't welcome_- Petty thoughts. Unkind things to say when it was the opposite. But, look at where the truth- or the very nearness of it, got her.

_"Giving is what you hate the most." _

He had said it so coldly, so callously as if she hadn't ever loved anything.

_But, that wasn't true!_ Her hand swiped at the towel hanging on the rack, fingers passing through the air where she thought it was. The reflection of her face in the mirror above the sink, paled. The color draining from her cheeks as she stared at her still outstretched hand_. I couldn't...tell how far it was-? _

Confused, she flexed her fingers, seeing how they hovered several inches above the pink face- towel. What is this..? Kei swallowed a little, biting her lip nervously. Turning around, she walked the few steps to the sunken tub, stepping down, her bare feet meeting the cool, polished stone. Her eyes were focused ahead, on the metallic fixtures. The hand she had dropped, lifted again, her thumb and forefinger curling to make an open O.

She could see it. The four-pronged knob on the right side. The side to turn for HOT. Nearly..almost there. It seemed closer then farther the longer she stared at it. To be rid of confusion, she shut her _healed_ eyes, reaching out for it.

_It's there. I know I saw it there_.

Her hand closed on air

Kei took a few breaths in, filling her lungs and suddenly dry mouth. Her throat felt tight as though she wanted to cry again. _I can't..judge distance anymore. _Her nails dug into her palm, trembling though every instinct raged against the realization seeping into her body.

_I..am useless as a warrior_.

Her shoulders heaved, a great sob from deep within welling up.

_...no. No. I won't accept this!_

She twisted around, hurtling a burst of reiatsu against the surface of the mirror. Jagged shards sprinkled the sink and floor. Uncaring of the many pieces reflecting the light overhead, she walked through them, stooping to pick up the largest shard.

Briefly the narrow elliptical slice showed her eye, the reddish flame color orb opening wide. Kei supported her other hand, lifting the shard, poising it to hover inches above it. Her lid closed briefly, the pupil contracting as it sensed imminent destruction.

She knew it was going to hurt.

The choked scream bounced off the walls.

Lesser though. Much less than what SoiFong's hate-filled slash had.

Blood poured from the cover of her fingers, the mirror shard clattered to the floor. Kei fumbled, pressing both palms to her face. _Heal...come on. Heal!_ The franticness of her thoughts made her lose concentration, the pain dulling her reiatsu. For minutes at a time only her labored breaths could be heard. Then, little by little, the gash sealed.

The blinding pain faded to a fine thread. She inhaled deeply, removing her hands from her face. Drawing two fingers outward, the glass pieces reformed into the frame on the wall. Kei stared back at herself reflected, red droplets spattered the white camisole, flecking her cheeks, clinging to the lid that retracted slowly.

The crimson orb looked the same. _Now to see if there's any_.. Experimentally she reached out for the towel...

No change.

(*)*)*)

"Hello, oh, Yuzu-chan. This is Yamamoto Keiko, is your brother nearby by any chance?" She decided to try again. Her eye was decently bandaged, triaged by herself as she was damned to let any of the others know what she had done. She could sense Kazeatari waiting downstairs. _So, many things_...

"Ichi-nii, wai-" Yuzu's sweet, high-pitched girly voice rose on the other end. Distantly the sound of a door slamming came through. "-I'm sorry, Kei-san." Yuzu came on within seconds. "Ichi-nii just left. He's been...preoccupied lately..I-I'm starting to worry about him." There was a catch like the tiniest sob in the girl's voice.

Kei shifted on the edge of her bed, tilting the phone closer to her mouth, eyes glancing to the screen of the laptop. With a few clicks, she had closed the Search page giving the Kurosaki clinic's phone number. "Why? What's wrong?" she hadn't really thought anything would be going on with Ichigo other than going on with a semi-normal life. _Their separation couldn't be affecting him so much_...

"Well..it's kind of hard to explain. I mean it's not like he's sick or anything- it's just that..he hardly eats his meals with us anymore."

_Was that it-?_ Kei felt a twinge of disappointment. To her it simply sounded as though he needed space. Space his family wasn't giving him. "I'm sure Ichigo's fine. He probably just-"

"..yeah, Karin says the same thing. 'Ichi-nii is fine' 'Leave him alone, you're wasting your concern.' But, I'm not! I'm not!" Yuzu's voice rose. "I know something's wrong with Ichi-nii! He acts different- he talks different and oh, Kei-san! If only you knew..!"

Kei wanted to say something then, but she was interrupted.

"-I think he misses you a lot." Yuzu said it softly. Quietly so that Kei heard breathing in her ear. "Listen, there's a conference out of town in a few days..dad wants Karin and me to go with him."

Kei turned around, glancing at the clock face. 1:05 PM. She wondered what the girl was getting at? _So, what if Isshin Kurosaki wanted to go on a business trip and take the girls with him?_

"..I..I was thinking maybe you could come down- I mean I know you live far away. B-But, I thought it'd be nice..I think it would make Ichi-nii very happy."

_Far away? That was one way of putting it. Who knew what Ichigo had told them_. _Try another world altogether_. "That..would be great." Kei feigned enthusiasm, making a face to her room. She had far too many tasks left to even consider bailing for a day or so. Not to mention there were some whom wouldn't care for the idea of her being alone with him. Particularly her Lieutenant. Then another thought occurred to her. _Tensa. _For a reason she couldn't fathom, Kei felt some reluctance when before there had been none. _In letting the sword see them together. _

"Great!" Yuzu supplied the enthusiasm she couldn't feel. "Let's see...today's Sunday, so..I'm pretty sure dad said it was in two days. That would make it Tuesday- oh! I'm so glad you're going to come! I'm sure Ichi-nii will be really happy!"

"..Yes. I'm..looking forward to it." She said, but she wasn't. Not truly.

(*)*)*)Living world...

"Inoue..."

The normally cheerful girl was staring off into the distance.

"Y-Yes, Ishida-kun?" her voice was unusually loud, her eyes darting around nervously the way a startled child's might. The Quincy made the effort to smile. "I thought maybe we could go-"

"-We haven't seen Kurosaki-kun in a while, ne?"

_Must it always be Kurosaki? _"N-No. We haven't seen.._him_ much." Uryu preferred it to stay that way. Inoue pouted, scuffing her worn boots against a crack in the sidewalk, sighing a little to herself. "I suppose he's busy with Kei-san." Large grey eyes rolled to the sky, "...she's so lucky to have him all to herself."

Uryu was silent for a time, watching the girl's back turn to him. Her bag of groceries clenched tautly by the handles. _What could he say?_

"See you later, Inoue." _It was nice to hope_.

She didn't return it. Just walked off in a sort of daze, a daze in which Uryu was sure she was dreaming of Kurosaki being her prince and not the bespectacled boy she had just greeted at a street corner.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle...

One more desk. The time was 1:30. Takara checked it on her Sat-com. Eyes lifting to the doorway. Though the thread of unease still unnerved her consciousness about Kurosaki, she did her best to look attentive. Directing with a wave of her hand, two officers carrying the oval desk in dark cherry. The surface gleamed liquidly, reflecting the overhead light. Takara envisioned for a second, the surface littered with papers, an inkstand beside a laptop and the hand of the new Captain writing a report down.

_Hasumi_...she tried to smile at Osore's shy greeting. Her gaze rose from the settling of the Captains' desk against the wall, an office chair in burgundy padding was wheeled across by Toya. The tall third seat straightened when he saw her. Their eyes met.

_We all have to move forward_.

Third Division would have a new Captain by the end of the day.

(*)*)*)

3:40 PM. Kei cast a glance to the sky, glimpsing a rosy tinge haloed by golden orange. _Soon_.

"-Byakko said that whomever it was, he could smell but not see nor hear." Kazeatari's voice broke through her reverie. Kei reluctantly refocused her attention, looking back over her shoulder, "so, did he recognize the scent? Was it a Hollow?"

"Mm..no. He said he didn't quite know who it was, though he did know they were human at least. Or vaguely the approximation of such." Kazeatari leaned against the opposite wall, playing with her Mini-ten. The clicking of keys came and soon she had let out a low whistle.

"What?" Kei turned fully around, her arms folded beneath her breast. The edge of the black haori floated with her motion. "What is it?"

Kazeatari shook her head a little, smiling faintly. "Just something those idiots did. You were correct in assuming the Research and Development Division of Seireitei would attempt to mimic us- being as technologically advanced as we are."

"Just cut to it."

"We-ll. It says here, that in order to properly be in harmony with our allies, quote' we must array ourselves in all that the age of progress has to offer'."

Kei made a face, "who said that?"

"Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto in a September 2nd interview." Kazeatari kept a very straight expression. "Your uncle-dearest."

"Shut it, Atari." They stared at one another. "..Can you imagine Shigekuni with an IPod?" Kei mimicked ear buds. Kazeatari giggled, "or Kyoraku with a Blackberry?"

"A Sat-com and that freak Mayuri!"

"A DVR and TV! Or better yet...Shigekuni playing Wii-fit! Hahahaha!"

They laughed together; Kei nearly bent double, her arms clasped around her middle. Kazeatari finally straightened, wiping modest tears from her eyes. "Anyway..that was from the Seireitei bulletin online."

"So, they're online now. Huh.."

"Were. Actually. Here on the bottom it says that editor Hisagi-san ran into some technical difficulties- more or less I think their systems were on the verge of crashing."

"That explains why our trip was cancelled this morning." Kei muttered, alluding to what Kagami had said after speaking to some on the other end. "Anyway...what's the editor's full name?"

Kazeatari squinted, frowning some, "I think Hisagi Shuhei. Why? Is it familiar?"

Kei looked thoughtful, "I believe that Shinigami might be Kazeshini's current wielder. I didn't get to talk to Kazeshini myself, but I think that's what the rumor mill says. His Shinigami doesn't use him and stuff like that."

"Well, that's ridiculous. If you choose that Zanpaku-to before you're born then it's yours until the spiritual cord to this existence is severed." Kazeatari said with a note of indignant anger in her tone. It was painful for her to think that some of hers might be treated the same way by their respective Shinigami.

"True." Kei nodded slightly, glancing once more to the window. "Yet there are some who don't think of such a sacred bond that way. I suppose maybe this Hisagi just doesn't _understand_ Kazeshini, since he is a dark Zanpaku-to. Younger though then most of them."

Kazeatari recalled then from the night before, Haretosora's question and distress over something that had happened in the past. "Hey, I was curious about something..do you remember all the Zanpaku-to you wielded before?"

"No." she answered immediately then frowned. "I- " her gaze wandered restlessly about. "I..we'd better go get everything prepared." she said it to cover up. When she thought of the Zanpaku-to she had wielded...her mind turned to _him_. Rewinding over and over again, what he had said.

_I know how to give_, Kei thought.

The look in her eye hardened. _I know how to love someone_.

(*)*)*)

7:45 PM. They made their way down the expanse of the lawn. Kazeatari remarking once on a spot further down around the trees that bore the scar of Byakko's Reppu-Geki. Kei commented nothing, her mind on other things. In her arms, the Captain of Fourth carried a length of black material. Emblazoned in silver thread by her own hand, was the sun and stars.

Behind Second Division, standing outside the stone circle waited Takara and Toya. Standing apart yet not uncomfortable in each other's presences. Takara felt the two Elementals approach in the subtle shift of the atmosphere. She briefly squeezed the hilt of the sword, shutting her eyes. _This could be the last time they were Lieutenant and Third seat_.

"Nervous?" Toya asked quietly. His voice carried across the space between them.

She thought about it for a moment then said, "no. Whatever will happen, will happen. Doing your very best is what matters- not failure if you don't succeed."

"Well spoken." Kei said, walking up. The Elemental clapped her hands three times. "Now, take your positions." Kazeatari had taken up a spot near one of the close trees.

Takara went around the large stone circle, mounting the five small steps cut into the rock. once reaching the top, she stopped thirteen inches from the edge, facing her third seat with a determined, steady silence. _She would do her best to defeat him...she and Haretosora~!_

"Okay. Both of you are Juppongatana officers of the Third Division and as such know the four most basic laws of our world." Kei went around, alternately placing incantation-less Kido wards at each of the four points. "One, if the challenger should defeat the incumbent officer of Lieutenant rank, they must do so with at least two of the Five officers of Captains class present. Myself and Kazeatari fulfill that requirement. Second, if the challenger should by any means cause death to befall the incumbent officer, then the challenger shall be put to death themselves by the two Captains who preside over the trial."

Toya paled some but quickly recovered, tapping the guard at his waist for reassurance.

"Thirdly, because Amakusa's Zanpaku-to mimics other Zanpaku-to. There shall only be three different forms he may choose; for Shimizu Takara, she may use up to three different attacks to defeat Amakusa." Kei said perfunctorily, setting the last barrier in place.

Takara found herself nodding, "that's..only fair."

"Lastly. If the current challenger should fail to win the vacant Captain's seat, Third Division shall remain without a leader until further entrants come forth."

"Huh? What about-"

"I believe Osore has accepted the position as the Captain of the new Sixth Division; Kagami went to speak with him earlier. But, he has yet to take the minor test and the other..Erimyasho, we don't whether he has accepted the Lieutenants' seat."

Takara grimaced, "confidentially, I'm glad. I'm not fond of that man and would've abhorred it had he won against me."

Kei went to join Kazeatari across the way. "Hmm..yes. Something about his presence lacks respect. But- ah. That is of little consequence now. In three seconds.."

Takara wrapped her hand about the hilt.

Toya did the same.

"Three...two...one." The Fire Elemental brought two fingers up to her lips, whistling a sharp, high keening note. "Begin!"

(*)*)*)

"Mai, Sode no Shirayuki!" Kage's voice joined his, from within their mindscape.

(*)*)*)

"What is he doing..?" Kazeatari watched as the third seat rotated his plain katana in a clockwise motion, holding the tang upside down. Kei smiled as the pillared dome over the circle, vibrated, freezing from the ground up.

"That's an ice Zanpaku-to. I'm not surprised he would go for one with ability first. In terms of Zanjutsu, he is the stronger yet only if he has the freedom to constantly change blades." _Switch fighting styles so that the opponent can't read his next move_. Kei bit her lip, her eyes following his graceful zigzag path.

The clash of a white tang and flutter of a white ribbon unfurling in the gust of air from their movement. Takara blocked it with Haretosora's crossed tang and sheath. Light spilled from the three stars, pouring along the white sword's blade. Curls of wispy mist arose as frost began solidifying the radiance.

"If he was going to choose an ice sword, why not just imitate Shirahime?" Kazeatari interjected, fluttering her fan out of habit.

"Because," Kei began patiently, "Shirahime would have a severe disadvantage against Haretosora. The Clear Night cuts away all darkness, physical and non-material such as negative emotions. Shirahime represents Hell's winter, the merciless, biting cruelty of a frost-bound heart. Her blade is made of adamantine, the hardest substance known in the physical realm. If he mimicked Getsu-ten..." her arms slid apart, her hands fisting slackly.

Haretosora flashed. The Lieutenant was charging in, assuming the offense. The white sword shattered beneath the light wave. Toya was quick to respond, bringing the smoky remnants of the shattered Zanpaku-to back, words they couldn't hear being said.

_That looked like_... her eyes widened, in startlement she cried. "He's going to use Tensa?"

(*)*)*)

The misty remains reformed into a long black tang. Its length was greater than the Sleeve of White Snow; Toya briefly glanced at it as his arm pulled back. Instinctively he knew the command. "Getsuga..Tenshou!" A great rippling wave of white flew forward in a crescent shape.

Takara, running forward, brought her sword up in a slashing motion. "Seijaku-"

The two energies collided, whiting out everything.

(*)*)*)

"Kazeatari..." Kei looked to the dome expanding and exploding with light bursts inside. Her lips trembled, her hand slowly falling to the crescent moon guard stuck through her sash. "Be..ready."

The wind wielder glanced as well, her fingers tightening minutely around the base of the fan. "Do you think-?"

"I can't sense anything." she admitted. "Nothing within the sphere. It's like it's a dead zone inside."

Kazeatari exhaled quietly, "..You take the legs, I'll take the head."

Kei unsheathed Getsu-ten in one fluid motion, agreeing. "Yes. Cleanly."

Their steps were silent.

The shadow of Getsu-ten and Kazekiri's blades crossed, a dull ringing sounded from them meeting. Kei pulled away first, balancing the silver sword sideways, slashing the air elegantly, "Tsuki-!"

The energy inside the dome evaporated. Takara still stood, bracing her Zanpaku-to against the fading remnants of the white Getsuga-Tenshou. "Thank God." Kei murmured, lowering Getsu-ten. Kazetari hesitated, looking to her briefly, "it's not over yet."

Toya breathed hard, his hand shaking around the black and red hilt. The moon cutter reformed into the final weapon. He stumbled some, spacing his legs apart for the Jikishinkage style. In his hands was a long tubular cane. _The combi-stick_.

Takara wiped sweat from her brow, changing her stance to one of common Shinigami Zanjutsu.

For seconds neither moved.

Then, suddenly in a burst of Shunpo, they ran at each other, weapons held high.

(*)*)*)

...It was a flash...but Toya could see that place. That field and the roar of the Hollow.

_"Get back, Toya!" The woman yells. I don't need your help. But it's unspoken. _

Pain and blood. It was his fault. But, it's not a lack of strength.

Light washed over his face from the Getsuga-Tenshou and Seijaku.

The light was like daylight and then blackness.

Hado 90. Without incantation. Hirako looks scared when what was meant to utterly destroy him takes the life of another instead.

_"It's not your..fa..ult." Blood stains the fragile paper thin skin. The cracked smile wreathes the wrinkled face. The scent of burnt orange and clove wash over him. Then, he screams as he's forgiven_.

**Forgiven. **

It was such a lovely word. A word that could free all the pain. But, Toya wanted to keep it there. He needed something to live for. "Watch over me." he repeated.

**I'm going to stop running**.

Takara cuts through the moon fang. Haretosora cleaved through it because of the sorrow weighing his hand.

They breathed hard.

Then, Kage reforms into the weapon he appeared as in the beginning. His favorite form of a telescoping spear. "Watch...over me."

Toya repeated it because he wanted to believe the old couple smiled down on him.

One motion.

Takara slides into a common Zanjutsu position.

Four little words meaningless because the one they are addressed to is long deceased.

"This..is..for.._you._" Toya shut his eyes and charged forward.

He said it because he believed she was there too.

_Always watching...pushing him to go forward._

The sword flew from Takara's hands.

-TBC..

AN: -.- *sleepy* apologies for tiny mistakes. *will proofread tomorrow*

Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated and loved ^-^


	64. Innocence and Instinct

_And he fights, so you won't ignore him because that's his biggest fear  
And he cries, but you'll rarely see him do it, and he loves, but he's scared to use it..._

_-This is the call, Thousand foot Krutch_

* * *

ShiKai CH.56: Innocence and Instinct

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

"...Place the guard against your heart and repeat after me." Kei stood before the hand-drawn map of Assiah. The golden paper bore lines and names of the ancient places.

"I.."

"I.."

Takara stood in line beside Kazeatari, the black surcoat in her arms. The cut was long, meant to reach the backs of the knees. It was sleeveless like Fourth's, but had cutouts of the sun along the hem.

"..In this place I stand with this sword.." Kei withdrew Getsu-ten swiftly, meaning for him to mimic her motion. Toya flicked Kage out.

" In this place I stand with this sword," he said.

Crossing their blades, she finished. "I will protect all that I see."

He echoed it back. Solemnly. With belief. Kei let out a breath she wasn't aware of holding. He's moving forward. _In confidence and trust for the coming day_. She smiled, sheathing Getsu-ten. "Tomorrow, you'll stand with me as a judge for Sixth Division."

"O-Oh! Okay, ma'am-" Toya fumbled to slide his sword back into its scabbard, then take the black surcoat from Takara.

"Not _ma'am_." Kei corrected. "You must call us-" she glanced to Kazeatari and Kagami a latecomer hovering near the door with Kanzaki by the shoulder. "-by name."

"With all due respect.." he seemed to pause as if hearing something only he could hear. The tiniest pucker drew a line across his brow. "..Um. You learned from the Zanpaku-to right?"

Surprised at the change in subject, she hesitated a few seconds before answering. "Yes. Yes, I did. Why?"

Toya paused again, this time his gaze flickering to a spot near the door across from Kagami. The water wielder glanced to- in fact kept glancing as if seeing something. She of course _couldn't_.

"-Kage told me something about it the other day." he began a little more confidently. Less halting. "..With the upcoming war you should learn all you can from them. I did too." he grinned, tapping the hilt at his waist before the haori covered it.

"Oh, well, I have from most of them." she said, shrugging. "I think there's just like two or three that I haven't had much contact with."

"Didn't you say that you were having what's-his-face teach you or something-?" Kagami missed entirely Kazeatari's look of warning.

Immediately she stiffened, her mouth hardening. "I was. But, that was before-"

"C-Captain, you n-need to go back to Tensa-! I-I mean yeah. You really should go back and uh- have um Tensa teach you." Toya's eyes were rather large, she noted. With some fright in them as he glanced back to the same place by the door. "Hi-His skills are really invaluable especially-"

"Toya...how did you know it _was_ _Tensa_ that I had asked?" Kei questioned, watching as his face turned many shades of pale-pink-then red. Flush crept up his neck, settling in beside the dimple playing in and out near his mouth.

"Uh- um! I have to go now!"

"What was that about?" Kei looked after him confused.

Kagami blinked, shaking his head faintly. "I suspect it's something in part from his Zanpaku-to."

"What?" she turned to him, her brows drawing together.

"Nothing." the water wielder dismissed wisely, knowing things had to run their natural course.

(*)*)*)

"..he must realize.." Kage muttered to himself, melting into a puddle of shadow near the open door of the throne room. The evening sky was visible through the great window. Toya stood before the map of the fourth world, the static form of his Zanpaku-to pressed against his chest.

"...repeat after me." The girl flanked the side, light hair tumbling in waves to her shoulders. The mimicker disregarded the rest of the words, focusing solely on her. He supposed she..was pretty. _Certainly not in the way Tensa nor his wielder saw her as_. Kage snorted softly. _But, love was blind, wasn't it?_

That was what made the emotion so unfathomable. _So, interesting_, the shadow couldn't suppress his wide grin. Lacking the ability of the true-sight, the ability no one save for the Water Elemental possessed; his deductions weren't entirely perfect. Not that Tensa needed to know that.

It was Getsu-ten after she had held it, that lead him to make that conclusion. From Haretosora whom cut away certain emotions, Kage himself had gained an awareness as to the flavor of emotional sensibilities. _Sadness and longing_.

Even without touching the blade at her waist, he could feel it. Stronger. Her face betrayed nothing of what she felt inside. _Loneliness. _The mimicker reached for Toya's consciousness, probing lightly carefully so as not to startle him.

He had an idea.

_'..Toya..'_

_Kage?_ A few feet away, the dark head perked up.

_'Before you start on anything- I have a favor I want you to do. Tell Captain Yamamoto...'_

(*)*)*)

New skills. At the corners of her mind, some suspicion resided. Why had Toya suddenly mentioned the Zanpaku-to?

_"-You learned from the Zanpaku-to, right? Kage told me something about it the other day..With the upcoming war you should learn all you can from.."_

The subtle suggestion was there. _**Go back, ask him to continue teaching her**_. Kei could've lived without learning the redoubtable abilities Tensa Zangetsu could've shown her. It wasn't that she questioned them, frowning to herself at the previous thought. It was merely the idea that she would be in his presence. _Alone_. Now why did that make her feel the strangest way?

It wasn't like they hadn't been alone before. _Gods..she was acting like a teenager on her first date. Not a date- the thing with Ichigo was more or less a date-er/ sleepover something_. It was a scary thought, Kei told herself. That she was thinking of sparring with a sword and likening her reactions to it as a date.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

.._That thing-?_ The peculiarity of the mimicker's statement left Tensa in doubt as to whom was meant. _Ichigo was a human._ The black moon cutter paced in a region of the vast skyscraper filled world, where he was likely not to be discovered. He didn't think it was the Hollow as Kage had never come across that particularly dark part of the boy. _Yet whom else could've been meant? __And ..how was he to protect her against his wielder? _The impossibility stretched before him as vast as the worlds between them.

_"..she loves you." _

Could that be believed? He tried to stem off the fluttering sensation, the organ in his chest beating with renewed vigor. .._she loves me_. The downward cast to his mouth threatened to turn, his lips longing to twitch into a rare smile.

He could forget that pain. The one of his bruised body, wounded pride.

If..she loved him. The sword tilted his face up to the sky. _To hear her say those words...that would be the happiest moment in his entire existence. To love and be loved...in return_.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

She felt Kazeatari's gaze on her during dinner. The sly, knowing look from the wind wielder irritated her beyond measure. _So what if she was going to go and try and talk him back into letting her learn from him-?_ The Fire wielder scowled down at the bowl of Cucumber soup set before her. Crusty bread lay piled high in baskets running up the center of the table. Toya and Kagami's cheerful talk floated over her seeming to be a million miles away for all she heard of it.

_She had every right to demand it...so why the hell keep looking? _

The scrape of the bowl drew everyone's attention. "I'm done." Kei muttered, setting aside the napkin spread across her lap. Kanzaki halfway rose, looking at the contents of her bowl.

"Keiko! You've hardly eaten-!"

"I..am _not_ hungry." her glare made talk at the table completely cease. Kazeatari looked down and concentrated on eating; Kanzaki the receiver had frozen between saying something and feeling the effects.

"Leave me alone." Kei wanted to be by herself. Not with everyone watching, feeling like she was under a microscope- a feeling she despised. Very carefully, she stepped out around her chair, pushing it back in place. Then, she simply walked away. It was harder to have the stares directed at her back, but she took it, resisting the urge to use Shin-Soku.

Once she had reached the hallway, she closed the door to the murmur of voices behind. She despised them too. Them and their assumptions. Why did they always have to act like she was doing something wrong? She began walking again, briskly striding up the corridor.

_It wasn't like she had asked to be loved or anything! _Kei huffed to herself, folding her swinging arms, frowning as she entered the southern wing. _Even then, he had never said he loved her_...

Kagami said _he_ did.

Her lips pursed, her hand pushing open the door to a room several down from her bedroom. The chaise was against one wall while a fireplace remained cold against the other. It was one of her most favorite rooms in the entire wing. The color was a light yellow, the mantel a brick exterior put in place some years ago. A few shelves framed the fireplace.

_But in not so plain of words_. Kei thought of their dance then, wistfully imagining for a moment, the encirclement of his arms, the glow and whisper of the dresses gliding across the floor. Her arms fell around herself, clasping a shaking hold to her torso. _She had meant everything she had said, why couldn't he understand that?_

Kei sunk down onto the chaise, burying her face in her hands. _Why was she even thinking about it? _Obsessing over something so small, so trivial at such a time! In two days she was expected to travel to the living world just so she could surprise Ichigo. She couldn't be having thoughts about his sword.

Tensa made her feel so strange though sometimes.

She suddenly jumped up, running over to the bookshelves, she passed over the spines, at random choosing a particularly thick dark blue tome then went and flopped back full length on the lounger. Cracking the spine open to find it was a book of fairytales. Her eyes skimmed the pages, not taking in any of the deeds of the prince to win the princess's heart.

The stories were those she disliked. Of love at first sight. Inane worthless girls who found true love that didn't exist and lived on to have a happy ending. _What constituted a happy ending anymore?_ she let the book close, laying her hands atop it. _Could she...was it possible to change fate simply by one's will?_ _If she had something...__someone__ to live for.._

_-was it enough to save her from that doom?_

(*)*)*)

The wrapping paper lay in crumpled balls, scattered, torn apart to reveal the objects hidden inside. Kei sat in the midst of the wreckage. _Every year_...the good eye of deep, dark violet lifted, her hand unconsciously curling around the edge of the woven throw in pleasant pastel colors. It was the one she had been covered with. Bringing it up closer to her body, she shivered with a chill contrary to the season.

_I'm cold_. The knowledge of the coldness in her arms and legs encased in the black pajamas, didn't bother her as much as it had in previous ages. Her arms didn't fold tighter against the black nightshirt, her lips didn't tremble and tears didn't form in the damaged eye. The various objects lacked meaning- the tablet to learn calligraphy, a jibe at her _chicken-scratch_. The touch-screen Nano in glossy white edged with black. Atop a purple velvet jewelry case, a collar of tiny flowers in sterling and diamond. A pair of sunglasses with light brown lenses in wide aviator style. Now _why_ would Kazeatari buy her that? _They looked almost exactly like Zangetsu's_.

She shook her head, staring at everything with tearless eyes.

_Useless things_.

She rose, letting the blanket fall to her feet.

_Useless little bits of a life when she was gone_.

She was ready to face him now.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

He was gazing out over the expanse of leaning skyscrapers, staring unblinkingly ahead when she came. He'd have known that feeling- the very essence of what Fire was, heat. Light stealing into the darkened night of the soul. Ichigo slumbered yet Tensa didn't.

Zanpaku-to didn't need sleep.

But, then neither did she. Not truly.

Halting, cautious. She approached. He'd have liked to have said- _admitted that she looked nice every time_. Not just _then_. But, his mouth wouldn't move to form them. It would seem wrong. False even to say them after what he had said before. _Better to keep it close_.

"Toya said I should learn all I can from you." He turned at her voice. She stood farther than he liked, as if she was prepared to run. _Escape_. He didn't like to think it was because she was afraid.

"Will you teach me again? I..I won't come onto you anymore, or do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. I-I'm sorry for before." she sounded desperate for him to believe it. His eyes followed the tilt of her chin, the longer strands of hair whipping her cheeks. "I was stupid then." she couldn't look at him when she said it.

_Why are you sorry? _Tensa wanted to ask, his mouth compressing tighter. _Shouldn't it be the other way around?_ But, again, he couldn't. ".._why_ did you do it then?" His expression was carefully impassive, emotionless of how much he wanted to hear the answer.

"I-" she looked at him finally. Shock in the parted lips, reflected in the good eye. She was strange then. Wanting it seemed for the past to be let go. Without doing much, she had taken everything as her fault_. It isn't_. _It wasn't_. He didn't say it. Much as he needed to say it, he chose to wait instead.

"I-I don't know." she was a terrible liar. He could see right through her. "..'cause I wanted to see how you would respond." The pain wasn't as severe, knowing she didn't mean it. "..You were right. I was just playing with you."

"I see." The relief he felt was immense. Strange, it was the very thing he had accused her of yet to hear her admit it aloud...she would never do so looking so _sad_. Tensa had to keep himself then from moving. The urge was overwhelming to instigate contact. _To draw her into his arms_. _Damn it_. To fill the lack, he summoned his static form, clasping the hilt tightly though he wished it was her.

Once she tried to speak then shook it away, withdrawing her sword instead.

(*)*)*)

"Toya said I should learn all I can from you." Kei bit her lip suddenly feeling shy as she folded one arm over the other. "Will you teach me again? I..I won't come onto you anymore, or do anything to make you uncomfortable. I-I'm sorry for before." She shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes out of shame. "I was stupid then."

The sword gazed at her for the longest time, his expression neither hostile nor friendly. ".._why_ did you do it then?"

She was a little startled. Wishing he would just let it go. "I-" _because something was pushing me toward you_. "I-I don't know." Kei forced a smile, feeling it twist her mouth wrong. "..'cause I wanted to see how you would respond." Everything about her was wrong at that moment. Her heart shriveling beneath her breast, her mind for turning a lie and her tongue for speaking it.

"..You were right. I was just playing with you." The laugh she affected, trilled briefly in the air. She didn't want to see his disappointment, not that hope flickering quietly in his eyes when he had first caught sight of her. She didn't want it to die.

Yet she was killing it with each word.

Each sound.

"I see." The sword's reply was as always, though did she detect the slightest hint of-something?

The summoning of his sword.

"Tensa, I-" _it's not true_. She hesitated before simply sliding Getsu-ten from its sheath.

(*)*)*)

The first strike missed him completely, of course he was well aware of that particular move. It was the one she always started with- if he didn't make the first move.

_Forward slash._

_He disappears_.

A pretense. Kei knew _the routine_. He always came at her hard, unyielding. No change in expression when their swords collided, no recoil as she did. He acted like he didn't care- those times when she wasn't fast enough to block the blow, or when he threw her into a building; she was still suspicious of that, considering the place most sore was one she would _not_ let him heal.

Kei refocused her attention, her mind had been drifting along currents of thought. The air cut from a blade whose black tang sizzled the atmosphere, _so fast_. Tensa was faster. Nearly matching half her real speed. She did then, one of her favorite moves. Flipping forward, delivering a swift, powerful kick to his torso. The backward scrape of his heels against the concrete was like music to her ears. Spinning around then, she prepared to deal a sharp return from Getsu-ten.

She caught it.

A flash of...pain? Like a sting or a smarting from a wound.

Her hand stilled. "Tensa. Are you...alright?"

His mouth tightened, the hand he had raised to hover above his middle, clenched. Falling to his side. "Do not bother."

"Did I hurt you?" Kei was persistent, knowing how he despised weakness.

"Let's continue." he said curtly, eyes like cold flints narrowing at her approach.

"..Are you hurt? Tensa..." without another thought, she dismissed Getsu-ten. "Tell me." she felt the pout of her mouth, petulant in a way that was natural

"It-" the hesitance was momentary. Fleeting. "It is nothing, you should be-"

"Like hell it is." His stubbornness sometimes reminded her all too closely of herself. "Show me!" she lunged for him then, using a short burst of speed to grasp at his collar. He stared down at her, one hand rising to grasp her wrist. Kei ignored the familiarity of the position, the scene still fresh in both their memories.

"Let go of me." he said finally. Making no motion save for clasping her above the wrist tighter. _Go away_. She heard unspoken. He _was_ stubborn. But, so was _she_. "Let me see!" Hissing, she came dangerously close to ripping the front open. Her fingers dug into the cloth, one hand pulling forward, the other sliding downward. The sword recoiled beneath her touch, the hard flat stomach shuddering as her palm glided over it. _I couldn't have hurt him so badly_...

"You're hurt, aren't you?" _Something was wrong_. Her hands met, grasping either end of his collar, shaking him a little.

He barely rocked on his feet. "I believe I said it was none of your-"

"Stop it, Tensa! Just stop it!" she had barely a right to say it. After all couldn't she worry about him- couldn't she even show the slightest ounce of concern without wanting more? _Without being involved_. "Stop...pushing me away."

His expression wavered, then hardened. "Let go of me. _Now_."

"You're such a fool.." Kei let her hands go nearly slack, feeling the added pressure of his fingers encircling her above the tiny bone. _She despised doing this. Resorting to this_.. "_Take_ it off."

He stiffened. He could not rebel against _her word- her command_.

Satisfied, she stepped back.

"I see, so that's how you want it." he murmured quietly to himself, dissolving his blade again. Hands then reluctantly finding the hidden seam, easing the sides apart to fall open like a coat, exposing his pale torso.

Her gaze drifted down, her eyes widened. "Who...who did this to you?" she went forward again, this time brushing her fingers feather light over the sickening yellowish-purple tinge blossoming across his chest. He had held perfectly still until her fingertips had ghosted over the hideous bruise. He shuddered violently; immediately Kei started back, "sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to push so hard."

"..fine." the sword bit out moodily, his voice strained.

_It was like from a blow almost_..her fingertips skated over his breast, trailing around over the circumference. His intake of breath, quiet like a whisper made her heart skip a beat. Quickly she shook off the accompanying sensation. _Now, wasn't the time to be feeling things like that!_ she berated herself silently. _He was hurt, not- not_-

Or a blow of reiatsu. Kei pressed her palm to the center. Her skin tingled with the rising fluctuation of her own energy. She had done it many times, self-healing- regenerating flesh, limbs, organs. This should be easy- easy. Her eyes- no, eye, refused to see what filled its vision.

_This shouldn't be_-

"I believe it will fade eventually." he said tonelessly.

Kei met his gaze then removed her hands, staring at the mottled skin. _It's..it's just like_... she blinked rapidly unused to the limiting of her abilities. It was...a new horrifying thought occurred to her. Anger replaced the fear. _Ichigo_.

It was just like her eye. "Ichigo did this." No question because she had already guessed it. Ichigo didn't spar with his Zanpaku-to spirit, he didn't go to talk and most of all, the contusion didn't come from a sword strike. "He struck you, didn't he?" this time she couldn't help but question. Question because some part of her strangely didn't want to believe it.

_That was beyond the norm, when had she ever shied from the truth? _But, Kei pushed it aside. Focusing intently on the sword's face. His _expression_. Tensa breathed in, his dark eyes slanting away, looking past her.

"Answer me!" she was angry. "No Shinigami has the right to-" _abuse their swords_. _My swords_, she thought. Their bond was sacred, the breaking of that implicit, unspoken trust between an Elemental and a Shinigami whom took upon a Zanpaku-to..._she would have to speak with Ichigo. No punish_ _Ichigo for laying a hand on_..

(*)*)*)

Her hands grasped at him. Clutching. Clinging. One traveled southward. It hurt yes, but that wasn't why a traitorous shudder clenched his abdomen. She thought it was pain. Better that she did, innocent of anything else.

"..sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to push so hard." she looked so sweet saying it.

_It's_ "...fine." he said it sullenly because his heart was racing. Doubtless she could feel it, her hands wandering over his chest that way. What precisely was _that way?_ Pleasant to hear worry, gentle her touch over the plains of his breast. The lightest feathering graze of her nails scraped the sensitive nub of flesh. His breath sharpened.

Of course it did. Self-control had its limits.

Her hands trailed down, resting against the center of the contusion.

She was going to heal him. Warmth danced on his skin, radiating from her touch; the greater burning licked at his insides. _She didn't realize what she was doing to him_. That feeling was instinct, wasn't it? To crush her mouth with his, let those hands touch him- touch his body. _Everywhere_.

Time was the enemy now. Time becoming days, hours slipping away. Every second he had lost weighing more and more on his heart. _Touch me_. He thought of Kage's words.

_"She loves you." _

Please touch me. He had too much pride to beg. Too much to tell a lie.

_I do not wish to be Kurosaki Ichigo's Zanpaku-to; break the contract_.

_I do not want to be his sword anymore. Remake the new contract with me_.

She was surprised.

_Let me be with you until the end_.

The bruise didn't fade.

But, he was too loyal to lie. "I believe it will fade eventually." _It was his fault Ichigo struck out at him_. Her good eye blinked, her hands lifted even though he wanted to capture them and hold them forever.

No- she was stunned. Because she couldn't make it disappear.

Tensa himself didn't know what Ichigo had done. Struck out. But, not with a blade, nor a fist.

"Ichigo did this." The conclusion was obvious. She wore a small covering over her right eye. His two eyes were drawn to it.

"He struck you, didn't he?" she sounded vaguely disbelieving. He wondered why. .._Did she not want to believe the boy capable of..?_

That was disturbing. The shame was barely a stirring inside. _His wielder struck him- what of it?_ He liked her anger though. It was gratifying to see it was all for him. Now, she was looking at him. Staring into his face. The one purple eye, the one perfect one. She wanted him to admit it, say Ichigo struck him.

But, Tensa couldn't. Because he had provoked it. With as few words, he could make her hate his wielder, accomplish what Kage had said so desperately asked. And have _**her**_.

_Take me as yours_. His wish.

Then, he looked away, knowing he would never get it.

"He struck you, didn't he? No Shinigami has the right to-"

"Ichigo did _nothing_." his voice was tight with just the right amount of anger. He hated that useless, cold feeling stealing the warmth from his body. It was like the rain- but then it wasn't. The sky though a dark silvery grey remained without weeping. _Why did he feel so cold inside?_

"Tensa-" she was looking at him.

He saw mingled pity and sadness_. she had never looked at him that way before_. "You cannot accuse him before me!" he didn't want her pity. "Ichigo is-"

"Tensa..." more gently. She was reaching out to touch him.

_Is what?_ He couldn't stop himself from slapping her hand away. "..a good person. If you ever accuse him again, I will not hesitate to use force against you."

"You don't have to lie." she said quietly, her expression was the same.

The one he could _not_ take.

"Why would you think I was lying?" he grabbed her shoulders, shaking her violently. His spittle dotted her cheek. "I don't want your pity- just so you can act as if you've done something great! Like you're not what they say-" _stop_. Something told him to stop. But, he couldn't. Not anymore. "-a cold-hearted monster." Savagely. Cruelly. "Cold-hearted monsters do not feel. I don't _need_ or _want_ your pity." he spat it in her face, thrusting her away.

For the longest time, she didn't move. Not stumbling back in absolute surprise, simply blinking, watching as he breathed hard.

But, he. He couldn't look at her.

No- he dared not. Not see the strands falling into her face, the bruised gripping of where his hands had clenched her shoulders. Not her expression. None of it.

Eventually her voice broke the silence.

"Shall we continue then?" The slither of metal and curling links drew his gaze up. Getsu-ten was silver in her hand. Pure silver not blackness like he was inside and out. He could read nothing save for the deepest impassivity in her solemn composure.

If she had cried, he would've done something.

_But this- this_ .. "Whatever you want." he shut his eyes, making it seem as though he were annoyed. She had shut down again. _Shut him out_.

There wasn't much difference when their swords met.

When they clanged.

When they parried and countered and repeated.

It felt the same. _Almost_. That _almost_ made the coldness flood him. Made his jaw clench and his chest ache so fiercely. Because that _almost_ was his fault.

She said little. Without talking- as if rebuked for speaking too much

Just two things.

When they were done, he came toward her. He had felt more than seen her wince with the _crack_ of her left shoulder. Felt it give way beneath his blade.

"You're hurt." he said it as if it didn't bother him. Stating a fact, a censure almost though she hadn't cried out once. "Let me heal you." That was accustomed. He would heal her with reishii from his world. _Then, he would feel he was of some use to her_.

She stepped back. Her face was pale, her right hand clasping her forearm. The left hung uselessly. "Don't."

He walked toward her, reaching out. _Surely_.

She slapped his hand away.

This was.._familiar_.

"_Don't_." She snapped.

He watched her walk away, his hand lifting to graze the illusion of nearness. Like he could touch her. His fingers closed on air. She was gone again.

_Must all their encounters end this way? _

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

"I don't understand him." she could say it all she wanted. Exasperatingly. Angrily. She would never admit she was hurt. Maybe it made her weak in his eyes. To cry. Or maybe Kagami really didn't know- couldn't read what was beneath the surface. .._just playing with me_.

Zangetsu had kissed her while Tensa had wanted to slap her.

.._what was the difference?_ Kei lay against the pillows, staring up at the canopy. They were the same thing- the same sword. _Why such a radical change in personality? _her eyes slid over to the clock on the table. 7:42. She hadn't stayed as long as usual. A few hours were left before dawn and she would be expected to prepare for the next trial. _May as well try to get a little sleep_...

(*)*)*)

Kei writhed, her bare skin scraping the coarse fabric. Wet. Aching. Grinding her _want_ against his knee. He isn't surprised. Chuckling softly, quietly a sound she hadn't ever heard escape his stern, unyielding features.

"..does it hurt?" his hands traveled over her breasts. The bruise on her arm no longer ached yet every caress burned. Burned like living fire in her flesh.

"Y-Yes.." his hands were on her hips. Kei could feel the five fingertips on each hand pressing against her skin. "God!" she hissed, unknowing of why she did. He's sliding against her now. Clothed. "I'd prefer it.." he sounded slightly ironic, impassive despite what was between her legs. "If you called _my name_ from now on."

She smiled, arms reaching up, twining about his neck, fingers curling into his long hair.

"Of course, all you had to do was ask...my dearest -"

(*)*)*)

"..Tensa." Her eyes flew open. She started up from the bed, shoving back the covers, her gaze darting wildly around, expecting to see the sword there. "Just a dream." her voice echoed quietly back to her. Kei pushed back strands of disordered hair, her legs fidgeting nervously. _Damn it_...

She shut her eyes willing the silky, slithering wetness in her crotch to disappear. It wasn't the first time- yet not in a very long time that she'd had such a dream; _about another then_. _Tensa_... her lips parted to emit a soft sigh, hands rising to curl into the sides of her mussed hair.

_What was wrong with her...dreaming of him in such a way? _

Her sharp teeth sunk into her bottom lip, the sting of minute pain mingling with the flush of heat. "Does it hurt?" she remembered her un-acted upon desire. That ache .. the sickening wantonness of the action. What would he have done...? In those seconds when he had knelt between her legs..

If she had done what her dream self had.

Was _he_...what she wanted?

(*)*)*)

"Toya-ko...I just don't get it."

"..please don't call me that!" Toya shuddered, halting his morning ablutions. He fully turned to the spirit currently reclining on his bed. "I'll never live it- hey! Get your boots offa there!"

Kage ignored him completely. "Why do some people hurt the one they love? Why...why can't they just say 'I love you. I want to be with you.' What's so damned hard about that!"

Toya paused in tying on the hakama. "..sometimes. It's not as easy as simply saying _I love you _to someone. Sometimes...some people are just afraid. They're so afraid of getting hurt that they lash out when that other tries to get near. They push away because they don't want to end up with a broken heart."

The spirit sounded thoughtful. "Oh. I get it, sort of like...they can't seem to get on the same page at the same time."

"..Er. Yeah, sort of like that." Toya watched his Zanpaku-to from the corner of his eye. _Where were all these questions coming from-?_ He didn't dare ask, wary of the spirit's shifting moods. _Yet, the mimicker seemed...almost wistful?_ "What's with you?" Okay, so he knew he would regret asking.

The shadow sat up, bracing palms of mist back into the blue bedspread, as immaterial on the edges as a wisp of intangible dark smoke. "Toya.._ko_."

"I said don't call me that!"

"..do you think it's wrong if a sword- like myself," one hand rose, tapping the thin chest. "Per se. Were to fall in love with a Shinigami/Soul Reaper?"

Wondering where it was all leading to, Toya carefully slipped on the last part of his dress. Proudly feeling the glide of the black material across his back, falling just so to his knees. "No." he looked back at his sword. "I don't believe there's anything wrong with that. It's like...you can't help who you fall in love with. Male or female. Spirit or- wait." he was starting to get suspicious as warning bells were going off everywhere.

"What's this about-? Don't tell me..." his eyes widened.

"Yes." Kage said, affecting perfect seriousness. "_I_ am in love."

Toya began to edge toward the door, ready to yank it open and beat a hasty retreat. "W-With who?"

"You."

Silence fell.

"Y-You're joking right?"

Kage grinned toothily. "Couldn't you tell? Of course I am! By the way, it's time isn't it? That guy from First and Namaiki's duel?"

"Yeah." Toya cleared his throat, extending his hand. "It is."

The Zanpaku-to nodded. "Careful out there today. Neither of us want to be on the receiving end of Oni-kage."

"I know." his voice was softer, hand sliding around the hilt the spirit held out. Kage was slowly melting into it, evaporating into fine mist. "You know...you should tell- whomever it is who loves but is afraid...not to be."

(*)*)*)Dream(*)*)*)

Wet sounds.

He was drawn to them, his stomach clenching beneath the white tank. His steps were silent through the corridor, with each forward movement, tension rising throughout his being.

The darkness ended so suddenly it was almost as it had never been there at all. Surprise quickly gave way to something else. His eyes drawn to the sleek form perched on the edge of a shapeless mass. _No..please_..

The long creamy line of her leg was parted, the slate grey haori parted over her abdomen, the hemline riding indecently high on her waist.

_Kei_. The name was soundless. Echoing in his mind tauntingly. His gaze lingered over the features he knew so well, melted in ecstasy. This isn't happening- everything inside him screamed not to look. Not to see.

Sucking/slurping/lapping sounds.

_God, they were so annoying_. Slowly, ever painfully, Ichigo dragged his eyes down, jaw tightening, bile rising in his throat as he couldn't help but feel the corresponding rush of heat to his groin.

It's sickening. It sickened him yet made him so _hard_ at the same time.

Ichigo saw-but didn't want to, that dark head, the thick messy dark strands falling forward, gliding between her thighs. Ichigo saw the large tendony hand slide around the slender leg, she shifted accordingly, resting one limb over his shoulder.

It's nauseating. But, he still watched in sick fascination as the man-no the sword/ his sword, gained better access to her most secret of places. The mouth angled. The sucking sounds filled the air in an aggressive fashion; breathy little grunts, mere noises guttural almost as her hips jerked. He was eating her out.

_Oh, God..please_.. It burned. Terribly. Achingly.

His eyelids fluttered shut over amber orbs, blissful respite given as his hearing caught every moan, every torrent of wanton pleasure. _Sick_. Ichigo knew he was sick for that dry, agonizing throb of his tongue wanting to have it sliding through her narrow walls; laving over the delicate pink flesh. His stomach clenched even harder and he thought he was going to double over and vomit.

He didn't want to look.

Didn't want to know why her cries of pleasure were escalating.

He looked.

Her body was spasming, her last orgasmic cries nearly sent him over the edge.

Lapping.

He couldn't breathe.

A deep sigh echoed from her chest. Her body visibly relaxing, a smile of pure bliss curving her lips.

Slowly then, ever so slowly, the one kneeling between her legs moved. The tilt of narrow expressive eyes, lacking orange-tinted shades glanced his way.

Ichigo stiffened on the floor, pressing his legs shut even as his arousal bulged from his crotch.

Fine pearlescent strings of liquid clung to the dark facial hair on his chin, but there was no motion to wipe it away. Instead..

Zangetsu smiled.

(...)Living world, early Monday morning

Ichigo started awake, thrusting the blankets back from his torso. _What the hell_- he blinked rapidly, trying to clear away the vestiges of sleep from his blurry eyes. His mouth worked in a scowl then parted, breathing heavily. _It was so real_. So, _fucking_ real. He passed the back of his hand across his forehead, feeling the dampness of his skin. Sweat. He passed his tongue over his lips, the parched sensation unfading.

_..oh God_.

His legs were uncovered.

Amber eyes drifted down, their sight filling with the sight of the male part of him straining against the crotch of his loose bottoms. It was real.

It had been real.

A choked sob welled up in his throat.

_"She became his...first."_

So, it was true. All of it was _**true**_.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle, morning(*)*)*)

"Well... he's young- you did say it was Tensa Zangetsu, right?" Kagami had paused to cut a portion of the ham roll. She nodded, over her coffee cup.

"Then, because he's young-"

"He must be _frustrated_." Kazeatari interposed right in the middle.

"That wasn't so much what I was going to-" again he was interrupted.

"Frustrated?" Kei echoed, then making a face down at the weaker-strength liquid sloshing in her mug. "Why would Tensa be frustrated?"

"Oh, I don't know." Kazeatari said breezily, spooning cream into her tea. "Maybe because he's young and you know- well, I guess neither of _us_ do. Know what it's like to be young- male and have a-" the wind wielder hesitated.

"Have a _what_, Kazeatari-san?" Takara asked innocently, looking up and down the table with bright, curious eyes.

"A dick."

Kagami gave her a -_must-you-always-do-this- _look, reddening.

"Of course," Kazeatari said in a more knowledgeable tone. "Maybe it's that _old man_ Zangetsu can't get it up and young man Zangetsu can."

Takara suddenly started tapping keys excitedly on the Sat-com sitting near her plate of toast. "Ooh! I'm going to take notes!"

"Not on the Sat-com-!" the water wielder wailed. Toya looked on in red-faced silence.

"So, you're saying Tensa is s-s-sexually frustrated?" Kei asked, her expression ranging between horror and pure embarrassment. _That's why he's so angry with me-? _It didn't make much sense as he had rejected any kind of advance on her part. _But, even then. _her face flushed even hotter recalling her state upon awakening.

"..Of course," Kazeatari was still talking. "If you'd just undress partially and lie open- especially giving him that -_I-want-you_- look that you were giving him during the party, then I'm sure even old man Zangetsu _could_ get it up!" The wind wielder laughed heartily then.

Kei grimaced into her coffee cup, trying not to choke.

_This was hitting too close to home_.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

_What did he want? _It should have been inconceivable to wait for her to come again. But, that was the thing with hope. He couldn't stop waiting. Maybe that was all he knew how to do. _Wait-wait-wait_. For what? Standing in that topsy-turvy world, ignoring the picking up of the wind.

There was no answer.

None that he could find. But, then maybe there was some of resolution within. He had given her every reason to not come back, to shun his presence even. But, if she came back, then it was because..._she wanted to_.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

_You aren't going to interfere..?_

'This is a surprise.' Sitting behind his desk, shuffling things into the Out box, Kagami barely started at the Dragon's voice speaking into his consciousness. 'Why would I? It's her whom he lives for, why should I denigrate such devotion?'

The water in the clear glass vase at the edge of the desk resonated. Thin ripples breaking out around the green stalks of the orchid. _It is not merely the state of being he of whom you speak is_. Soryu's disgust was thinly veiled though Kagami had the feeling it was directed more toward him.

.._do you not notice the similarity of look between this sword and...?_

'What're you talking about now?' the water wielder was aware of there being another who resembled- _could possibly be...but no. That was too improbable. Too...painful_. He had often thought about that. What Kurosaki would do if her lover from the past were found..? To him, it would be to give her up if possible happiness could be achieved.

_That boy would never sever ties_. Soryu cut through his thoughts.

Kagami blinked at the forcefulness; why would the Dragon be so sure of Kurosaki's mindset? 'What do you mean?'

_He will __**never**__ give her up_.

-TBC...

AN: -.- *sleepy* *please pardon any little mistakes, I will proofread tomorrow- er in a few hours since it is 1:10 already. Thanks for reading.

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews loved :)


	65. Show me the meaning of being lonely

_The constant longing for your touch  
This bitter ocean of hatred and pain  
This loneliness I need to be who I am..  
_

-_Astral romance, Nightwish_

* * *

ShiKai CH.57 Show me the meaning of being lonely

(*)*)*)Unknown sub-conscious realm(*)*)*)

"...she is not to blame."

Ichigo spun on his heel abruptly. His socked feet soundless in the place. "Then, what? I'm supposed to forget I saw _his mouth there-_her expression as Zangetsu mouth-fucked her?" his hair had grown a little longer, fringing his neck. The reflection stared back at him so impassively he felt like screaming.

"_She_. Is not to blame. Women are by nature creatures of temptation."

"What're you saying-!" Ichigo thought of his mother and couldn't imagine associating her memory as temptation.

"Simply that you are angered because she will not let you _pleasure_ her that way."

He flushed heatedly. Mouth opening to deny then shutting as the other shook his head. Ichigo couldn't believe he was talking to a mirror-image of himself. Arguing with it even.

"You are _tempted_, Ichigo." The eyes flickered, seeming to not see him but another time. "_As I was_."

He wanted to ask what the hell his reflection was talking about. Though the question was difficult to form as he hadn't any knowledge on reincarnation. _Duh- Soul Society_. Souls didn't remember their past lives. Once they died as wholes, all of their memories were erased to allow them to pass on.

Reincarnation didn't exist.

"Did I...did we.." he fumbled with the question, sensing the other's strange almost liquid amber ochre staring back. ".._know_ Kei...a long time ago?" Strangely that was the feeling he had. From the moment he had first seen her in his head during unconsciousness. _It was her- always her_ and that elusive feeling..._like he had known her for ages past. _

Silence fell.

"I-I mean that's impossible! Reincarnation-"

"Is possible. It is the law of the Shinigami that speak of our limits. But." The eyes gleamed drawing him in. Ichigo found himself unable to turn away from the mirror, _listening closely. Intently_. _To every word_.

"There are those whom transcend mortal law and that which is unbreakable."

"What...do you mean?" he could feel the gooseflesh breaking out over his arms.

"You want to be able to stand at her side," the reflection said suddenly. Smiling faintly at the flickering embarrassment and eagerness.

"How did you-" Ichigo murmured, fisting his sweating hands. That was what he wished partly for. The strength to match hers. No...to go _**beyond**_ so he could _**protect**_ her.

"Recall what I said-"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah-yeah! 'bout you being me and all."

"I know everything you think. Everything you feel. Do not worry, Ichigo." A softer smile in which he could've sworn he glimpsed a sparkle of mischievous amusement in the fond gaze. "I will never speak of those things that awake you late at night."

His flush turned darker, mouth twisting into a scowl.

"It is a normal process familiar to all males." _Damn that smirk_. "...Do not be ashamed of it."

He looked away, muttering. "Says you. You're not the one waking up with morning wood each morning and having to explain why you're washing your bedding from now on!"

A quiet chuckle. "Perhaps not. However, that is of little consequence. Until this final seal is broken-"

"You mean the red one?" he pointed to the concave center. "-didn't you say Kei put in place? So, can't I just ask her-"

The other's smile slipped. "You cannot!"

Surprised at the vehemence, he eyed the reflection suspiciously. "Why the hell not?"

"Because...she does not remember how to break it. Ichigo..._this_ is what restrains your true potential."

_The seal of..Suzaku_. He swallowed thickly. "O-kay. Now, why was it put in place again?" The other had never said yet he hoped to trap him into speaking the reason _why_.

"That must wait. For now..." the hands braced in the belt holes of the jeans, interlocked. "I must show you something. This is a sacred Ketsu-in; it will assist you in asserting your claim for her. _Zangetsu_...must be..."

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

"Kage, what is your purpose for coming here?" _Again?_ Was what Tensa didn't add. He had been lost in contemplation yet had sensed the other's silent approach. He wouldn't be caught at unawares again.

"Staring at the clouds?" The other always skirted the matter at hand. Leaning forward with a sardonic hint to his voice. "Just waiting..waiting oh so patiently for your lady- I mean, our Kouseitan'i to come. Oh! You're so adorable when you scowl. Tensa!"

The black moon cutter glared, then looked back up_. Perhaps if simply ignored, the mimicker would leave_.

"You are so strange...so strange to me. You push and you pull. You feel and...you want to cry. But, I wonder what'll happen when you lose her forever?"

"You. Will not harm her."

"I wouldn't. For that would be Matricide, wouldn't it?" Kage circled him carefully, folded arms slid apart, a katana with intricate designs inscribed into the tang glided through the air. "I am as close to being her child as you are."

The slightest sound as he made a motion forward then halted. _Child?_ Of course he had often thought of human lineage and the undeniable thread that bound them irrevocably forever. _Creator and Creation. Elemental and Sword_. "I was not born of her womb," Tensa said tersely, coldly. "Therefore I am not of her blood."

"Close, I meant. Yet you and I were once a part of her- as she once was." Kage shrugged, standing with legs slightly parted, hands clasping the crimson hilt. "Pure matter. Is that not incestuous when your lips touch hers-"

"Silence." The harshness of his tone was immediately regretted as the mimicker simply chuckled lightly. Waving the katana around airily.

"You amuse me so, Tensa. Now shall we pass a round or two? My wielder hasn't a requirement for me at the moment."

The black moon cutter needed no further push. Within seconds, he had drawn his static form, charging forward only to phase from sight. _Kage expected a frontal attack_...Tensa veered upward, then...the clash of sparks. He fell heavily, twisting to the side, his feet skating back to gain traction. Kage merely laughed lowly, "are you so confident in your ban-kai state that you forgot who I am?"

Tensa glowered, the end of his cloak flaring out like ragged ends of black flame. "And what are you other than a flickering shadow without form?" he spat, grasping the black and red hilt in both hands.

"I have a form." The edge of a crisp white glove enveloped lithe fingers held over a smirking mouth. "I merely make note of the fact that your style is so-how shall we say, old-fashioned? When there are many _I_ can choose from." Kage melted into shadow, becoming a fast-moving blur. Tensa blocked the first blow, slashing out only to have the other evaporate into mist, a quiet chuckle resonating from behind. Whipping about swiftly, the air compressed then expanding with the cutting motion; he felt the sting bite into his shoulder. _The opposite side..!_

"Want to see what could've been?" Kage's voice was a soft murmur. "Both the mirror of a dream and the nightmare of reality-"

"What-" it hurt. His eyes took in the sight of the reddish-gleaming tang slowly melt into mist, seeping into the wound. _This was..?_

"Yume no ato. Nekomata's searing dystopian clash of our dearest wish and our most feared nightmare."

"...Why?" It made little sense for the other to be doing this. _This_.

"I can only hope it will spur you to what needs to be done. You're so close to her...you're the only one who can do it."

Do what? he wanted to ask. But, his vision was fading, his knees buckling, giving out. His sword skittered away. Kage seemed to grow taller yet the illusion was only in his mind, as the mimicker looked down, a figure made of mist and the impression of solidity at the fringes.

"...only one."

The whisper of the voice followed him down into the depths of-

(*)*)*)

Kage caught at the slim, muscular appendage. Feeling the laxity of the form even as Tensa Zangetsu sagged, his head slumping forward onto his chest. "Don't worry, little moon cutter. I will watch over you." The mimicker grimaced, bracing his feet as he angled the other down, slowly settling the body flat against the band of windows.

The sense of another entering the sideways world made a flicker of bemused annoyance twist Kage's thin mouth. "What rotten timing that boy has." He flipped a sheaf of hair from his face, inhaling the scent of anger lanced with pure electrical lightning_. How strange, when Toya-ko's upset, my Tower shakes_. He paused then realizing he had nearly rhymed.

Shaking it off quickly, his gaze darted down to the smoothed over countenance of the moon cutter whom looked no more than a teenager. Kage bent down, ruffling the dark bangs. "Don't worry..." a smirk. "I'll make sure not to do anything you wouldn't do when I become you- er the old man- I mean."

(*)*)*)

He looked over his handiwork. The Kyomon glowed softly, illuminating the shadowed contours of the moon cutter's peaceful expression. It had taken seconds, mere moments to raise it up so that nothing could disturb the dream. Kage dusted his hands off briskly, his nose twitching at the virulent scent of the boy's anger. He could even hear yelling in the distance.

"Hold on, Ichi-boo." The mimicker cooed, his gloved hand flickering through the atmosphere. His body reassembled, mist becoming a thicker chest, draped in a ragged cloak. His collar was shredded white and exposed a sliver of his throat. Kage flicked his hand again and looked into a small hand mirror.

"...I am much _more_ handsome than he is."

The thick strands of wavy hair fell past chin-length, dusting his broad shoulders. Kage glanced down to his legs then shoes. _I'm...shorter than him_. _Damn_. His height was suddenly elevated with the exchange for his point-tip black high-heeled boots. _Much better fashion sense too_.

His glance back into the mirror reflected a somewhat mature face and a mouth on the edge of a nervous grin. _Crap...how can he stay so serious all the time!_ The mimicker bit his lip then rearranged his expression into something like dignity, stooping once to pick up the fallen _Tensa Zangetsu_ blade, sticking it a few feet away from the Kyomon.

"I didn't mean...what I said. Just so you know." Kage glanced back over his shoulder. "I said it only to get a rise out of you. ...don't be an idiot this time, Tensa. _Make her happy!" _

Then, he left.

(*)*)*)_1st dream_(*)*)*)

-An office.

A normal setting for a routine based from years of peace. He knew the place- the room in fact as Fourth's office. A sheet of tawny hair unbroken save for the two pieces pulled by a clip on each side. .._Six years ago_. Tensa remembered quite clearly the time when she styled her hair differently. When it was longer.

He slowly approached, his hand extending. Without knowing why, he clasped her shoulders, gently kneading the stiff muscles. _She can't feel me_...he thought, watching the rhythm of the key strokes never falter, a soothing kind of tik-tik filling in the silence. In time however, he caught a soft..moan? Strands of hair brushed against the backs of his hands, her chin tilting up, a slight, sleepy smile on her lips.

"I'm almost done." The look in her eyes sent chills down his spine. Her glance flickered back to the computer screen, her hand idly flicking the ENTER button sending off the report into cyber space. She stood to her full height then, his hands slid off.

Their eyes met.

She advanced slowly, her stride long, her own hands rising to fall against his chest. "Tensa," she murmured, a flicker of annoyance burning in the violet irises. "Lower your head, dammit. You know I can't reach you from my height!"

"Is this a dream?" he was sure it was_. She wouldn't be looking at him in such a way_.

To his surprise yet again, her hands wandered, fondly stroking the muscles beneath his cloak. "Mm...I doubt it." Kei said seriously, "unless I'm dreaming that you haven't _worshipped_ me as you said you would." The petulant pout to her mouth was undeniably hers. As was the way she _palmed_ him, a hint of confusion in her eyes as he started from the sudden contact.

"What's a matter? Usually you're not so-"

"I am _not_ your sword." Tensa maintained tightly. Staying rigidly inflexible against the wall though he wanted nothing more than to gain more of her touches. "Do..not..touch me."

"Tensa!" she laughed, her expression ranging between consternation and bemusement. "You _are_ my sword! Don't you remember-contract? It's been nearly four hundred years-! I can't believe you've forgotten!"

_Four hundred_... his gaze alighted upon the stand in the corner. A black scabbard hung from it, one of black moons and... _my form. My original form_.

When he looked back at her, she was shaking her head slightly. A smile twitching on her lips. "Coming back now?"

He felt faint. Strange for a sword whom never fatigued. "...yes. It is."

_Kage and_...

His eyes shut, feeling her lips brush his.

_My dearest wish_.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

It felt like a kick.

Something that cracked his ribcage and sent him sprawling a few yards away.

"-hell!" Dazed, his vision showed two Kurosakis. Each scowling at him. _Did he_- The mimicker hadn't long to think before the boy's foot connected with his jaw and sent him spinning back. Helplessly, he retched, blood pouring from a cut inside his mouth. "You-beast!" Kage spat, red-tinged saliva, dribbling from his lip. "How dare-"

"Shut up!" Kurosaki snarled, his eyes blazing. "Where were you? I called and called and you never came!"

(*)*)*)2nd dream(*)*)*)

Blood. Tensa opened his eyes to a battle.

Standing atop one of the highest buildings in his world, he watched at first without understanding.

Why did Getsu-ten resonate so harshly, so sadly against _his form?_

**"-Murderer-"** Ichigo's voice.

A sense of dread gripped him. What was the boy saying-

**"-Liar-"**

A flash of fair hair streaming in the wind. One empty socket and the other perfect. Focused.

**"-You Monster-"**

Tensa could feel such painful hate radiating from their connection. So, much hate.

**"-You murdered them-" **Ichigo's face a mask of pure, twisted rage.

The black sword slashed.

"No." he said as if by denouncing it, he could somehow change what he saw.

The black sword cut cleanly across her throat.

Blood. Blood. Blood.

So, much of it that he felt sick watching the sheets burble from the perfect slice across the pale skin. The sky was dyed crimson from Ichigo's bloodlust.

She started to fall.

"No." Tensa denied more firmly.

Ichigo caught her in the state of grace as she fell. Whistling filling the air from each slash of the katana.

_Stop. Ichigo. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop_.

Legless. Armless. There were no screams from her cracked throat.

Ichigo knelt in a semblance of an embrace, cradling the torso against his forearm.

"-Understand, Kei-" amber eyes were almost tender staring down into her upturned, glassing gaze. "-you killed them-I had to kill you...it's only what you deserve."

A ragged sort of gasp like she tried to speak.

Then, only the wet gush of his fingers putting out her good eye.

Without arms or legs. Without a voice or sight. It was like an ancient curse for the dead to walk the land alone in darkness forever.

"-if you hate me so much." Ichigo kissed her forehead, his hands drenched in blood. "Then, never rest. Haunt me as long as I have life."

Tensa dropped to his knees. Numbed. Horrified. His shaking hands clasped at his chest, burying fingers into the cloth feeling his heart cracking inside. There was nothing- no one worth _her_. _He was used...used to end her life_. _His dearest_...

No one-No one- No one. He sobbed, hands falling, clawing at the concrete.

"You've done well, boy." The voice cut through like a knife. Tensa raised his head to stare and see what Ichigo saw. _Yamamoto Shigekuni_. The ancient Shinigami had two girls pushed forward by a faceless other.

"This is what you wanted safe, correct?"

His sisters.

The pieces fell into place. _You fool_.

"You said-!" A look of utter horror and despair contorted Ichigo's face.

_This was_... He wrapped his arms around himself, tears pouring down his cheeks; _being used to end her existence_.

_My worst nightmare_.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

"I did _not!"_ Kei's indignant hiss came seconds later as the import of Kazeatari's meaning sunk in. She had _so not_ been giving him -_I-want-you_- looks. Which was what she tried to disprove the surety in which she was regarded.

Through the rest of breakfast, to the walk down the lawn.

And finally near the clearing behind Second Division. Kagami parted ways, heading off inside, saying that if they needed anything just to let it be known the usual_er_ way. Reiatsu spike in secret terms.

The brown-haired, nervous-eyed Akashi was there already. Pale, all but nail-biting as Kazeatari separated finally from them.

"You did _too_." The wind wielder responded. Turning back with a slight half-smirk. "It's alright..."

Kei started forward, anger pouring from her very being. Toya fumbled between both of them, stepping back quickly as he felt the singe of heat billow against his face from her reiatsu.

_Burning. Like Fire_.

"Girls -Girls -!" he was near to start yelling for Kagami.

When, Kazeatari looked to the stone circle ahead then back to the rage-filled Fire wielder's face. "It's alright," she repeated softer. "I understand what you must _see_ when you look at him. Pity, Kurosaki isn't the blade and Tensa Zangetsu the Shinigami."

Kei sharply inhaled. "What do you speak of?"

But, the wind wielder was striding away.

Leaving the question unanswered.

(*)*)*)Getsu-ten's mindscape(*)*)*)

The world was different. Kei could scent it in the air, see it in the changes that had manifested in her absence. The garden was coming back to _life_. Walking in and among the stone pathways, her good eye traveling to the spreading green vines of sleeping flowers to the gnarled trunk of the Weeping Willow.

_Green in the withered limbs_...

Her hand passed over the rough bark, her own power mirrored back to her. The world was saturated in it. Alive so to speak in the sealing cracks of the stone, the tumbling rock of the miniature castle. She brushed a hand over the fringe newly covering her right eye, a hint of self-consciousness in the action.

The slice of world was narrower now yet the strain was lessened. During the time when it had been cut; vague mentions of things that could be done. Contacts, glasses, Lasik surgery from the living world. Nothing would serve to correct that which had been ruined. If vanity hadn't held her back, she would've simply put it out and worn an eyepatch.

But, she was vain.

Proud of her strength when there was nothing else to have pride of.

That...and her eyes.

One eye now. Briefly she touched the lid of the other then began walking again. Her path angled upward, evening out onto the top grounds of the mindscape. Kei checked her senses again, receiving the same readout as before.

_It was still there_.

Closing her eye, she concentrated on the distance, opening it then to the quiet sound of her heels alighting on the grey stone floor. Dimly lit, forever shrouded in warm darkness, she gazed about the foyer splitting off into four directions. She chose the northern wing.

In mere minutes she had covered the length of the cracked gallery, skirting the fissure in the ground to come to the partially open doorway ahead. Inside a large tray rested, the mutilated carcass of a bird within.

"You look terrible." Kei said matter-of-factly, peering down at the tattered black feathers once glossy with a bluish sheen. Scaled legs twitched in the viscera of pink guts, a cackling voice arising from the mass of creature.

_'Holding up, I see.' _

"No thanks to you, Touda." Her good eye rolled heavenward. Her look hardened. "Any more and you would have taken half my soul with you!"

_'Is that such a loss?'_ A wet splatting sounded; her lips twisted into a grimace as a pair of dark blue eyeballs connected by a thin discolored tissue disassembled from the mass, rolling forward to the edge of the tray, staring fixedly up.

"You're disgusting." she sneered.

_'And you're lovelier imperfect. Tell me. Whom would dear Kurosaki prefer? The hateful Kei de facto-Goddess of Fire...or. The sweet, yet essentially pale imitation Keiko?'_ Touda queried mockingly.

"You shut up!"

_'Hehehe. Hit a sensitive spot have I? Why wielder, I didn't believe such an innocuous expression of curiosity would affect you so! Unless you-'_

"Captain Yamamoto-?" the hesitant intonation came from behind.

Three eyes went to the doorway.

Kei frowned, starting forward as the spirit limped in. "Oh, I know you- you're Kage, right? Toya's Zanpaku-to."

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

The first drops spattered the circular circumference of the glassy dome. Greyish-white. Black hovering at the edge..his eyes swiveled toward it. Focusing blearily then sharply on the slim form, one arm thrown over the other, small teeth catching her bottom lip.

Alive! The single thought rang out through his consciousness. Relief of the deepest kind loosening the taut, painful constriction in his chest. Everything was an illusion-

She lifted two fingers, making a slashing motion. _Hanki-Sosai_. With the dispelling of the Kido barrier, he could hear her clearly now.

"Are you.." hesitation. She wore the same short-sleeve black nightshirt. Red embroidery peeked out. _All eyes on..Me! Me! Me! _The kind of shameless, attention-seeking line he would expect. _But, it didn't matter_- he started to climb to his feet, feeling the strain of every muscle whining in protest at the simple action. The driving push kept him upright. I have to- have to... Tensa sensed without seeing, his hands clench, then unexpectedly open as if coming to a resolution all on their own.

_I have to...I have to_... incoherent the torrent of the many conflicting thoughts were in his mind, only one made sense of them all. _I have to touch her_. Again, his hands clenched. _To make sure she is real_. He didn't trust what his eyes saw.

"-you seem fine now." Her words weren't what he expected. Her glance flickered away briefly then back, her fingers absently rubbing a spot near her elbow. "I wasn't going to come tonight actually." His steps slowed, coming to a quiet halt. _Wasn't he a fool? _

"But, someone asked me to." she shrugged a little, relaxing her stiff position. He realized he had never heard her sound so emotionless before.

_..came because you cared_.

"Tomorrow?" He was all too aware of how it sounded. The look in his eyes betraying everything. He hated how he wanted her to say something else. _Something- anything else_.

"Oh- that's right." Masterfully she manipulated her expression to assemble into that of sudden recollection. "Tomorrow I'm going to be with Ichigo. It's been a while, you know." She shook her head slightly. "I have to try and fix _our relationship_."

The emphasis wasn't lost on him. Bitterly he reflected on it. _Then, what is it we have?_ But, he didn't say it. "I see." Cool. Calm. Tensa was proud of the non-emotive tinge to his voice.

"I'll be going-"

"Since, you're already here-" It was only a slight stride, his hand enclosing around his static blade form, easing it out of the concrete. _Stay_.

"Not tonight." she made a face. "I'm not really in the mood-"

"What? Are you afraid I'll bruise you black and blue before Ichigo gets to see you?" Tensa couldn't resist the slightest flavor of mockery, a sardonic twist to his mouth, eyes narrowing.

"No, of course not!" she was slightly irritated. Various emotions playing over her expression. "Can't I just not...want to exchange blows? Dammit! Your skills aren't even worth my time! I don't even know what the hell Toya was-"

"What did... _you say?"_ he recalled perfectly the name shared by that other's wielder. _Toya. Amakusa Toya_.

She shrugged a little, explaining as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Toya was the one who pushed me to come back here. He seemed to think highly of your skills for some reason, that's why I-"

_Kage_. The hilt cut into his hand from how tight he was gripping it yet he didn't notice. _Kage was the one who_- _she didn't_**- **his sight blurred, the warmth of liquid stung the corners of his eyes. _She didn't_... he shut them tightly, wishing he didn't have a soul.

"-Hey, is everything alright?" fake-kindness. False concern. No hand extended, merely a look, the suggestion of approach.

"Get out." His voice was a hoarse whisper, his throat burning so badly like fire had scalded the insides.

A look. He felt the condescension in it. "Tensa, look." The shuffle of steps. Behind the searing pain of tear-filled lids, he could sense her getting close.

Closer.

"I didn't me-" Right in front of him.

He refused to hear it. _No more lies_. "GET OUT NOW!"

A sigh, then fingertips at the edge of his peripheral vision.

He couldn't stand it. A single cut of the black tang cleaving the air. "Getsuga-Tenshou!"

(*)*)*)

_He needs you_. Beyond a doubt that was the point the dark sword had been attempting to get across. She wasn't completely ignorant of emotions however much Kagami insisted she was. Maybe a little...farsighted in thinking of other things and not noticing anything else around- sure. But, blissfully ignorant of how he felt- she still had to concede.

Maybe.

Leaving Getsu-ten's mindscape; Kei awoke back in her physical body stretched out upon the chaise. Her hand lifted to her eye then pressed fingertips to her forehead. _His feelings were a total mystery to her_. The shifting of her body made the cracked open book slide off to the floor with a resounding _thump_. Kei glanced down at it, her hasty grab seconds too slow to halt the descent.

_Wuthering Heights_.

Selfish love indeed. They couldn't stop hurting one another. She bent low and scooped it up, the paperback cover flipping forward. With an audible _hmph_, she set it aside, not bothering to mark her place again. _What am I thinking-?_ She frowned to herself momentarily missing the crackling fire that had a voice and shared thoughts. _That I'm like Cathy?_

Irritated with the direction her thoughts were inevitably heading to, she stood and went out of the room. Determined at least to have a few moments longer of peace before confronting _him_.

(*)*)*)

A short soak later and she had attired herself in bedclothes, though it was still an hour or two before dinner downstairs. _Early_, but she was more comfortable that way. Glancing once over her appearance from what she could see of it in the foggy bathroom mirror, she finally went and lied down on the bed, her feet hanging over the edge. Drifting off-

_So grey, how could he stand it? _Attuning herself to his presence was the same as breathing. Something she did without thinking yet was as natural a process as anything else. Her good eye scanned the sliver of sky between the building above and the one she stood on. _Stormy. Guess Yuzu hasn't told him anything_.

She felt a little relieved that her visit would be completely a surprise.

Turning slowly, her gaze traveled over the expanse of concrete and steel structure. A band of windows reflected the grey firmament above. Yet something-

"Tensa?" Within seconds she had crossed the remaining distance, standing beside the flickering half-orb of glassine light. "A Kyomon?" her brow furrowed further, recognizing the high-level Kido barrier. _Who put it up?_ She looked to and fro then thought of Kage. _Could he have-_

"Nnngh..." A soft whimper momentarily halted her wondering. Her eyes were drawn sharply back to the prone figure lying beneath the dome. Beads of perspiration stood out on his skin, the dark locks of his hair lay damply around his face. _Was he dreaming?_ Looking closer she could see the rapid beat of his heart palpitating his breast.

_Wonder if it's a good dream_..her eyes narrowed suspiciously, her mind immediately supplying examples of the kinds of things young males dreamed of. Then, she shook it off, realizing it was the exact same thing Kazeatari had made a point of. _Dammit! He wasn't like that-!_

Another whimper.

Her gaze drifted to the contortion of his face, brow wrinkling, creases beneath his eyes. _He looked...sad_. _Like he was...going to cry_. Liquid glistened like stray rain droplets caught in his lashes. "Tensa..hey," she felt strange then. The feeling was different... Kei was vaguely aware of her hand extending then stopping to rest a few inches above the barrier. "Whatever it is, it's just a dream. It's not real- I'm here now. Tensa..."

The moon cutter's face had transformed into a mask of anguish. Painful agony written in every line and smooth plain. His chest quavered, soft sobs racking within.

"It's just a dream. Come on! Snap out of it! I'm here..." her fingers closed, folding tightly. "I'm here." Helpless was how she felt, watching the sword descend deeper into whatever private hell was tormenting him. _What could he be seeing?_ _Ichigo dying-?_ At the thought of the Shinigami sub, she suddenly recalled a very different night and place.

_When Ichigo dreamed of his mother_.

And _she_ had comforted him back to sleep.

Briefly Kei considered breaking the barrier only to acquire closeness but then thought he would take offense once he had gained consciousness. So, she settled for leaning as close as she dared to the high-level field, her lips moving quietly to an old song.

In time, her eyes trained so studiously on his form, detected a lessening. A relaxing of his features. She stepped back when he began to shift. The first droplets dotted the back of her neck and spattered uselessly against the dome. He was waking up.

Kei maintained some distance when his eyes opened. Unfocused to the sky then moving toward her. His mouth was in its usual hard, thin line, his small brows straight by his scowl. He looked unhappy. _Maybe he knew she had been there all along-?_

With a single gesture, she dispelled the Kyomon.

"Are you..." _alright?_ Kei wanted to ask. _To know_. She wanted to go and wrap her arms around him and hold him close. _So, close to make sure he was alright_. She fought it off, crushing it beneath the weight of memory from other times she had tried to get close. _See, that's what will happen_, she told her instinctual side. Shoving it deeper away.

"-you seem fine now." Kei kept her face straight. Expressionless even. "I wasn't going to come tonight." Her stomach muscles clenched as he took a few steps nearer. He stopped then. With effort she tried to appear nonchalant, figuring he wouldn't care either way. "But, someone asked me to."

"Tomorrow?" she was surprised when he spoke. The slightest note of hope coloring his tone. Will you come tomorrow? But the full sentence remained unspoken yet the meaning was carried through.

"Oh-" for a moment it was on her tongue to say _yes_. _Yes, she would_, but then she remembered Yuzu and her promise. "-That's right." she wondered how she could've forgotten something so important. "Tomorrow I'm going to be with Ichigo. It's been a while, you know. I have to try and fix our relationship." She meant to act like it didn't matter, despite having laid out already in her room, the new outfit from her presents.

"I see." his tone was frigid. She could tell he had still been hurt.

_I need to go_. She couldn't take those looks he was giving her. Like a kicked dog or an animal wounded by its master. To see them more would be to give in. To approach and risk his harsh words. She didn't want to fight for that would leave bitterness.

"I'll be going-"

His boots tapped quietly against the concrete, a dull shunk as the black sword was eased out of the ground. "Since, you're already here-" Tensa wasn't going to let it go.

Kei was starting to hate him for it. "Not tonight." she frowned, affecting tiredness. "I'm not really in the mood-"

The moon cutter smirked unpleasantly. Cruelly. "What? Are you afraid I'll bruise you black and blue before Ichigo gets to see you?"

She saw the curl of his lip and was angered by it. "No, of course not!" her hands fisted slightly. _Did he want this? Did he derive enjoyment from spitting cruel words in her face all in a semblance of playing that he loved her? Maybe he...liked hurting her._ "Can't I just not...want to exchange blows? Dammit! Your skills aren't even worth my time! I don't even know what the hell Toya was-" she snapped, catching then something in his expression.

"What did..you say?" It had been wiped clean of all emotion.

Stunned. _What did he think-?_ She puzzled over it. "Toya was the one who pushed me to come back here. He seemed to think highly of your skills for some reason, that's why I-" she saw his hand tighten around the hilt of his sword. Clenching. His jaw rippled, tightening as if he were in pain.

"-Hey, is everything alright?" Kei bit her lip, longing to reach out. _Maybe something was really wrong-maybe he was hurt_- her mind kept repeating a mantra of the things that could've caused such ache in his soul. _Tensa_... her hands started to shake.

"Get out." he murmured barely above a whisper.

She thought she had heard wrong. "Tensa, look." her legs carried her forward. It hurt her to see him in such a state. She wanted to comfort him. _She had to_.

"I didn't me-" _mean what I said_.

"GET OUT NOW!" he screamed at her.

Kei sighed. _He was so much like a child_. She still reached out-

His dark eyes flashed, burning pain reflected in them. "Getsuga-Tenshou!"

The white crescent consumed her arm. _His anger was fueling it_-

Her left swiped out, fingers numbing from the immense loss of blood. "Mugetsu!" She couldn't even hear her own voice in the howling whoosh of the pure energy. Black erupted from Getsu-ten. It wasn't fast enough...Kei gritted her teeth. "G-Gesshoku-!" The fifth phase that of the lunar eclipse expanded in a circle around her entire body as the moon fang ripped into her.

- her eyes shot open. The white canopy above blurred into form. She moved, savage pain tore at her chest, clawing at the wetness of her shoulder. Shakingly her left hand snatched at it, desperate to withhold the scream aching to tear from her throat. Her fingers encountered..._emptiness?_

"..m-my a-arm?"

Only a stump remained of her right shoulder.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

The sword fell from his hand.

Tensa stared down at the shaking fingers, his bare palm throbbing from the grip he had maintained on the black hilt. The last vestiges of the Getsuga-Tenshou became mere fragmentary wisps of energy, dispersing in the wind. His eyes fell to the red splash like paint across the ground. _So, much of it_.

He touched it. Dragging fingers through it.

It wasn't his. A few scraps of black cloth fluttered, he snatched at that next only to have it crumple away to cinder. _I...I attacked her_. He could feel the trace of Getsu-ten, the salted copper of blood and the sickeningly sweet smell of burnt flesh.

_I. Hurt her_.

His fingers lifted to his mouth. He licked the blood from them. It tasted like her reiatsu. _Warmly bitter_. His hands plowed through the crown of his hair, grasping at the roots. It was starting to rain. Rain. Droplets splashed his skin, while still more spattered the pooled blood. He stared between his fingers, then dove immediately for the round circle of red crystal. Positioning his body beside it, he covered the largest pool, setting the mirror inside it. Within seconds, every single spatter had been absorbed. He covered it with his fingertips, laying his cheek down against the cold ground. _He didn't deserve to look at her_.

His eyes slid shut, droplets more than rain rolling down.

_He didn't deserve anything but loneliness_.

Tensa curled into a ball, weeping long and hard as the rain continued to fall.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

A scar. Her fingers trailed over the raised, rigid surface. No pain. But, it wouldn't go away. Maybe her powers were lessening. She pulled on the mauve tunic, reading the Italian writing backwards in the mirror. The new skin felt supple. Soft on her palm and the back of her hand. The tendons hadn't been broken in yet. She stared at her left, knowing she was lucky to be trained ambidextrously.

Her hand flexed. Getsu-ten manifested in it. _My reflexes_... her expression darkened. _I hesitated_. _Because I thought he wouldn't do that to me_..._I'm so stupid_.

(*)*)*)

"You look pale. Is everything alri-" Kagami's comment was directed toward her as she made her way to the buffet server. Kazeatari was already seated halfway across the room yet at the sound of his voice looked up. Then, looked again, a furrow appearing.

"I'm fine." Kei was on the verge of snapping. Yet her tone remained vaguely non-biting. "The blood loss made me feel weak for a while and regenerating my arm at the same time was a little difficult- but otherwise, I. Am absolutely fine."

Silence. The water wielder stared at her, his mouth twitching, eyes widening. "-Regenerating your arm? What the hell happened!"

She turned to him, her plate carefully balanced. "Oh, just that I was struck by the Getsuga-Tenshou. Don't worry though- I managed to rescue my bed linens from certain crimson stains."

Toya came forward, his head shaking slightly. "You-you mean that sword...attacked you?"

She blinked; somewhere in the background Kazeatari's fork clattered to the tabletop. "Yes." Kei said shortly. "I suppose that's what you could say."

(*)*)*)Black tower, Toya's mindscape(*)*)*)

_This isn't what I wanted_.

Happiness wasn't a foreign emotion to the mimicking sword. There was a time when the tower had been full of windows and sunlight had poured within. Happy times. Shadows didn't care for the light, but it had been different then and he had done his best to mirror his wielder's happiness back.

Then. Everything had changed. The tower rocked.

The windows and glorious sunshine he had come to be fond of; vanished. Shuttered up leaving only interminable darkness within.

People whom had lost their happiness were people whom had given up.

But, giving up; wasn't a weakness to the mimicking sword.

_"You aren't...going to stop me?" On that night in the darkness, the gleam of a dagger was poised to a sweating throat. Reddened, swollen eyes from tears stared at the misty form._

_"It's your choice." The sword with no true form said. "For good or ill. Just don't do anything to get __me__ broken."_

Choice. His wielder had chosen life then without yelling- without being told he was weak for giving up.

One window after so many years had opened near the top. One tiny window in the tall, winding tower. The mimicking sword liked that window and the tiny moonlight that filtered in through it.

Moonlight.

He shook his head now. "She has to be made _happy_..!"

Happy people didn't give up then.

Because they had something to _live for_.

'Why couldn't you make her _happy_, Tensa!" The mimicking sword wailed softly. So quietly even though the one bemoaned could not hear. "Why do you have to hurt her?"

The sob echoed in the dark tower.

"I thought you loved her-!"

(*)*)*)Unknown region...

_Such a sad little blade_.

His eyes, golden motes flittering through them turned to the sword lying on the building side. The ragged ends of the cloak were saturated with moisture- from the boy's depression.

Madness hadn't touched the mind of the strong-willed spirit.

Merely loneliness. Isolation from everything had stolen some of the humanity away from it... all the more. Within the world of the mirror, the image of Kurosaki Ichigo smiled softly.

The sword _wanted_ what he _wanted_.

The reflection trailed his fingertips searingly across the inside of the invisible barrier, testing the limits of its power.

He would have her heart even if he held it beating in his hand.

-TBC...

AN: -.- *must sleep* (apologies for any little mistakes) I will proofread later on today. Thanks for reading.

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated and loved :)


	66. She will be loved Part1

_I will burn for you_  
_Feel pain for you_  
_I will twist the knife and bleed my aching heart_  
_And tear it apart_

_-#1 Crush, Garbage_

* * *

ShiKai CH.58: She will be loved Pt.1

The scenario was one similar though the differences were by no means small.

_Suzumebachi_ ... when Kazeatari thought of the hornet/hybrid, disappointment as sharp as a knife yet as piercing as the western wind stabbed her soul. Seconds...mere moments and everything would've been lost.

The Homonka...

_Do you desire my death as well? _So, much pain. So, much bitterness.

_You chose your wielder- a temporary imitation over the one who brought you into being. _

Kagami had been right all along. _If you're with a Shinigami then you are not mine_.

"What are you...going to do about this?" Kazeatari asked softly. Kei glanced over, a hint of confusion in her expression.

"What do you mean?"

"He must be punished as an example to the other Zanpaku-to." she said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Kagami stared as well, consternation knitting his brow. "Hold on a minute-"

"Y-You're saying I should...kill Tensa?" Kei sounded strange then. Faintly disbelieving. Partly something else.

"If you'd rather phrase it that way, then yes." Kazeatari folded her hands neatly before her on the placemat after pushing her plate to the side. She wasn't hungry at all. "That Zanpaku-to has shown rebellion clearly-"

"He wasn't rebellious!" Kei snapped defensively. "He was just-"

"Just _what?"_

A tension filled silence descended.

Kagami looked at her, "Kazeatari..." nothing more. No question.

Toya fiddled nervously with the gravy spoon wishing it seemed to want to disappear into the floor. And Kei...Kei couldn't meet her eyes.

"...you can do it, can't you?" Finally Kazeatari spoke again. This time aiming for that which lay at the heart of the matter. _Can you end that sword's existence without remorse?_

The Fire wielder lost expression. As devoid of emotion as the surface of a mirror. For moments neither moved. Kagami between them, eyes closing then, leaving everything behind. It was her decision. Her choice.

"Yes."

"Go-"

Kei silenced her with a look. "But. Only if you destroy Suzumebachi."

_Their connection was eternal_. Fire knew what had been closest to her mind. "I will."

They looked solely at each other, attempting to read the lie in the other's eyes.

"You may want to do it soon, Keiko. That sword strikes me as the self-preservation type." she picked up her fork again in a business-like manner of rubbing it off with her napkin. "He isn't." Kei rejoined lightly, placing her back to the room.

"Actually...I wouldn't think so either." Kagami added in support then shrugged when Kazeatari looked at him. "Merely _my_ opinion."

"You don't think he would even try to fight back?" her brows drew together finding the entire thing a mystery. Toya moved politely back as the fire wielder finished serving herself.

"I don't."

"But! Even if his own existence were threatened-"

"Tensa is very..unselfish. If he thought it would go against his very reason for existing then he would have no qualms of submitting to me."

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

Cold was the feeling that the moon cutter felt, lying as he was curled on his side. The rain was a steady, incessant pounding to the small world; the sword feeling then as if he were the only thing in it.

_I am_. He realized. _I am alone utterly_.

He thought of rising. Standing as he had in the past, watching the sky for years waiting for the rain to stop. _What was the use?_ Apathetic, he couldn't find the strength to rise. There was no shelter to take refuge in, no books, no music. Nothing of Ichigo's common everyday life permeated the veil between his mind and spiritual powers.

Did that mean the boy had an empty head?

Though he- as _Zangetsu_ wouldn't have thought such an insulting thing about the human, _Tensa_ had more of an opinion. Therefore he was inclined to think of _a garden_. His world was all steel and adamantine paned windows. Nothing...

_Getsu-ten's mindscape_...the answer came so swiftly to him, he wondered about it. _The garden...surely he could_-

_Any Zanpaku-to had the right to manifest themselves within the confines of the Kouseitan'i's mindscape_.

_Besides, she wouldn't be there_.

His eyes closed. Then, opened to the moonlit night. The silence of the world was welcoming, a hush over everything. The stone steps were as crumbled as he remembered, his steps muted. _It was different somehow_...Tensa puzzled over it. Glancing around the descending levels, noting the new outcroppings of fauna from within the deadened, twisted masses. _Coming back to life..?_

He had seen before, the utter ruin of the sunken gardens and what the miniature of Tsukikage had become. _What had changed?_ Tensa wasn't so arrogant to believe he was the cause. _Perhaps...Ichigo?_ The moon cutter frowned, somehow disliking that assumption. He would not be jealous of his wielder yet there was some sensation of disquiet disturbing his peace.

After a time of walking, down, down into the garden, he began to recognize the broken statuary. _This was_...for a moment he had stepped back in time. _Scattered urns in a pinkish stone that glittered minuscule sparkles. A miniature column_... he passed his hand over the top of it fondly. _Where I used to..stand_.

His gaze traveled over the familiar area in particular the tree at the end. _That tree...such hope_. He went to it, standing beneath the tall skeletal tendrils. Back then it was a withering green. Tensa sighed to himself, dropping to the ground, resting his back against the roughened bark. The place resonated with her power, with the spark deep inside himself.

...being immersed in it. "Keiki..."

A voice spoke up from above. "You know, wielder dearest wouldn't like being called that."

The voice was one he recognized. Tensa twisted around, hissing softly. "Touda-!"

A blur of trailing white and dark skimmed the air then a female with a pale complexion and intense dark blue eyes lifted, a mildly vicious curl twisted her mouth. "Relax. I'm not going to do anything to you."

Tensa glared, sensing the underlying reminder. "I did not think you would." His gaze hovered on her face. "I see you've given up being a false imitation of your master. Like a harlot."

"Such an acerbic little tongue. If I were Byakko, I'd have cut that little tongue out." Touda chided. "Be I as I am, I much preferred _Zangetsu_. It was so much more amusing to see that pretty little flush creeping up."

"What is it you _want?"_ he wanted to be alone. Not questioned by such an aberrant creature.

The bird laughed. "Isn't that my line, or something similar. What the hell are you doing in my domain?"

He visibly bristled, eyes slanting away. "It isn't solely your realm."

"Oh, then you've come to gloat over how much damage your words have had on the wielder."

"No." he said coolly. "I have never seen a flicker of harm nor hurt displayed."

"Ah, so that's where you garner the assumption that she hasn't a heart for you to possess." Touda paused carefully, eyes tilting up to regard the slivers of night sky between the trailing wisps of branches. "What do you think of me then? As in, what does _Zangetsu_ think of this black phoenix?"

"Something foul and unutterably hideous." he said tonelessly.

The bird let loose a rippling laugh. "How true your emotions are, moon cutter. I confess, I in part held suspicion on the substance of your heart. Being a spiritual weapon meant for cutting and piercing things I doubted the reality of _your heart!_ Please pardon me...as I see I was mistaken."

The entire speech made little sense. He stiffened nonetheless, his mouth hardening. "Why would you place doubt against my being incapable of feeling.._love?"_

"That has little significance as to _why_. I see now however.." a tiny secretive smile played on her mouth. "To you she is the most beautiful, radiant thing in existence. Such constancy is admirable-"

"The point of this all- being?" Tensa was tired and wanted to rest. He wanted to lie down against the ground, closing his eyes to the world and simply _be_.

"That you deserve a tiny reward." Touda leered suddenly, smirking when he looked away.

"I do not want it."

"Tell me." The bird was suddenly business-like. "Do you know where Ichi-berry's heart is?"

_What did this have to do with anything?_ After a short silence, Tensa shrugged slightly, "yes." In his mind's eye he could see a building different from all the rest.

The bird nodded to herself, then leaned forward again, blue eyes bright like two pinpoints of flame. "And where...is the wielder's heart?"

Tensa thought a moment then looked straight ahead. "The castle." It was the most permanent thing within the mindscape other than the moon. Yet the moon was Getsu-ten's. He didn't think she loved Getsu-ten. He did _not_ want to think she possessed an emotion similar in faceting to love for Getsu-ten.

"Not the castle. Try again."

"The moon." Though he doubted it.

"You're even farther." Complained Touda, pointing downward with one slim finger.

"The garden."

A sigh. "What has the most destruction wrought in all this world?"

_The garden_. He hated the bird's riddles. His dark brows drew together in a tiny V, mouth dropping into a moue of sulkiness. "..the..." Then, another recollection swam up for his inspection. Touda watched his expression closely. Soft incredulity, bewilderment then finally understanding.

"It is hidden unlike Ichigo-kun's which is the tallest- largest building of them all." The bird said solemnly.

"Why..are you telling me this?" he could think of no amusement the black phoenix could gain from the passing on of this knowledge. _Her heart was...in the ground? Buried deep..?_

"I don't know." The bird said, sounding more truthful in the confusion he could clearly hear. "I saw..something. A single flash of something before my spiritual body- the form I can no longer hold anymore, was crushed utterly."

_Something..?_ He didn't understand.

"Zangetsu, Ichigo-kun doesn't like the rain because his mother died in it, not because it swallowed up someone else, right?"

"...What?" for a moment Tensa felt the wildness of the storm raging inside the newborn's mind. The place he had stepped into. The world his new wielder, infant Kurosaki Ichigo had created.

Rain. Rain. And sadness.

Such anguish that no babe so new to life should've known.

Touda saw his expression then looked away. "..Never mind. Forget I said anything at all."

"..Why?" his voice threatened to crack yet he had to _know_. "..do you ask?"

Touda shook her head violently. "No! Forget it...merely one thing more confirm for me. What was the first word Ichigo-kun spoke?"

"..mama." _for Masaki_. Yet Tensa still thought of another. One the wind had cried.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

They didn't fit. The bridge hung askew on her nose, the eyes behind the brown panes blinked. Then, she pushed them back up only to have them slide back down again. Had Kazeatari bought the wrong size by mistake? Kei frowned at her reflection, picking up the sleek little black case, reading the card she had neglected to notice lying at the bottom.

_They were men's wear. _She stared at the tag once more then slipped the shades off. _What a waste of money, she didn't know any_-

Unless- no! she silently berated herself for even thinking of it. He wouldn't take it anyway- her fingers tightened around the folded frames that she had urge to suddenly hurl at the wall. -he would probably just throw them back at her something. Not understanding that it was.._a gift_.

Her hands dropped to her skirt, gaze tilting unseeingly to the tiled floor. _Why am I even thinking of him now?_ It was confusing to say the least of why images of the past and the few present moments kept intruding.

_"I am Tensa Zangetsu. I have come to offer myself for your use." Kneeling on the higher stone plateau, holding out the black sword balanced perfectly in both hands_.

_The intangible perception of arms. Gently embracing her from behind_. The feeling had been constant during the time she had carried him.

_Had it been him?_ Kei never remembered a time then when he had treated her differently. Uncommonly kind. Singularly tender.

Only when he touched her face- her eye. His touch had been surprisingly cool, skin slightly chapped. She had never known until then how real a ghost cutter could feel. So, gentle. Uncaring of the blood that stained his hand.

_So, real_. Her lips trembled. She despised how she felt at that moment, like she would've done anything at all. Anything in the world just for him to touch her like that again.

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

Kurosaki Isshin was a rational man though that in itself meant little in the scheme of things.

For the twentieth time since arising that morning, his gaze traveled upward to the mingled shifting of footsteps and weight being distributed in the upstairs room. _Ichigo_...his son's name had always invoked a sense of conflicted paternal pride and remorse. Yet none of those feelings were present in the mind of the former Shinigami Taichou, seated as he was at the table, a steaming cup of untouched coffee near his elbow.

The girls were checking through their overnight bags; Yuzu's occasional run back to pick up this or that had Karin muttering after her about -_no room_- or -_we-won't need that_, _Yuzu_-. Both brought a smile to his face. Soon, they would be packing even the kitchen sink...

Isshin sipped at his coffee, faintly bitter. The creak of a lower step coming down, made him look up. Stiffen though there wasn't any reason to. "..You're up early." Affecting a calm tone one might've thought viewing the scene as a stranger that the older man and the teenage boy weren't father and son.

"Hn." Ichigo's lack of reply was a means of escape. For Isshin to quietly turn his attention away. _But, this was his-son!_ The manner of hesitance in which his thoughts reflected upon the stooping figure rummaging in the fridge were by no means of the norm.

"I..hear you're going to have company today." Nonchalance was what he aimed for yet his sentence met a completely blank look.

"...huh? No, no one. Why would you think that?"

"I-I thought..." Isshin recalled with extreme clarity the night before last when after dinner Yuzu had approached him saying then that..._she_- _Kei-san_ was going to spend the day- maybe night there. _With his son_. Like a good- if not somewhat careless father, he had said _okay_.

Trusting then in the time-honored tradition that hanky-panky would occur and maybe...just maybe his son would snap back into what he was before-

_His son_. Not...something Isshin couldn't look into the face of.

"Why would you think I was going to have someone over?" Ichigo was pouring orange juice from the carton into a small glass. Isshin refocused on the bright sunny liquid so near to the boy's natural hair color, his hand tautening on the mug. _Caution_. Every sense in his body tingled. _He...was afraid of his own son?_

_Preposterous_. "Isn't that what every teenage boy does when he's left alone- have a _girl_ over?"

Ichigo didn't rise to the bait. Glowering slightly, amber eyes lowering to the juice in his glass. "..There is only one for me." Then, he downed half of it, breaking off the question burning in the back of Isshin's mind. Only one...? _The answer was clear_. The Fire Element.

The one the man feared above all else. _She_..

"Ichigo..." Isshin looked upon his son with pity. It was still there, every single particle of knowledge beaten into the very fiber of the former Taichou. Every scroll. Every word. Isshin couldn't countenance the pretty teenage girl with that one from centuries past.

_Kanae_.

"Yeah, dad?" his son was looking at him now. For the slenderest of moments, Isshin was tempted to confess that which ate away at his conscience. Then, it was gone. He breathed in, seeming to inhale the scent of burnt things. He was a coward. Such a coward.

"Nothing, Ichigo." He smiled, on the verge of a leer. "Just don't embarrass your old man with a lack of technique!" Then, he was back to being the dumb old dad. The one that Yuzu sighed at and said 'oh, dad!' Karin rolled her eyes, carrying both their bags down.

Ichigo favored him with a scathing look, every inch for that moment his son. "Perverted old man." Then, stomped back upstairs, grumbling about _old men in general_.

Isshin relished it all.

Even if one day his son would hate him.

(*)*)*)

School. It was the same mundane thing of ignoring the Sensei's veiled deprecatory remarks on his previous absences. Studiously he avoided making eye contact with Rukia, choosing instead to scribble at the corner of his page. Two words. Ancient words of an incantation. It wasn't Kido or even Japanese. Yet they had rolled off his tongue easily.

_That and the Ketsu-in_. He had never thought taking control over his Zanpaku-to- proving he was the one in command could've felt so...good. For once it wasn't one-sided. It wasn't the old man yelling at him. _Zangetsu_...

The briefest flash of the sword's bloodied face passed through his consciousness.

_"I know what you are-! You'll never ha-" _

Ichigo started, a hand on his shoulder jerking back.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun! Did I startle you?" Inoue's sweet voice came from behind.

"-Uh, no. Sorry, I was spacing out there." He covered the top sheet with another, not wanting his scribbling to be seen. "Did you want something?" Inoue blushed when he looked back at her. Hesitant, shy as she stumbled over her invitation.

"Well, you see I thought it'd be nice since we haven't seen Kurosaki-kun in a while, that maybe we could all go out for ice-cream!"

_By all of us..? Even though it's almost winter?_

Chad nodded solemnly, inputting his assent without words.

"..I guess.." he started gathering up his books. Inoue clasped her hands, looking so excited that for a moment he felt bad about dashing her hopes. _I should...hang out with everybody. It might get my mind off_..

"Yeah sure. Sounds great."

(*)*)*)

Rangiku joined them outside the gates.

Inoue's bubbling giggles were contagious, her good-humor spreading to everyone. Ishida even managed to crack a smile and hide his amusement at the peculiar cone flavors the orangette declared she wanted. Ichigo felt his own mood lighten somewhat, walking down the streets in their company.

He could almost have said he didn't think about her once. Yet Rangiku dragged _her _into the conversation suddenly when he had come to realization.

"Nothing from Yamamoto Keiko-san?"

Inoue to his left, paled slightly in the midst of saying something to Ishida.

"No, I-" _what could he think with everything he had seen? Everything he knew-?_ _Hadn't Rangiku seen her with Zangetsu that night...?_ he knew what _he_ had seen. Ichigo felt the breeze caress his face, ruffle his hair. The wind carried a familiar scent, known like the sound of his friends' voices.

Slowly as if in a dream, he turned fully around.

There, she stood. A light purple yukata top with a print of large simplistic crimson flowers, a narrow yellow obi was clasped as accent around her waist. A tight clinging skirt in a dark rust color was paired with thick stacked boots that reached just below the knee.

"Speak of the devil!" Rangiku exclaimed, a note of something insinuating like a vein of dislike coloring her tone. "It's you-!"

"Ichigo.." her lips slipped into a smile. A real one that made his heart jump, his pulse race. How could he have forgotten what it felt like to have it just for him? She sprinted forward, Shin-Soku making her image waver in two steps before she had collided into his chest, arms twining around his neck.

"Kei." He grasped her around, securing her body against his. _What're you doing here?_ Was what he wanted to ask. He could barely hope for, _did you come to see me?_ _Am I forgiven?_ he felt her return the hug just as fiercely, her head turning, her lips grazing his jaw.

_She meant to kiss him in front of everyone_.

Ichigo let his eyes slide shut, longing to give into the melting sensation, let it drain everything away. He wanted to kiss her-feel her lips on his.

Then, a murmur echoed from deep within_**. '...a friend, Ichigo. A friend.'**_

He stiffened, grip automatically loosening. Averting his face, the brush of her lips trailed a slim path of fire along his cheek. _What I could've had_. he caught the drawing of her brows, a line on her forehead like she couldn't understand why he had turned away at the last moment.

She tried again and he thrust her away, mumbling, "sorry. Why'd you come?" _Today_, he groaned in silence. Rangiku looked upon everything with a certain triumph in her stance, a smirk dangling on the ends of her mouth.

"To see you." Kei said.

"I wish..you hadn't." he gripped the strap of his bag, swiftly walking forward.

Away from her confusion.

(*)*)*)

Things were going...not well. Kei stared through the dappled sunshine, her lips compressing into a thin, apathetic line. Ichigo called to her for the fifth time to go and _play_ with them.

"It's fun!" he said.

_It's not_. She thought, declining with a brief, stiff nod of her head. On her mouth reposed the faintest of smiles to lessen his hurt had there been any. Then, when he turned away at Inoue's voice- Inoue's happy words as she bounced around quite happily in her short grey skirt.

The smile fell. _Couldn't he see that she was dressed for an occasion entirely different from playing ball in the Park?_ Her hands folded in her lap, the tautness of the material swathed her hips sleekly. Her fingers tugged on the end of the tie, the round circular buckle glinting in the light. _Or maybe he simply wanted to humiliate her in front of them all_.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us, Keiko-san?"

Kei smiled ever so saccharinely at the honey-blonde woman wishing she had simply let the Arrancar wipe the Fukutaichou off the face of the earth that time. "No, no, Matsumoto-san. I'm not feeling very well right now." Ichigo heard her pleasant tone, glancing her way. He seemed happy.

"However, thank you for the kind offer." Kei reveled in the woman's blanch. Let Ichigo think everything was.._okay_. _That they were getting along just fine_. Sometimes her own hypocrisy made her skin crawl.

Her restless gaze roved around then dropped once more to the small satchel its print a spray of plum blossoms in light mauve she had chosen for its long strap-length. Her hand slid along the zipper track, discreetly slipping out her cell. _May as well take a memory or two_, she thought, flicking a few buttons to switch to the camera setting.

Once the light-setting had been chosen, she lifted it up, peering through the lens.

_One of Ichigo_...

He was posed sideways, a smile curving his mouth.

Her finger rested over the flash.

An apple green eye leaned in and filled the lens.

"-hell?" she started violently, her hand jerking back.

The hybrid cat grinned toothily, "hello-hello! How are you, your eminence?"

_This was a-a Zanpaku-to spirit, but_-

"Hey, is everything alright, Kei?" Her head snapped up at the note of concern lacing his tone and his brisk stride across the small field.

"-yeah, uh..." _can he not see it?_ Kei bit her lip nervously, her glance darting to where the spirit had moved only to discover blessed _absence_. -she's gone-no... her gaze swiveled back to Ichigo, catching flowing black. _Zangetsu!_

Kei paled then felt her cheeks flare warmly. _It's through...my eye_.

"..Hmm...you feel a little warm. Are you running a fever?" The cat sat back on the left side, resting a hand against her forehead.

Ichigo remained unconvinced, approaching as his Zanpaku-to did. Hovering only a few centimeters behind. When he leaned forward, Zangetsu did as well. "You don't look like you're alright...pardon the expression, but you look like you've seen a ghost." Ichigo chuckled quietly under his breath, clasping her cheek in one hand.

_You don't know how right you are_, she thought. Her split vision showed her the darkly scowling countenance of the Zanpaku-to while through the other only emptiness behind Ichigo's right shoulder. _This is starting to give me a headache_... the feline hybrid was still chattering away.

"..I have something for you." she forcefully looked down, fumbling in her bag. Within seconds her fingers had closed upon it, the black sunglass case. "Here," she held it out, watching the mingled emotions of surprise and finally delight. _She had never given him anything before_.

"T-Thanks! I-I have something for you too! It's at home though." he was blushing like before. Nearly stumbling over his words. Kei wondered at the change from aggressive to cold then to fluttering embarrassment. "You're welcome." she said calmly, preferring to keep her gaze averted to the side. _How would Tensa look...flushing so warmly..?_

Her lips curved into an unwilling smile. That faded remembering Kazeatari's words. "You should get back to the game, Ichigo. I'm fine..in fact I..have a call to make." She managed to keep up the facade, smiling again to reassure him, catching his hand as he stepped back. Briefly she clasped it, her eyes focused solely on his face.

_"If in the end you come to the realization that you cannot destroy Tensa Zangetsu, then I will do it for you. If that comes to pass, then you will simply render Suzumebachi to nothing in my stead."_

Fire and Wind. Two disparate elements.

_"Agreed." _

The promise echoed in her mind. Kei could not look at the sword she had promised to extinguish like an object created- cherished then discovered as flawed. Imperfect.

_I will do what needs to be done_. Gradually she let go of Ichigo's hand. Hearing his stride back. Her downward tilted gaze did little to hide the one still standing in front of her.

"Who is your Shinigami?" Kei murmured in an undertone to the feline hybrid whom was sitting back, legs crossed, watching her pensively.

"Ran-chan." The cat said, pointing to the honey-blonde Fukutaichou.

_Rangiku Matsumoto...I should have known_. She snapped her purse shut, rising as her fingers closed over the cell. Deliberately she avoided looking ahead, passing so close to the taller spirit that she felt the exhaled breath ghost her hair. So close that his reiatsu brushed hers ever so softly leaving only the impression of quiet blue sadness.

(*)*)*)

_Elegant_, he supposed was the word to describe her. It took him a moment to realize she was _his_. So, out of place she seemed, sitting on the bench, hands folded, chin tilted up.

_Out of place with everything_.

Yuzu had arranged it, that explained his dad's cryptic remarks earlier in the morning.

_My one and only_.. something still bothered him about the picture they made.

So, he called over to her. "Come and join us!"

They were simply playing sport, yet he was already breathing hard. Inoue had tied her hair back and was giggling that _she was ready to catch the ball_. Chad obliged her and passed it. Another round of giggles burst forth anew.

"It's fun!" he added, hoping to incite her to lessen the image of a Goddess and bring her down to his level of reality.

Kei shook her head curtly. The slightest hint of distaste coloring her expression before she smiled faintly. But, Ichigo caught it. _She wasn't happy_.

_But, why? _

_Was it because of earlier-? _

It was his turn next. Catching high to Inoue's cheer.

Then, suddenly Rangiku spoke up. To his left, dressed down in a T-shirt and jeans that still managed to show off her considerable assets despite being plain. Yet even that didn't hold a candle to _**her**_ looks, he thought loyally.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us, Keiko-san?"

"No, no, Matsumoto-san. I'm not feeling very well right now." She answered demurely, smiling sweetly to the woman. He had a brief moment of concern. _She didn't feel good? She should've said something from the beginning! Rather than_...

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue's voice punctuated his thoughts.

He looked up just in time to catch her happy wave and smile. A smile of his own sliding on. Some of his worry melted away. _Sometimes her mood was just too infectious_..

"-hell!" The startled exclamation came from the other side of the field. His head snapped up, turning swiftly back to see a stunned expression on her face, one he had never seen before.

"Hey, is everything alright, Kei?" He started forward, hearing faintly Rangiku's quiet snort of a disapproval. _Why though..?_ He had to make sure she was alright! _Dammit!_

The girl looked up at his approach, her gaze immediately slanting to the side as if searching for something only she could see. "-yeah, uh..." her hesitance was unnatural. Especially the pallor then sudden color suffusing her cheeks when she looked at him again.

"You don't look like you're alright...pardon the expression, but you look like you've seen a ghost." he couldn't resist reaching out to capture her face. Cradling her cheek in one hand, feeling the warmth radiating from her skin.

"..I have something for you."

He felt some surprise, watching her dig jerkily through her small purse, eventually withdrawing a slim black case. _Glasses?_ The case bore a logo of a company he had never heard of yet sounded foreign. He accepted it anyway, a sensation like happiness spilling into the frosted insides of his soul. _She had given him something_- which reminded him.

Hesitantly. Shyly. Now he began to worry it wasn't good enough. "T-Thanks! I-I have something for you too! It's at home though." He knew he was grinning, red-faced like a fool but didn't care. _It was like before...everything_.

Like a second chance.

"You're welcome." Kei said softly, looking away, seeming to have a slight glow to her cheeks. The smile she wore slipped some as if recalling something unpleasant. Before he could ask what it was, she had looked back, meeting his eyes. "You should get back to the game, Ichigo. I'm fine..in fact I..have a call to make."

A brief spot of anger flared that even then they could bother her peace. They- _the Juppongatana. Kagami_. His mouth tightened yet he still acquiesced, not particularly wanting to quarrel so pettily over the absent Shinigami. Kei caught at his free hand, maintaining a gentle clasp. _A reminder_, he took it as. Finding his mouth curving again.

She was reminding him that no one could tear them apart.

_No one_. He went back to his spot, hooking the clip of the case to the waistband of his jeans.

_Not Zangetsu, not Kagami. Not even the fate that threatened to snatch her away into darkness where not even the tiniest flame existed_.

He would become strong enough to defeat them all.

(*)*)*)

Kei strolled for a time. Walking along an outer path, ignoring the looks of the Karakura townspeople. She didn't like this place. Not its tininess. Not the high concentration of spirit particles that drew Hollows in droves to it. _Only fire_.. she rounded a bend in the path, her boots thudding hollowly mingling with the two other pairs of footsteps behind her.

_Pure flame could raze the entire circumference of the town to utter decimation. Incinerating every spirit particle to nothing_.

"Whatcha' doing?" Haineko asked, infuriatingly close.

"Why did you follow me?" Kei retorted with a calmness she didn't feel. Leaving the question perfectly ambiguous as to whom she was addressing.

"Dunno.." two apple green eyes rolled upward, a sudden sprightly bounce forward as the cat extended her arms chasing after a bird. Kei stared after the display of felinity, an eyebrow rising. "Unbelievable."

"She is..the spirit of a felis catus. It is in her nature to possess some of the characteristics common to her origin."

Kei held her breath, yet she was unaware of doing so. "I'll..thank you for the informative reminder. Which in turn reminds me of why I threatened hell and high water had Touda ever partook of a worm since that's what birds eat."

To her surprise a quiet, deep-throated chuckle vibrated in the air.

She had never heard him laugh. Strangely, she liked the sound of it.

"Poo...it got away." Haineko sauntered back after a while, her bottom lip hanging out.

"Better luck next time." Kei said sympathetically then a moment later wondered why she had said anything. _Why did I..?_

The cat accepted it happily. A grin of tiny fangs erupting over her tanned face, reddish locks jouncing in positive excitement. "What should we do now?"

"We?" Kei didn't want the company of either Zanpaku-to. Particularly _not_ Matsumoto's.

"Yes, we!" Sparkling green eyes widened, hands grabbed the fire wielder by the shoulders. "We already walked, now what else can we do!"

_Nothing_. Kei wanted to snap. _Leave me alone_.

But, apparently the feline was as oblivious to her glare as _Ichigo_, for she started to drag _her_ forward. Maybe it was because Haineko wasn't a Fire sword, therefore not bound to follow the whims of another Elemental. Or maybe it was something else entirely.

"Stay." she said.

But, Zangetsu followed anyway.

Her command had lacked conviction.

Truth be told. _Maybe- just maybe she wondered to herself how a short time spent with two Zanpaku-to would be?_ So, she let herself be taken a few more steps; Haineko hummed an off-key tune.

The moment she had accepted the idea, easing into a steady pace to match Haineko's lope.

Her senses tingled. Of course...

She knew it was coming long before their piercing shrieks filled the sky. Before Haineko cried _Hollows!_

Kei didn't care about the humans going on their daily lives. She could've walked right by one being devoured and wouldn't have felt a single thing. Ichigo may have had a bleeding heart for everything that was weaker than him, but she didn't.

Which was why she walked on.

"The Hollows!" Haineko wailed again, frantically.

Kei half-turned so that a sliver of her profile was visible. "What of them?" As she spoke, the ground shook beneath the giant step. Her gaze sliding back to the large creature with matted grey fur, three-toed feet left huge indentations in the earth.

"I smell Shinigami on you!" It cackled gleefully.

She stared at it, eyeing its abject ugliness with distaste. "Must they always say that?" she murmured to no one in particular.

"Eminence!" Haineko yelled in warning. Zangetsu said nothing, watching in tight, dark silence.

"Hado 54, Haien." Kei raised her hand as if to give greeting then abruptly slashed sideways. The red Kido erupted in a burst of light, the Hollow's torso slumping down bereft of its head. "Filthy thing wasn't even worth the effort."

The cat's relief was evident, trotting up, fists covering her mouth. "Wow-wow-wow! Just like a Taichou!"

"What're you talking about?" Kei muttered, dusting her palms off. "I am a..." she couldn't speak. Her eyes that had wandered from the Hollow's dissolving mass had traveled further on. Falling on something that stood a few yards ahead.

Watching.

Her very _being_ was repulsed by it. "Do you...see that?"

Haineko looked. Cat ears twitched, lips slid apart to exclaim almost amazed. "A child?"

Kei could see it with both eyes. Yet she knew it wasn't human. She began backing up, hesitantly, slowly. Every single part of her screaming to run. To run away from it. Something solid and vaguely warm met her back. The sword's solidity stayed her, strengthened her crumbling rationality. _It was foolish to run_.

Zangetsu curved an arm around her waist.

The thing started to cry.

"Oh! Poor darling!" Haineko cooed, expression dissolving into pity. "He must be lost!"

Kei snatched at her wrist. "Don't!"

The cat turned to her, apple green eyes questioning. Somewhere in the distance they had left behind, she felt a reiatsu skyrocket. _Ichigo...but why was he using his ban-kai?_ Nothing made sense. "That thing isn't-" _human_.

There was an odd sort of moment when everything stood still.

The ground rumbled distantly, the heaviness of the air currents revolving outward seemed little more than waves of a mirage. The child's reptilian eyes opened.

She heard Ichigo's yell from above.

She heard Haineko's surprised cry.

Then, she was slammed backward, skidding hard along the breaking up ridge of the ground. The air had been knocked out of her lungs. Her skirt ripped, skin burning as it was cut open.

She choked. Fear was stealing in, numbing every fiber of her being. She was so _afraid_.

"Kei!" A curse after her name. "You bastard!"

_Ichigo_.

She felt the raw blackness of his power channeled into a single curved crescent. _The pure force of his anger_. _He was...angry for her. He was_ ..

All around, generations five and seven Hollows were crawling, scrambling to devour their fill of the people. Yet he had come without hesitation.

_He had left everyone behind for her_.

"Getsuga-" the quiet whoosh of energy crackled, darkening the sky itself. "-Tenshou!"

The moon fang tore into the path of the attack.

Reishii solidified beneath her palms, arms shaking, sweat and blood droplets mixing rolling down her skin. Her sleeves were ripped tatters. "I-Ichi-" she heard a sound that made her heart clench in fear.

The Shinigami sub screamed. Shrieked as if in horrific pain.

The sound tore into her soul. "Ichigo!" Her blurry eyes, leaked moisture. _Blood_, she thought, tears she realized as they splashed the ground in a slow tumbling crawl. Gravity. She breathed in against the thickening drag.

Then, it came again like some great roaring beast.

She couldn't move the damaged, bloodied limbs that served as legs.

Her eyes screwed shut tightly.

"Keiki!" Half a yell. Half desperation.

A body fell heavily over her.

She knew who it was. "You-"

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)(*)*)

"-you shielded me." The concrete was cool. Her clothing was in ruins. Her boots had fared far better, the crimson leather scuffed and scraped yet intact. Kei stared down at the dark streaks spiking her skin, shifting, easing her legs beneath her.

He sat, head bowed, hair a black curtain hiding his face. "You..." his vocal pattern was roughened. Lacking fluidity. His chest heaved, shoulders curving in. "Must be _protected_."

Kei felt a surge of indignance rise up. "Not to the point of causing yourself harm, Tensa!" her voice came out shriller than she had meant. Her forward motion a slight lunge, her nails scraping unintentionally his cheek. The moon cutter's chin tilted up, his dark brown eyes searching hers with a fixated intensity.

"You are worried about me.." the soft, quiet note of wonderment was thinly disguised. Barely present as if he dared not speak aloud of the emotion.

"Why wouldn't I be!" The very notion was absurd. Her hands dropped down to his chest, grasping at the material beneath them. "You-"

"Ichigo as well." Two tiny pinpricks of light glimmered within the depths of his eyes. The edge of her irritation lessened. Her gaze slanted downward, almost guiltily. She said softly, "I know."

She knew so much.

Everything Ichigo and his sword would do for _her_.

Kei had never known that feeling- sensation before. She was used to the threat of death- their consuming hatred for her continued existence. Laughing scornfully as they failed to kill her yet again. She felt so tired suddenly.

So, so very..._drained_.

She didn't know how to act anymore. "Are you hurt..badly?" she was aware of how tremulous and small her voice was. Ashamed somewhat of the lack of will.

"Can you stand?" Tensa asked, completely disregarding her question. Kei swallowed her snapping reminder of her lack of answer, murmuring instead, "I-I think so." Carefully, she shifted, her folded legs straightening. _So, far so good_. Kei was willing to try her luck, praying it held out as she tentatively halfway rose, her body partially bent forward. If she toppled now, she would fall right on him. _Somehow that thought wasn't so displeasing_..

"See?" she smirked with pride as she stood at her full height. Her legs felt a little wobbly, weak from the lack of circulation but otherwise they kept her up.

A vague smile flitted around the edges of the moon cutter's mouth yet he said nothing to account for it. Kei smoothed down the ragged pieces of her skirt, movement was freer now as the most intact piece barely covered her hips. _So, much for a nice outfit_. A little remorsefully, she studied the remains of her yukata top. The loose chignon she had gathered her hair into was non-existent, scraggly strands falling to her shoulders, mussed terribly from the assault. The hair-stick she had worn was nowhere to be found.

"You seemed to have had...some idea what it was..." he began carefully. Her eyes lifted to his face, noting with slight alarm the increasing pallor of it. She knew better than to speak of it however.

"What it..._was_."

The accusation wasn't far. _With her right eye, damaged to the natural light and world she could see the other dimension instead, the plain of reality where the Zanpaku-to spirits resided. _She had seen **It** through both. Did she dare speak its name now? That thing that never should've been released into the world of light ever again? Her memory as it was, had moments of fault. Lack. Gaping spaces where events had become little more than blackness in a long existence.

_That face_... from the depths she could see it floating before her mind's eye.

The face of a child, rounded cheeks like a cherubim.

She had seen it only once.

Once.

"It was one-"

The concrete echoed with a resounding boom. A cracking sound that split the air.

Kei felt it beneath her feet; a giving way.

The skyscraper broke apart.

Utter collapse. Darkness was below.

"Keik-" the moon cutter yelled desperately.

His hand reaching out for her was the last thing she saw.

(*)*)*)

She slammed back into her body. Gasping, clutching her stomach as the last of the spasms died away. _Tensa_...she thought, mind as disoriented from the jolting as the rest of her.

"Kei-san!" exclaimed Inoue, orange hovering into the line of her vision.

"How are you feeling?" Matsumoto's voice came from nearby, sounding none so relieved.

"I've felt better." Kei said, her eyes narrowing in on the Fukutaichou garbed like a Shinigami. They were in a small copse of trees, surrounded on all sides by heavy vegetation. The sounds of a battle could be heard just beyond the foliage.

"I'm going." she started to her feet, ignoring the strain and stretch of the many lesions marking her skin. "Oh! But, Kei-san-!" Inoue's hands fluttered, the girl's luminous grey eyes wide with tears.

A glare silenced the human. Kei flicked her hand out, fingers scraping the atmosphere. Getsu-ten wavered from light into being. A tangible, subtleness to its sleek curved tang. Matsumoto looked back at her, momentarily locking gazes.

"What're you-"

"Move. No one makes a fool of _me_." She took a single step forward. Then another and she was past them. Shin-Soku had its advantages. Her speed incomprehensible to the eye of even the most practiced Shunpo master. She easily weaved between the claws of a Hollow, gashing deeply into its side. Ducking at the next retaliatory blow only to come up and sever its head from its body. It was spirit particles melting into the atmosphere at the next.

_Where was Ichigo?_ Kei picked through the assorted spiritual pressures littering the park. A soft snarl leaving her lips as another Hollow, a tenth generation leveled its minor Doom blast at her.

_Such annoyances_.."Tsukiakari!" she snapped, a beam of light piercing through its forehead. Shards of bone mingled with the pinkish tinge of flesh erupted. A not so clean kill as the thing began to rise, a low guttural growl rumbling in its throat. A whiz of light shot through its jugular. "Thanks," Kei called half-heartedly to Ishida. The blue and white clad Quincy nodded briefly before turning his attention back to the rest of the hoard.

_Where had so many come from? _Kei slashed through two more, their guts raining wetly upon the splotched ground. Her boots retained spatters, a darker crimson than the color of them. She felt her vision sway, her teeth clamping down on the flesh inside of her mouth, the brief lancet of pain clearing her sight enough for her to go on_. I have to find him_-

She wanted to scream in frustration as her path was blocked yet again by a devourer of souls. Her sword arm moved, her lips pulled back over her teeth. She cut and cut again, Leaping up against the top of the masked face, then higher, gaining altitude. She remained airborne for a second, rising higher than the treetops, clearing them with ease. Her eyes scanned the area, searching for the bright head of orange.

_Come on, Ichigo! Where are you?_ It frightened her more than she cared to admit. That lack of his spirit pressure hammering like an insistent throb at the back of her head. Then, she felt it. A solitary flicker near the outskirts then a pulse of a vaguely half-remembered spiritual pressure flaring strongly like a call farther away. With a roar, the gargantuan creatures below..heeded it.

She cared less. Her body pivoting already in the direction in which she had felt that faint spark.

_Ichigo...please_.

She covered the distance within seconds. Landing roughly, unevenly on the ground. A roar from a Hollow made her head snap around; a furred arm colliding heavily with it. She spun away, a savage pain blinding her eyes, her shoulder throbbing unmercifully with the impact.

_Damn it! ...be alive!_

Kei kicked her legs, rolling sharply away as the Hollow struck again. Embedding its massive fist into the ground where she had once been. Her hand scrabbled over the leaves and dirt, nails raking in search of the hilt she had let go of. She cursed her blindness, vision swimming threatening to blacken as the Hollow readied its lumbering strike again.

Sound.

Her ringing ears caught it, holding onto it.

A groan. _His_ groan. It was the most blessed sound in the world.

She rammed her foot up viciously. Repeating the numbing jolt until her bones shook, her teeth rattled.

"K-Kurosaki-kun!" in the distance Inoue's cry set her on edge. Why couldn't the human _**ever**_ stay away? The mask gave way beneath her assault. Shattering with a hoarse ragged scream. Kei's lips twisted into a sneer of triumph, burning agony in her veins lent strength to her trembling hands.

She blasted it apart with Kido, feeling fresh splatters dot her cheeks and body damply. Kei lay for a moment, simply breathing in and out, letting her unfocused gaze rest on the sliver of sky. Then, footsteps, inarticulate. Ungraceful brought her sharply back.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue sobbed.

"Careful, Orihime-chan!" Matsumoto called.

Kei gritted her teeth, lurching sideways then scrambling forward. Half falling, half sinking to the boy's side as Inoue did. _Of course_.

"Kurosaki-kun!" More of a wail. The same fluttering hands loomed over the gash to his shoulder, quiet hics interrupting the girl's steady stream.

Kei slapped her away. "Back off." Hissing it so softly that for a time Inoue blinked at her.

"Kei-san?" Uncertainly.

Another quiet groan cut off anything else the girl might've said. Hands flying once more to her hairclips, her chest swinging almost insultingly close to his face. "Hold on, Kurosaki-kun! I'll fix-"

"_I_ will do it." Kei murmured, placing one hand guardingly, possessively to his breast.

"Ichigo!" Kuchiki's voice was loud. _She must've joined in on the fighting when I was out_.

It grated on her eardrums. "Please, refrain from -"

"What _can_ you do?" the dark-haired Shinigami asked, doubt in her tone and manner. Inoue looked between them, teary-eyed. "Kuchiki-san..."

Kei felt her patience die like a flame suddenly sputtering out into blackness. "_More_ than you ever could." Kuchiki looked as if she had been slapped. Her face immediately reddening, mouth opening and closing. Inoue paled and Matsumoto sucked her teeth, averting her face.

_She_ didn't care. Not about them- not .._anything_.

Her hands made the appropriate gestures, fingers interlocking then weaving, her lips moving to silent words that were as ancient as the land itself. Skin began knitting, crimson splash melding into his body. _A few seconds more_... her concentration was extreme. _Limiting the effects to only the circumference of the body_...

A groan changing into a half-formed word- "Wha-"

"..I-Ichigo." her hands dropped, unable to move the sealant of time anymore. Her head spun, halfway collapsing on top of him, she realized in everything had she forgotten _her own injuries_. _But, they didn't matter_. "Ichigo." her hand crawled up, fisting in the cloth of the shihakusho. "I-I t-thought.." her voice was slurring, every muscle screaming in her body. She felt his larger hand slide up and around her lower back, clasping her there.

"I thought I'd lost you.." she murmured it into his throat. _Both_. Muffled against his skin. She shut her eyes, body heaving against his side. His inhalation of breath expanded the chest beneath her hands.

"Stupid...as if I'd ever leave you."

(*)*)*)

She could've done without Inoue's looks of misery. Nor Matsumoto's barely restrained seething. Kuchiki said nothing though kept her distance, intelligent for once. Kei's lip curled slightly, grasping his hand. _You can do nothing equivalent to me_.

"We'd better go now." she enjoyed saying it, taking pleasure in Inoue's wide-eyed blink.

"Oh! Well...I guess-"

Kei tugged on his hand, pulling him forward briskly. Not waiting for either of them to come up with something so inane simply to keep them there.

"Kei-?" she heard the surprise in his tone. But, she ignored it. Stalking up the streets, her boot heels clicked solidly against the sidewalk. The Park line ended and soon they were out into the business district of Karakura. She had retrieved her cell and bag, the sunglasses reposing within until they reached his house. Kei looked up and down the main thoroughfare, fighting her repulsion down.

_Such an uninteresting town_.

She started off toward the north, knowing they garnered looks.

Looks of envy.

She unconsciously tightened her grip, only slowing when he tugged back.

"Hey, what's a matter?"

"I just..." even she was at a loss to explain it. People walked around them, continuing on down the boardwalk. Specialty shops lined the rows. Glossy windows illuminating merchandise and other wares. "I...want to cook for you tonight." she said, flushing slightly. her eyes slanting away from his probing -changing to confused look.

"Okay. Yeah, sure!" he mustered some enthusiasm, perhaps realizing it wouldn't be as bad as having Inoue cook. Kei managed a small smile at the thought. "We should probably get back to your house then, so I can see if everything's in stock. Is there any other place you'd like to...?"

He thought a moment, amber eyes lighting up suddenly, "how about a movie after dinner? There's a small rental place not far from here..."

She wondered what kind of flick he would choose. Biting down on her lip suddenly as she realized she hadn't a clue as to the type he liked. _Now was the chance to see_. "Sounds good." she shrugged, smiling a little up at him.

Letting him guide the way.

(*)*)*)

The video rental was like any other. Small, tucked into a quieter, slightly seedier area. Kei glanced about, her eyes alighting on the posters in the windows adorning the entrance. _Newer releases_...

Inside, it wasn't much different.

Four small racks filled with empty DVD display cases. Behind the counter, a bored-looking youth chewed bubblegum noisily, watching them from the corner of his eye.

"See anything you like?" Ichigo asked, their hands sliding apart so he could look a few feet away. Kei hesitated in answering, knowing she had seen most of what was on the shelves. Once the horror section was exhausted, she scanned the Cop/Thriller seeing him reach for something.

"I've been wanting to see this one.."

She saw the cover, quickly turning away lest he see her dismay_. I have_, she thought. _It wasn't very good_. Kei thought of other things to say, off-putting to make him replace the DVD with something else. Something remotely entertaining.

"How about it?" he seemed vaguely excited, holding up the Bad Shield movie.

Then, she couldn't. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. "..um, looks alright. I..I don't think I've ever seen that one before." she lied quietly. Convincingly enough apparently as he brightened, smiling instead of scowling.

"Great!" he squeezed her hand briefly, looking happier than she had ever seen him.

(*)*)*)

"Ran-chan...this isn't such a good idea. Please..." Haineko was invisible to all. An intangible form without substance leaning against the tiny counter beside her wielder. "Don't..do this." the cat pleaded, bright apple green eyes lowering to watch Rangiku's hand flick the whisk around the bowl.

"-then just call him up and say there's something important you need to tell him."

"But!" Inoue clasped the remaining ingredient close to her. "Isn't that-!"

"What?" Rangiku turned, a frown on her lips. "Cheating? Ichigo-kun doesn't need to know these yummy sweets weren't made by you!"

"Not to her eminence." the cat murmured softly.

(*)*)*)

He couldn't move very far. Not even stand. The edge of the shattered skyscraper was jagged, uneven as its half had simply broken away. Such damage...

The moon cutter's hand folded, clenching the air itself. A moment sooner- the regret was reflexive, a gnawing slight ache at his consciousness spreading outward from the very pit of his being.

He wanted to keep her there.

_With him-_

_..where she could only-_

Tensa bit down hard on his lip. Hard enough to draw blood. Swords didn't bleed, not in the physical sense. His thoughts lacked sense, reasoning. He couldn't burden her down like that. _Not now_. The sword breathed in shallowly, his fingers slowly dipping into the collar of his garment, retrieving within mere seconds the mirror.

The place it had rested, retained warmth. Heat against his skin. He tilted it up, fighting back waves of pain from darkening the edges of his vision. _She was...back in her body. Where she should be_, he corrected his thoughts, pushing aside the notions of anything else.

Getsu-ten flashed in her hand, doing what he would've done for anything in the world.

_Cutting down her enemies_.

_Protecting her_.

_Yet Getsu-ten was dead_.

On some subconscious level he was aware of his wounds not healing. Every breath was labored, growing heavier by the passing seconds. _Why wasn't he able to access Ichigo's power?_ The sword closed his eyes for a moment, hand lax, probing their connection.

Ichigo? he wanted to call across the expanse. But something held him back. So, he continued to search, to find that single ribbon and tug it. remind himself of something tangible, something remaining of their partnership. Hadn't they both saved her?

Tensa wanted to say- _ne_, Zangetsu wanted to tell his wielder.

_We can do it- both of us._

_We can save her_.

Beneath the lids of flesh, a tiny furrow dug in between his eyes, concentration thinned his mouth. In the darkness it was. Floating just out of reach. A thin, curling end of a black-blue edged ribbon. His hand extended toward it, meaning to capture it between his fingers.

"Tensaaa..."

_That voice_.

"..sa..Tensa!"

He recoiled from it. Like burned. A quiet laugh resonated hollowly.

"What are you so afraid of, Tensa?"

He thought he could see something in the darkness- something that moved.

"I know what it is you want."

_That smile_.

Two forms wrapped in shadow...

His entire being rejected it. Shuddering back into his body, sweat a sheen on his skin. He felt cold, hands clammy that pressed to feel the unyielding stability of light grey concrete. _Stable. Solid_. He licked his lips, coming close to biting down on the muscle though that in itself wouldn't accomplish a thing.

"I'll..never betray her." Tensa murmured, pronouncing it like a vow.

Like a promise that fell on no ears save his own.

-TBC..

AN: I was listening to this song earlier whilst checking this chapter over: Horror of our love- Ludo. \*o*/ ultra-creeeepie! Then, again, even #1 crush is in its own way a touch _obsessive_. ;)

Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews loved!


	67. She will be loved Part2

_You've got your dumb friends  
I know what they say  
They tell you I'm difficult  
But so are they  
But they don't know me  
Do they even know you?  
All the things you hide from me  
All the shit that you do_

_-My happy ending, Avril Lavigne_

* * *

ShiKai CH.59: She will be loved pt.2

There wasn't much to do. Expertly wielding the Santoku, perfect precision with each cut. The rocking sound of the blade against the wooden cutting board reminded her of other times. _When Kazeatari wasn't aggravating her beyond patience's dictates_.

She could still feel his eyes on her. Watching her motions, drinking in the sight of her standing there. Kei fought down the shudder it evoked, grateful that there wasn't two pairs. _She didn't think she would've been able to stand it had Tensa been there as well_.

"So, what're you making?"

Her lips twitched into a smile that he couldn't see. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Oh, so it's a surprise then?"

"You could say that." she dumped the vegetables she had been chopping into the stockpot. Turning the stove on low then going to the small paper package on the counter. There was an element of excitement, the tiniest thrill of expectation taking hold of her. "Hopefully you don't-"

The phone rang.

He got up to answer it.

"Oh, hey-yeah she's-something's happened?" Ichigo's raised voice made her look up; breaking off in the middle of her sentence.

"Yeah-" he ignored her questioning look. "Yeah- I'll be there!" Abruptly he slung the phone back on its cradle, charging over to snatch up his jacket from the chair.

"Ichigo, what's-" Kei had picked up a towel and begun wiping her hands. Worriedly watching his agitated motions.

He ignored her again, saying over his shoulder before heading out. "Nothing that concerns you."

She stared at him. "But, Ichigo, what ab-"

"I'll be back in a little bit!" he stuffed his sneakers on, the door slamming followed after that.

Kei dropped the towel on the table, looking back at the clock. "Dinner's going to be done in five minutes." But, of course no one was there to hear her. Expressionlessly, she turned back to the counter, laying the sliced meat in the baking dish, then carefully ladled the simmering vegetables around it. The flame in the stove evaporated on its own.

For a moment she looked down at the fragrant aroma rising up then passed her hand over it. Heat waves shimmered, enveloping the ceramic dish in a bubble of tightly compressed air. It was done within three minutes. _Fire, fire burning bright_... she smiled some, studying the nice sear lines, the perfect state of the bell peppers and caramelized onions.

Her eye alighted on the oven mitts, donning them, she lifted up the dish walking the few steps to the trash can. Her foot pressed down on the lever, flipping the lid up.

She thought she knew the name and number that would appear on the phone- if it had caller ID. She also thought of other things, the dish she had prepared so carefully poised above the refuse remaining from the cellophane bags and pink meat wrapper.

Should I-? But, then she knew she couldn't. Just like the name flashing on the caller ID was an all too subtle reminder of them. The fact that they...would always come first.

In everything.

Kei being Kei wouldn't have admitted aloud anything of how she felt, because that would mean that she was bothered even the slightest. Abandoned was the thought. Unspoken yet _there_. Screaming at her in the silence wrapped around the Kurosaki clinic.

Then, she served herself. Pretending to not see it. That empty chair across as she sat and ate. Sipping at a bottle of Cherry Bepsi. The dark reddish liquid eased down her throat thick. Burning. Her fork clattered loudly, scraping the plain ceramic plate. She ate slowly, normally. Not tasting but not entirely mechanical either.

In time she was finished.

Wiping at her mouth discreetly, lady-like conscious of manners from both sides of the world.

6:45 PM. She glanced at the clock. Taking her dish to the sink, washing it quickly and setting it aside in the drain board. On the table she had left a plate and set of cutlery. The main dish she left in the center, covered, steaming yet it would soon become cold if left for long.

She dusted her hands off once, glancing about making sure nothing was out of place. Perfect. Scooping up her purse from an empty seat, she gathered up her cell and IPod, then left them behind to set up the movie. _A movie after dinner it is_.

The phone rang again. She went ahead and answered it, affecting a calm, sweet tone. "Hello, Kurosaki residence."

On the other end, Yuzu's voice came on. "Oh! Kei-san! How is everything going?"

The fire wielder smiled a little more. The little girl had always that effect on her. "Fine, I guess. Your brother.." here she almost said _ugly_. But didn't, holding her tongue. "Isn't here right now."

"What!" From the background, Karin chimed in, "don't yell, Yuzu. The people in the next room will hear you."

"-why!" Yuzu ignored her sister. Sounding irate on _her_ behalf.

Kei cradled the phone, flicking absently through the caller ID on the base. As she had suspected. _Inoue Orihime_. "Oh, just something with his friends. I just finished cooking dinner but I don't know if-"

"How could he leave you! Ichi-nii is stupid!"

She laughed a little, "maybe. Oh- my cell's ringing. Hey, listen, have a good time and yes-I have to go now." she laughed a little more. "Yes, I'll tell him. Bye!"

Her cell wasn't ringing of course. Yet, Kei had sought an excuse, _any excuse_. She put the handset down_. Anything was better than receiving pity_. Her gaze traveled back to the TV, hearing the ridiculous music from the menu. She picked up the remote from the edge of the sofa, pressing PLAY. Then, went to make popcorn. Once that was accomplished, she poured most of it in a bowl then dumped the rest in another larger one, littering the bottom with kernels.

This, she left on one of the sofa cushions, balancing it against the back.

7:11 PM. She read the time on the clock again. Carrying her popcorn , cell and player upstairs. Yuzu had said before about their room, a spare bed made up for her. Kei found it, passing by his room without another glance. The girls' room was small made even smaller by the third bed. She eyed it critically, passing a hand over the thick blanket that served as the coverlet. _Not bad_. _It would have to pass_. Sighing to herself, she retrieved from the shadow near the tiny table, her other bag.

Phasing inside hours before, she had left it before leaving to find him in the town.

Now, she took it up again, laying out a chemise with thin straps and tiny shorts, both garments in white. It wasn't like her usual style yet the items had been at the bottom of her dresser drawer for a few years. She had simply chosen them to be different. Dared she think..._mildly sexy? _

The fire wielder stopped for a moment, her skin bare, clad only in panties. In her arms, the silky top reposed. Delicate cutouts of lace promised demure peeks of flesh. _No..how could she ever think that?_ She shook it off and continued. The material gliding smoothly, fitting snugly around the contours of her thighs and the neckline edging her bosom perfectly. As long as nothing like a Hollow came- or she was going to spar, everything was alright. Finishing up, she sat down on the top blanket, scooting her legs up, resting her head back against one folded arm.

7:29 PM. Kei flipped the top of her cell closed, shifting more comfortably against the bed. _The food was already cold_, she was sure. Hooking the tiny round ear-buds in, she set the player on low, her eyes drifting closed to the strains of _Bittersweet_.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

"The sky...is very blue now."

Her eyes opened. _I must've fallen asleep_. The thought wasn't unduly alarming, finding herself in the sideways world. Her gaze drifted languidly upward, "yes. I see it is."

"Ichigo is happy." The sword sat, legs folded slightly, chin tilted up regarding the sky. Then, his eyes narrowed, looking straight at her. Near accusation in his tone. "_You_ make him happy."

"I'm not so sure about that." Kei said tightly, her arms crossing loosely over her chest. "I am more of the opinion it is Inoue whom defines _happiness_. Her and her company for Ichigo."

"Hn." Tensa seemed to disregard it. Looking back up at the sky, he continued quieter. "You are..referring to the non-reappearance of Ichigo?" His mouth quirked slightly at one corner like he was on the verge of smiling. "I suppose Ichigo _is_ happy there...laughing. Talking. He's sitting with them, you know."

She felt colder then.

"He thinks you're waiting." The moon cutter said even softer. "He knows he must go, but he stays on. They're telling him it's only so early-"

"Stop it."

He looked at her. "Why?"

"Why what?" She was tired at that moment. Not drained. Not sleepy. Not even anything. Just...empty now. So, empty.

"Why won't you call him?" Tensa asked it as if it was obvious.

_On the cell_, her mind supplied for her. For a moment, she realized she hadn't thought about it then dismissed it. "Why should I?" she scoffed gently. "If I did, then what would I be? A nag saying _come home, Ichigo_. _I'm waiting for you_. I can see now that he must not want my company, for if he had, then he wouldn't have left in the beginning."

"You're stubborn." The sword remarked. "If you leave...it will rain." A measured look. "I don't like the rain."

"Oh..well I do." Her fingers opened, palms tipping up as if to catch imaginary droplets. "If I were _Water_, it would rain always." _Wash away everything. So, no one could ever...ever see_...

Her lips compressed, fingers closing. "I wish it rained now."

"He _wants_ your company." The sword affirmed, his look hardening.

"You don't have to lie to me, Tensa." she said easily, without raising her voice. "I know he doesn't. You know though...I think this is the first time.." she watched the sky. The cloudless expanse of bright Robin's egg blue. _He must be happy..with them_.

"I've been abandoned. That's a funny sensation now that I think about it." her hand slid parted fingers across her lips, skating to her throat. "It feels like when Kazeatari..died back then. Like I'm utterly alone in the world because there's nothing and no one there."

"I'm here."

"What kind of consolation-"

"And Ichigo too."

She rolled her eyes slightly. "Like I said. A sword and what...a human whose high point of the day is to hear _Kurosaki-kun_ repeated about a thousand times in an hour?"

"That's not true. He prefers to hear it even _once_ from you." The moon cutter insisted. Then, looked slightly askance. Almost embarrassed. "I..I l-like it..when you..say..my name." Both were silent for a time, letting the words settle between them.

"..why don't you..come closer?"

She was surprised. Yet tried not to show it. Impassive even with only the faintest smile playing on her lips. "Why indeed..you know, that's a fairly good question barring the Getsuga-Tenshou I don't want to be the recipient of." Kazeatari's voice resurfaced in her mind, her gaze then slanting away, unwilling to look at the sword.

"...I...I am sor-"

"Don't." Apologies were meaningless. "Let's...let's continue as we were before." She was aware of his startled look. "I won't apologize for what I said and you don't have to force yourself-"

"I'm not forcing myself." A hint of irritation made his brows meet. She liked the fleeting emotion. She felt herself smile some in response, "oh, then. If _you're not forcing yourself_...then _you_ come here."

He said nothing more, rising somewhat less gracefully then she expected. Yet his speed was the same, appearing in front of her within the blink of an eye.

"What is it?"

She linked her arms at the small of her back, leaning slightly forward, her lips unable to keep from sliding into a smile. "Watch a movie with me."

(*)*)*)Getsu-ten's mindscape(*)*)*)

"Tensa...have you ever actually seen a moving picture before?" she hadn't thought of that. Glancing questioningly over her shoulder in time to catch the slightest raising of one thin eyebrow.

"...I know what they are." he answered carefully.

Kei nodded a little, snatching up the silver can from many beneath the cabinet of the bookshelf. "But, you've _never_ seen one."

He chose not to answer, gaze wandering away from her back. She felt it lift, felt the intensity of it slip off of her. "This is one of my favorites.." she murmured, putting the mirror like bottom of the disc inside the player slot. A TV behind the upper shelf, a DVD player beneath it. She bit her lip, getting to her feet as the machine whirred to life.

_Bits and pieces from memory_.

Picking up a remote from the space between the flat-screen panel, she went and sat beside him on the long beige Davenport. Settling first against one end then as his eyes whom had followed her approach, bore into her side. Kei shifted, inching closer.

A sigh. His arm slowly wrapping around her shoulders, easing her forward until she was leaning up against him.

"You said...I should..hold you when I want to." he muttered in explanation, looking away. She thought of many things to say then briefly shook her head, choosing to smile up at him when he looked down again, suddenly drawing a blanket up to her chest. Kei blinked, "what's that for?"

There was definite sarcastic undertone to his voice. "If you would be considerate enough to not make me think of _other things_.." his trailing off delicately, the fine arch of his nostrils and slight dilation of his pupils all spoke of one thing. Her smile turned into a full-fledged grin, snuggling up under the blanket then insinuating her body against his with the aid of the cover.

He sighed again yet tolerated it.

Triumphant, she smirked when he wasn't looking.

_How she loved teasing him_.

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

It was late.

_Not that late_- his mind was quick to point out. The small snap-top container of Inoue's sweets was tucked beneath his arm, _wouldn't they serve as the perfect accompaniment to dinner? Surely it was done by now..._

His steps were unusually light, walking along the familiar darkened streets, eager to be back home. In time, the edifice of the clinic came into sight, half the lights burned as when he had left, yet there seemed to be a deep quiet about the place. A frown curled his mouth, finding the door unlocked, he went inside to the cooled smell of cooked meat and the slightly less pungent scent of onions.

_What the_...simply not understanding, Ichigo advanced further. The table was set with one plate and a covered baking dish sat in the center. A sound on a higher step like a creak drew his troubled gaze up.

"Kei-?"

She appeared, stalking slowly down the steps, hair mussed, a blanket clutched around her body.

_It couldn't be that late_.. "What's going on?" he gestured to the table. She stopped at the bottom, bringing up a hand to rub at one eye. _Sleepily_.

"What is that?" she focused in on the box he had set down near the edge. Quickly he popped the top off, tilting it a little forward for her to get a better view of the baked goods. "Something Inoue made. They're surprisingly good so, I asked her for some..and she packed these. Here, you should try one- or unless you want to eat dinner first?"

She stared at him expressionlessly. "I already ate."

_You didn't wait?_ But, he tried to arrange his expression into something other than disappointment. "Oh, I see. B-But, then-"

She had turned on her heel, about to put one foot on the stairs. "What is it now?"

He recognized the slight snap in her tone, wondering about the cause of it yet was still determined to salvage something out of the evening. "The movie?" he was aware of how he sounded. Plaintive, timorous. Like a child begging for a treat.

"I've already seen it." she said dismissively, a quiet yawn at the end of her sentence. "Is..that all?"

"No, that isn't all!" he couldn't help it. Slamming his fist down on the table, the dishes rattled. "I know you're damn well upset 'cause I was with my friends! Now out with it! What do you find so threatening about them?"

She had stiffened slightly, flinching when he had first raised his voice, yet now she turned, looking merely confused. "Are you..joking?" she snorted softly, incredulity stealing over her features. "You're the one..who left. You're the one who went running for whatever stupid reason to your friends-"

"It wasn't stupid!" he roared, knowing he couldn't explain the thin line he had walked on for the bet. _To treat her as a friend. Just a friend_. _Even when every part of him thrilled with joy for her just being there_.

"Oh..? Then, what was it?" she sneered. "Did Inoue require your protection while she was baking cookies? Or did you enjoy _everything_ she had to offer?"

"-Don't you talk about Inoue like that!"

She laughed. A soft cool trill. Like ice.

"After everything you've done!" Tears sprung up in his eyes. Images and fragments of words, conversations blurred into one searing recognition of betrayal. "Inoue's a good, pure girl unlike you-"

"So, what... I'm a whore now? I'm something..unclean now?" she gestured to her chest, fingers splaying across her breast in meaning.

"Yes, you are!" he fairly screamed at her, gripping his fists so hard they hurt.

She laughed again, her chin tipping back, eyes sparkling in mirth. "At least I don't hide behind the mask of innocence while trying to take something that _belongs_ to someone else."

He had crossed the room in two strides. Grabbing her roughly by the shoulders. Two eyes, one a perfect shade of violet, the other a mix of aubergine and crimson stared up at him.

"Don't you ever say anything about Inoue again. You hear me?" they were only inches apart. His heated breath passed over her face, her lashes lowered, her mouth pressing into a line. He thought for a moment that she wasn't going to say anything else and that hope made his taut nerves relax, his gaze traveling to her lips. _He hadn't gotten that kiss_.

Then, she spoke. Undimmed fire smoldering like an inferno in her eyes. "Open your eyes, Ichigo. Can't you see what _they're_ doing to you?" _To us_, she might've said. But, he only heard her tone. _That mocking tone- the bitch acting like she was better than them_.

"How dare you blame them!" he shook her, jerking her back and forth. Her hair flew into her face, the shoulders he gripped suddenly seemed _dirty_. In his mind he could only see Zangetsu- Zangetsu, his own _fucking_ sword and.._her_. "You and your filthy lies! How dare- how dare you!" he couldn't breathe then, every ounce of air that was drawn into his lungs swelled up. A great knot of rage twisted inside, boiling, burning. He could only see his sword's smirk and her laugh while they made a fool of him.

Not anymore-

"Get out!" he shoved her into the wall, his knuckles scraping the plaster. "Get out!" her head collided once then twice, sharp hisses following. "Get out!" Then, he threw her, watching as she slammed against the floor. Falling on her side, legs thudding heavily against the wood. The blanket had fallen off, a pastel-hued puddle a few feet away.

She winced, one arm reaching for the one beneath her.

_She wasn't moving fast enough_. He knew that to keep seeing her, every second of watching her lie there, softened a little bit of _that resolve_. He couldn't tolerate her talking bad about his friends. _Because she had done __**worse**_**.**

_Worse. So, much worse_. Red tainted his vision.

His foot connected to the soft yielding area of her ribs. Using the moment when she had twisted around, crying out to grab her bodily, twist the knob of the door open to a sliver of night. Every contact with her skin burned him. Ate away at the ball of near hatred roiling in his stomach. Ichigo couldn't stand it. _He had to feel it..he had to remember how she had betrayed him_..

"Get out of my sight." The words left his tongue like acid. Embittering his mouth and making his eyes sting. _How he hated her and yet_...his hands slid against the wood of the door he had shut. _How he loved her_.

The tears started falling.

_'__**..time's up, Ichigo.'**_ The murmur was in his head.

The clock struck twelve midnight.

He knew the reflection smiled.

_**'You can go after her now and tell her **__**exactly how you feel**__**.' **_

-TBC...

AN: please note, physical violence is unforgivable in RL and isn't advocated in any way or form here. Also Ichigo is perhaps somewhat o-o-c however keeping in the context of this story, this isn't a happy tale. Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews loved! C:


	68. Love lies bleeding

_Come down to me  
Don't ever say that it's over  
I kiss your feet  
Worship the air you breathe  
Your love, my gift  
You go and I will follow  
My dream, my wish  
Don't leave me here so helpless_

_-My Obsession, Skillet_

* * *

ShiKai CH.60: Love lies bleeding

A kick.

The angry throb spread outward. Her teeth severed through the muscle, blind pain blurring her eyes, her body jerking back reflexively as if to draw the injured part closer somehow. Then, hands. Nails clawing into her exposed skin, digging into the ligaments, whatever they could find.

_Stop_- she wanted to cry. But, there was blood. Acrid. The ragged end of flesh grotesquely sagging against the backs of her teeth. The wound was fresh, raw, stinging. Her body was almost completely limp from the double assault on her senses.

"Get out of my sight." He tossed her out.

So, she did.

(*)*)*)

_I'll help you find her this once_...

Ichigo raced along the building rooftops, snowflakes clinging to his hair and melting through his shihakusho. _The old man had said_..

_Do not think..I am doing this for you_.

He was sure then, at that moment that Zangetsu _hated_ him. His brows met, steps never slowing as his amber eyes swept the dusted white streets below for any sign of movement. That was confirmation- wasn't it? He wished then he had questioned his sword more on his reasons, however reluctant to admit the sword's violent outburst of anger had immured anything other than mute acceptance from escaping his throat.

Ichigo would never say to a living soul, he had been _afraid_ of the old man. Shaking it off once again, he paused on a two-storied building to regain his bearings. Right now, he just needed to concentrate on finding her.

(*)*)*)

There was nowhere else to go.

To return to the castle then, was inviting query. Explanations required for the bruises mottling her skin.

She wouldn't go to Urahara's either, since the man was odious and there was a fairly good chance even one Shinigami was there.

And she wouldn't go back.

_"Let me in." _Irrevocably followed by. _"I'm sorry."_

But, she wasn't, since she had nothing to apologize for.

So, she walked. Onward until the lights of the intersection grew brighter. Until a few cars passed by. She skirted most of the main thoroughfares, keeping to the shadows, feet making little noise along the sidewalk.

Soon, she stopped. In between two buildings forming a sort of alcove-like space, she sunk down, back against the brick-wall. She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing against her clasped hands, attempting to regain some feeling into them.

"-I'm sorry!" The wail shattered the stillness of the air. The clack of heels, a flurry of movement and then there were hands almost _see-through_, clasping her shoulders. She flinched, head tilting up, her lips parting in a snarl.

"G-Go away, Ha-Haineko."

The feline hybrid ignored her like always, tears glittering in the apple green eyes. "I'm sorry! Ran-chan lied-I'm so sorry!"

_Lied_. The word penetrated, the import slowly sinking in.

"She lied about Orihime-chan baking those things-and-and to Kurosaki-kun about everything-!" The cat burst into sobs anew, rocking the fire wielder back and forth.

Kei felt.._nothing_. No anger. No annoyance save for the tiniest bit as the cat was aggravating those bruises and they were starting to hurt _more_. "I'm not..angry." her voice was a little slurred, trembling some on certain parts. "I-I don't care."

"But-"

"I don't. N-Not anymore." Her eyes slid closed again. From her lip, something cold slithered out. Haineko gasped, panic freezing her features. "B-Blood! The cold-it's too cold..huh.._snow_? It's snowing?" Incredulity made her voice rise a pitch higher.

The fire element looked then, seeing the first few flakes spiraling to the ground from a dark, dreary sky. "..I should've known. Sode no Shirayuki." she smiled humorlessly.

"You need to get somewhere warm!" the cat started rubbing her shoulders, shaking her slightly when she didn't respond. "Your eminence! You need to get out of this cold!"

"...Why?"

"Because! _Consumption_ gets worse in the cold!"

_TB..?_ Confusion blossomed. "Why would you-"

"Kei!" The prickling, nagging sense she had ignored came back. Along with the sharply familiar voice. The one that had been raised, yelling in her face less than half an hour before.

Apathetically she looked to the aperture, unsurprised to see both the boy in Shinigami form and his sword over his shoulder.

Zangetsu.. she knew he couldn't have found her on his own. Not with her reiatsu suppressed. _Only a Zanpaku-to could've_. His sandals crunched, his eyes on her. Haineko looked between them, fumbling to summon her static form. The cat-shaped guard appeared, then the dark hilt. The feline hybrid adopted a slight stance of Zanjutsu, silently requesting permission to manifest into the physical plain.

Kei knew it would be easy to give it. Though Wind wasn't present, any Zanpaku-to could absorb some of their spiritual power to solidify into materiality. She wondered briefly how Ichigo would take it, being attacked by one of his _precious_ friend's Zanpaku-to.

"If it suffices you to know, I would much rather put my eyes out then have to endure the sight of your face." she said softly. Lightly. Vaguely amused by the many shades and emotions his expression went through. Varying degrees of ashen, then flush with anger.

"Don't-"

"You _don't_ start." she said coolly, marveling at the way his mouth snapped shut. "I would, there being nothing you could possibly say to change my mind. However ..it would take time I lack to become able to sense reiatsu greater than my current ability."

"Don't hurt yourself!" From Haineko, half-spinning on her heels to frantically cry.

"Don't do this!" From Ichigo. _To me_. She heard the catch. The swallowing of reality like a bitter pill. He hadn't a right in the world to ask anything of her.

"You mustn't be allowed to come to harm." The moon cutter said, face impassive yet stern. Laying a hand on Ichigo's shoulder, she saw him lean forward to whisper into the boy's ear. _Don't be rash. Approach carefully. Do not antagonize_.

In time, she watched his expression ripple. Absorbing the sword's words. She couldn't hear, but could guess the thread Zangetsu cautioned.

"C'mon, you can't stay out in this cold." Softened face, eyes betraying the frustration belying his words. Haineko looked upon him warily then looked back at her. _What should we do?_

The Zanpaku-to was intelligent enough to know that something was wrong- and that something had been in part caused her wielder's actions. Guilt was the farthest thing from anything Kei felt at that moment, longing to slap that hand that reached tentatively between she and the cat.

Zangetsu stared meaningfully at Haineko, particularly at the blade she was getting to ready to level down.

_A little more_.

They were inches from her shoulder. The skin mottled hideously a purplish yellow. Five fingers imprinted into it, evidences of his guilt.

"Don't touch me." Kei said emphatically.

Ichigo- to his credit, hesitated. Paused. Then, waited, a sigh lifted the panes of his upper breast. "Kei..listen, you'll get sick if you stay out here any longer. So, just...come on. Let me take you back-!" The edge of frustration grew, sharpening his tone. The fingers that had reached for her, lingered near her elbow; clenching.

The sword whispered something else.

"Please do this for me...and.." Ichigo's hesitation was obvious. _He did not want to say his name_. "Zangetsu."

She hated _him_ for driving her into a corner.

Yet as Haineko tearfully was forced to go back to her wielder and as Ichigo lifted _her_ in his arms with a hiss-

"You're cold as ice!" Reprimanding.

Kei wasn't sure whom she meant.

Ichigo for being the mouth to speak or Zangetsu for manipulating her so easily.

_Maybe she hated herself for __**caring**_.

(*)*)*)

He laid her on the covers. Atop, legs bent, torso crumpled.

"Do you want something to drink?" his hand smoothed down some of her hair, turning it into a stroke. She averted her face to the wall. "Maybe something warm?" he tried not to mind. Her skin was far too cold for his liking. Her eyes were sunken in, the pastiness of her complexion only heightened the impression of deadness.

"I'll be downstairs," his mouth formed the habitual scowl though he meant none of the irritation one would presume underlying the tenderness in his gaze. "just for a little while though." No response. His eyes grew a little harder, bringing the blanket up to cover her body. He was surprised by the hand that tugged it up higher.

Shaking his head, he left. Taking the stairs two at a time, serving a portion of the cold food then reheating it in the microwave. "Itadakimasu." He murmured, preferring chopsticks to the western utensils she had left out. His stomach growled, reminding him of the lack of dinner.

_It wasn't...bad_. A few bites more of the tender beef cutlet and he thought he had never had anything as good. Sure, Yuzu was a good cook, but.._this. This was different_. He wondered where she had learned how to cook. Everything had been done to perfection, his only regret was that they hadn't been able to eat together.

Shaking his head slightly, Rangiku's voice played like a looped track in his head.

_"Oh, it's not that late! C'mon! Stay a little longer...I haven't caught up fully with you yet!"_

But, it was late. _Hours late_. He hadn't meant to stay so long with them. _Why would Rangiku do something like that?_ Ichigo distinctly remembered her saying it was early. He mulled over it, while chewing on a piece of seasoned soft carrot. _It was almost like_...

He took a swallow from the soda can he had opened. The cola burned, easing warm down his throat.

.._but no!_ He smiled at the ridiculousness of his thoughts. _Rangiku wasn't like that! She wouldn't be deliberately trying to separate __**them**__!_

(*)*)*)

Her skin was cold. Freezing, he would've said, withdrawing his hand quickly away. The one visible purple eye stared up from the enclosure of the blanket. Legs were drawn up, curled so that the blanket covered her entirely. _Yet she was still cold_.

_Ichigo_..the old man's voice rumbled in his mind.

Yeah? his mouth twisted into a grimace, Zangetsu might've helped him but that didn't mean the Zanpaku-to was forgiven completely either.

_You must use your body heat to warm her_.

For a time, Ichigo was simply dumbfounded. Why hadn't I thought of that before? he wondered then suddenly snapped out of it. What the hell are you suggesting, old man! he raged silently.

_Clothed_. The Zanpaku-to reminded though Ichigo was sure there was a hint of sarcasm present.

I-I knew that... he made a face even though the Zanpaku-to wasn't a physical entity in the room. Muttering a few other imprecations under his breath, Ichigo grabbed a handful of the covers and pulled back, the body beneath immediately recoiling.

"Hey, calm down. I just need to get you warm, alright?" he said it seriously, calmly though his heart pounded fast in his chest. He saw that it wasn't going to be easy. Forcing his gaze away from the peek of lace skirting her breasts to the scandalously short hemline of eyelet lace. The angle she was in, didn't help the picture of innocent coquettishness. Head tilted, legs bent up, parted slightly.

..don't be thinking of that! Nervously he licked his lips, sitting carefully at the edge of the bed. Correspondingly, she inched away, the shorts riding higher. "Stop that!" he snapped, immediately regretting the outburst when she flinched. It wasn't her fault given the position she was in, about how delectable she looked.

More his, for thinking those things.

"..I'm sorry. Just please don't make this any harder." His hand tentatively crept around her middle, fingers sinking into the soft material covering her torso. He was watched with wary, frightened eyes. He wasn't happy with their look.

"C'mere." he said softer, dropping the edge of demand from his tone. When she was at sufficient closeness, he sidled up right behind, pulling his legs up, arms wrapping around the still, small body. Once his hand brushed her breast, a tiny start the indication that she was about to pull away.

"Sorry!" Ichigo mumbled, his hand sliding lower. He was ashamed of the tiny thrill racing through his veins, lightheadedness making his head spin. _So, this is..love_. He felt nervous and excited at the same time. Dizzy and grounded. He _hated_ and _loved_ the feeling.

The hate was stronger sometimes, resentment creeping up like mercurial silver poisoning his thoughts, _people- people of his town had died that day_. It was unforgivable to think he had raced off to find her and left the humans defenseless against the Hollows.

But, then he didn't _think_. Not when the Hollows came. Nor when he realized she was gone and couldn't see her through the trees anymore. Ichigo just _did_ and that caused the deaths of those people.

That was why he hated.

Such a contradiction. Painful but undeniably true. Rukia was right, Kei was bad for him because _he forgot everything else_. Ichigo closed his eyes, merely savoring the mold of the body lying against his. Soft breaths had eased into slow repetition. She had fallen asleep.

"You know.." his fingertips traced circles against her clothed abdomen. Warmth radiated outward instead of coldness like ice. "I never thought I'd fall in love. That there would be a person whom would take part of me- part of what I am into themselves. I want it back, _dammit!"_ he sighed, loosening the clawed grip his fingers had maintained. He didn't want to wake her.

"Do I have...any part of _you?"_ Wasn't that supposed to be love? Two separate entities yet sometimes they would merge and be whole. Feel and think and know. Ichigo knew what it was like to see others in danger, but _to know_. He couldn't forget that solitary fleeting second in the Park.

Of Hollow screams.

Of his allies and friends yells.

The one thing clear ringing like an alarm, setting every nerve on edge.

Was of danger. He knew _she was in danger_.

And that was why he had left everything and everyone behind, tart fear flickering behind his eyes, beating at his skull.

"...I was afraid." It wasn't her fault he had let those people down. It was his selfish act. He bit his lip, breathing in the dampness of the long-melted flakes in her hair, _clean_. For the longest he was unable to fathom why he had ever called her _unclean_. She was Kei, nothing more..nothing less.

"I was afraid you'd hate me. That you would think I neglected you...I've never cared what most people thought- I've always spent my life trying to beat their expectations..but when it comes down to it. I-I don't think I could take it if..." he nuzzled closer to her, eyes closing.

_You hated me_.

He slumbered dreamlessly.

(*)*)*)Unknown realm within sub-conscious...

_**'Ichigo.' **_

By now the voice didn't startle him.

"What do you want?" The bet was over so what more did it want?

_**'Our bet.'**_ The tone was mellifluous, as soft as honey. The smile perched on lips had a keener, sharper edge to it. Like the smile of a snake.

"It's over-" Ichigo scoffed.

_**'It isn't.'**_ The reflection said, head tilted a little to the side. The same orange fringe dipped low, the same eyes. There were times when Ichigo wasn't sure whom the bathroom mirror reflected.

"What the hell do you mean by that!" he demanded roughly.

This amused the other. The smile widening until tips of white even teeth flashed. The reflection was grinning a rictus grin. _**'You've answered yourself already. What did you think when she was in danger?'**_

_More precious then_... "So, what?"

_**'What was the nature of our bet?'**_

Realization dawned. He became utterly still._ He had left his friends behind..because she was more precious than them. He had proved..he couldn't give her up_. _Not to death, not to anything_.

_**'...you've lost.'**_ The reflection smiled.

(*)*)*)

_This face_. The mirror reflected showed a small sliver of the bathroom and the boy who stood in front of it. He touched the glass, finding the sensation cool. Real. A smile, he looked toward the door, opening it easily. Everything was real. Of solid substance. Within moments, he was in the other room, approaching the small, narrow bed.

She was such a heavy sleeper.

He didn't want to wake her. Not yet. So, he stayed back at the foot of the bed and observed her. Watching her the way he had done before. He liked to think of the fine span of wrinkles, the fair hair snow white, the eyes sunken, laughter lines forever etched into that face.

Aged. Weathered. A human thing. The progress of the years. The tenuous grip of their hands slipping- away- away- into true death. But, Elementals didn't _age_.

Then, he thought of the bloom of health ravaged by _Consumption_. Sallow hollows and lank hair. Shallow breaths and blood. She looked loveliest at the height of the disease's fury. Wasting away- but oh so lovely- so lovely as she coughed up crimson rubies.

She mumbled. The image was gone. He smiled, approaching, hand dropping down to caress her cheek.

Red met his fingertips. Red like blaze in a thin glass half dome erupting over her sleeping form. He tried to break it, dipping his hand low, pushing against the obstruction. He couldn't break it.

"Suzaku..." a laugh. Shaking, tremulous. "The seal still holds. You're safe, my love."

(*)*)*)

Tensa didn't stay because he felt like he was intruding. The boy did as instructed, though the moon cutter forced himself not to think that he himself could've simply materialized and been in the awkward human's place.

But, even he had standards. So, he let the boy curl up beside her, suffered through the boy's words of angst and affirmation of love. Then, sleep came. Tensa preferred the silence to Ichigo's mono-syllabic one-sided conversation.

In the quiet, with the darkness above in his own world; he could watch her unhindered.

Her pretense of it, eyes opening moments after the boy had fallen. Ichigo didn't know how she slept like _he_ did. Light to moderate breaths. Chest rising and falling, occasional little movements and murmurs. When Ichigo talked, she was far too still.

She had heard everything.

The sword in his world, a dimension away; wished she didn't speak to his comatose wielder so tenderly, nor brush her fingertips against the boy's lips. If Tensa had lingered over his thoughts as he watched, every churning, every twist within his being; he'd have known what it was like to feel jealousy.

Then, she had settled down again, facing his wielder. In time, her eyes slid closed, her breathing evening out into what he knew. She had fallen asleep. Surrounded by warmth, the moon cutter knew he could've given just the same.

He still watched.

Hours trickled by. Then, Ichigo stirred, sliding from the entanglement of their limbs. Pushing the blanket quickly against her so she could snuggle in it and not miss his absence. The boy went out into the hallway, his destination clear.

Tensa settled down, he hadn't an interest in this spectacle of mortality. His wielder had never fascinated him in much capacity. Even less when the moon cutter had _her_ to occupy his attention.

However, maybe this was an oversight.

It didn't take long for the door to creak the slightest, nor for the form of the boy to appear. Strange, the moon cutter thought, realizing the subtlest shift in the boy's mood reflecting upon his inner world. _He hadn't sensed him come back_.

Ichigo stared. Watched as a hunter did prey.

Keiki was unaware of it _now_.

Seconds-minutes passed. Then, Ichigo moved toward the bed. Reaching to stroke her cheek. Tensa couldn't say why the simple motion felt _wrong_. It was different from when he had peered between the worlds and watched as his wielder broke her ribs.

The moon cutter hated Ichigo a little more for that.

Yet- those fingertips.

He knew the shield- barrier the color of flame.

This wasn't Ichigo. He knew it with a certainty that eclipsed all other feeling within his being.

It looked, sounded, felt like Ichigo. Three senses. Then, Tensa was at a loss to explain why he was so damned sure the thing was something masquerading as Ichigo.

"Suzaku..." the thing said in Ichigo's voice. Laughing quietly in a manner not like the boy's. "The seal still holds. You're safe, my love."

_The seal...? _He didn't understand. Why would the phoenix innately be attempting to protect her master from Ichigo's touch-? _not Ichigo. _Tensa corrected his identifying. It didn't make sense.

Nothing did at all.

The thing that wasn't Ichigo, walked, gait easy out the door. On an impulse he couldn't understand its source, the moon cutter let his consciousness flow back on their spiritual connection. Into the bathroom, before the sink.

The thing stopped. Stood still then his chest heaved as if exhaling breath.

"...what did you.." Ichigo's voice cut through the silence. The boy looked from his hands, fingertips blistered to the mirror. "What did you-" then, his face twisted into terrifying rage. Flushing darkly with anger. Ichigo had heard something- a response he did not like.

"Don't you ever try to touch her again!" the boy let loose his fist, flesh erupting as glass shards flew outward. Blood dripped between his clenched fingers, bead-sized drops spattering the sink bowl. Ichigo hissed at the pain yet looked upon the destruction with grim satisfaction.

"She's mine.." he said to the empty room.

Then, as Tensa watched, Ichigo scowled suddenly.

"I am not _you!"_ he half-yelled, half-cried in desperation.

It took the moon cutter a moment to wonder why his skin prickled. Why nothing made sense..

He was inside his wielder's inner realm yet he hadn't heard _anything_.

_Who was it the boy spoke to?_

(*)*)*)Morning.

His mouth felt like sandpaper, the joints of his wrapped hand creaking as he shifted. For a moment Ichigo was at a loss as to where he was. Confusion stealing in as he realized it wasn't his bed. _This bed was much too narrow- this bed_...

He found himself staring into a pair of violet eyes.

"..Morning." his voice cracked.

He had forgotten- stupidly. Idiotically. Just how devastating one look could be. His ears were practically burning by the time her response penetrated the blank recesses of his mind.

"How did you sleep?" her voice was calm, collected in a way his would never be.

"F-Fine!" he knew he looked like an idiot. "-how 'bout you?"

Kei shrugged, shoulders heaving slightly, the blanket rustled lower. He saw that her skin was unblemished. Perfect. _Maybe everything had been all just a bad dream_..dried flakes of rust dotted the white bodice line. He felt a horrible sinking sense of guilt, throat closing up, eyes prickling.

"I'm sorry." she looked neither angry nor scared. Just a little..._sad_, he thought, impetuousness making him reach, pulling her unresisting into his arms. "Sorry!" he buried his face in her hair, childishly seeking comfort rather than giving it.

"I'm so..so..sorry." he held her until every curve of her body was imprinted against his. "I don't know why I said those things..." he murmured into her ear, breathing in her scent. "I'm sorry."

After a time, he relaxed his grip, letting her ease up onto her elbows, chin propped up.

"I'm hungry." she said. Ichigo blinked then a smile cracked over his features. "I bet you are. Seems like it's late morning- nearly noon. I'll get up and whip up something for you..." as he spoke, he gently let her slide off back into the nest of blankets. He had worn his clothes from the night before to sleep in, now he stretched, his wrinkled shirt revealing a few inches of his abs. One thing training and sword fights had given him was a six-pack. Not that Ichigo had any mind about such things, though he did preen a little, his ego stoked when he noticed she was _looking_.

(*)*)*)

"You must gain nourishment."

"I'm not hungry." The soft curls of steam arose from the bowl of fluffy white rice. The smell didn't tempt her. "If you are so insistent, however...then _feed me_."

The sword looked impassively from the tray to her face. "If you will eat.." his sigh was one of long-suffering, straightening from his leaning posture. Kei hid her smirk, "wash your hands first." she tossed her head meaningfully toward the door.

He gave her another look, then simply went out, crossing to the small hallway bathroom. The sound of running water momentarily filling the quiet. Within a few minutes, he was back, nudging the door closed with his foot, locking it from the inside. Kei sat up a little more against the pillows, looking to a narrow sliver of bed near her hip. He followed her gaze, settling in, angling toward her.

The moon cutter hesitated some, deliberating over the pair of chopsticks or the foreign cutlery. Eventually he opted for the latter, choosing a small teaspoon to scoop up a small portion of rice. Kei obediently opened her mouth, letting the cool metal slide between her lips. She tasted it, because he was watching. _Because he cared_, she supposed in more than one way.

Her teeth mashed the rice grains to pulp then swallowed reluctantly. Saliva easing the faintly oyster-flavored gum down. "I usually have cornflakes." she said in an effort to break the ice. The sword ignored her dry humor, readying the next spoonful with care.

"It's nasty." she added, hoping to incite more of a reaction.

He sniffed then pinned her with an intent, inscrutable look. "There is nothing wrong with it."

Another mouthful.

"I don't like it." she whined petulantly.

"There is _nothing_ wrong with it." He insisted with little force.

"Says you." Kei muttered. "I'd still prefer cornflakes."

The spoon scraped the side of the bowl. "I knew you would."

"Why didn't you tell him then?" she understood what he intimated. He had been watching her for years so of course he would know what she ate in the morning.

"Cereal wasn't available. It would have inconvenienced the boy besides..." his dark eyes rose to her face, lingering. "You are _too_ spoiled."

She smiled, not being able to help it. "Is that anyway to.._to talk to the one you love? _You're supposed to indulge my every whim."

"I am. Now eat." he commanded tonelessly.

She pouted in annoyance yet accepted the next bite, affecting great enjoyment of the tasteless food _for show_.

(*)*)*)

"Kiss me." she said when she had finished. The moon cutter lowered the napkin from brushing off a spot of rice near her lip.

"..your breath is unpleasant." he replied, making a motion to step back. Her hand shot out, grasping him above the wrist. In a thousand ways he was stronger than her, yet he didn't even attempt to break her grip.

"Of course it does. I just ate." she muttered, looking down at the thin wrist between the circle of her thumb and index. "Besides. Maybe I meant on the forehead...or on the cheek. Why would you automatically assume on the mouth?"

He looked away. "Would you consider releasing me?"

"Only if you _kiss me_."

_Stubborn_.. she thought she heard in a soft undertone mutter. A full smile curved her mouth, her free hand rising from the top of the blankets to touch her forehead, "here."

(*)*)*)Tsukikage Castle(*)*)*)

"..careful. Don't set that down there." Kagami sat on a lone barstool before the long counter. Petri dishes contained various powdered substances. Kazeatari handed him the small steaming mug, her gaze traveling to the nearest containing a bluish-white grain.

"What's that?" Curiosity was Byakko's thing, yet the color fascinated her.

"Chromium."

"Hmm...and that?" Kazeatari peered closer at another not far away. "That looks like salt."

"..Sodium Chloride. It is." he smiled over the rim of the cup. "I'm..making Emeralds, if you must know."

The Wind wielder nodded, gaze traveling to the spherical gyroscope, a central substance revolving continuously.

He grinned a little shame-facedly. "Moolah too. After all it makes the world go around."

_Gold. The currency of their world_... Kazeatari gazed after it a moment longer, saying quietly more to herself. "And you call yourself a scientist."

"Kisuke.." a short silence. "Is a scientist. I consider myself to be an Alchemist." Taking up the dish of chromium, he swiftly dumped it within the diaphanous cradle. The pale powder a rustling whisper. "Iron." he nodded to a dark grey substance. Mixing it together with the chromium.

She let out a short bark of laughter. "More of a Physicist."

"Alchemist sounds better." he retorted mildly, then so things wouldn't turn so heavy between them, casually looked up, indicating with a jerk of his head the door she had left partially open. "I'd be obliged since Keiko isn't here, if you would bring the sword above the mantel in here?"

Kazeatari's eyebrows met, her lips quirked in the semblance of a smile. "Me? The oh-so feared mindless terror?"

He met her look solidly, "go."

She shrugged and went back out the way she had come. Within a few moments, a clatter was heard. Rattling. Clacking. Kazeatari cursed something in Italian, then uttered a binding spell. Her steps echoed dully on the floor, as she reappeared bearing aloft the white horned-sword.

"I hope you know what you're doing." she said as she handed it over to him. Kagami murmured _thanks_, carefully accepting the hilt. Once Hakuya clattered. Just a single ring as the tang scraped against the confines of the sheath. Then, no more.

"It's to be Aizen's...when we go?"

"That's the plan." Kagami said crisply, snatching up a semi-clean rag from farther down then dragging it around the curvature of the ivory horns.

"Can he...is he capable of.._wielding it?"_

The water wielder appeared to think for a moment then shrugged slightly, blue eyes lifting to her face. "It was forged for him from the beginning. Whether or not he lacks _the heart_ is entirely between he and this sword."

"But, it's soulless. Doesn't that mean that anyone can wield it?"

"...You should know the answer to that by now." He looked down at the scabbard propped against his knee, held upright in his hand. "Only two times in my life around this current form- existence however you may call it, that I have been afraid of something I _created_."

Kazeatari waited somberly for him to continue.

"I was..never afraid of the Zanpaku-to. I didn't mind so much that any day one of them might be forced to take my life by another's command."

Her eyes slanted away. _Unlike you_. Implicit it was there.

"I knew it didn't make them happy to kill me. On both ends we suffered...but a soulless. When I first held the completed Hokuto Shichisei in my hands, when I first used it to heal an injury..." he shook his head slightly from side to side. "I wish I could say I'll never forget that moment. However, suffice it to say that for once it was like this blade was truly mine. For wrong or right. It lacked a consciousness, therefore it wasn't, therefore it didn't feel."

"It wasn't like a Zanpaku-to to be contracted by another Shinigami." she remarked.

He smiled reminiscently, "exactly. It wasn't pretty the first time when one of the water Zanpaku-to came across the Hokuto Shichisei. I remember...I think it was Katen-Kyokotsu in fact...had gone to my room to surprise me but I wasn't there- on a mission or something." he waved the rag flippantly. "I always used to leave Sazanami in spirit form there then if I needed her, I would simply summon her to my side. The thing is.." a queer little half-smile curled his mouth.

"Katen-Kyokotsu thought that the Hokuto Shichisei was a new Zanpaku-to, one I had just created and that hadn't been awakened yet. So...when she tried to touch its consciousness...things got ugly then."

The lab grew quiet while each pondered that time in the past.

"It was...blank of course. As empty as a piece of cold metal with shape." He laughed humorlessly, "She- no...none of them have forgiven me. Maybe it's what I deserve then...Hakuya my finest creation, loathing me so."

"You mustn't think like that." Kazeatari said, moving closer. He sat still, the spell-bound sword in his hands. "It wasn't up to you to decide how any one Zanpaku-to feels, whether aggressiveness, gentleness, strength or even hatred. It is up to themselves as beings who -therefore I feel, therefore I am.- To decide." she laid her hand on his forearm.

"Aren't you forgetting..love?" Blue eyes met dark obsidian. His mouth hardened. "That was a cruel thing to ask of Keiko concerning Tensa Zangetsu." Kazeatari's finely arched nostrils flared, "is that why you're angered with me? That sword-"

"-Loves her." Kagami said flatly. "You let your past experience with Suzumebachi influence your judgment. I'm sure you think you're helping her let go-"

"So, you _know_ it too.." A look of pity replaced her surprised expression, lips pressing together, eyes lowered. "How long has she _waited?"_

"Longer than a lifetime...longer than most would. It's not up to us...rather it's in her own mind. Within her psyche and what's left of her heart to let go."

"But..!" the wind wielder bit her lip, looking greatly aggrieved. "It's unfair to let them continue like this!"

"To let her see her dead lover in that sword...isn't that a mercy before the end of everything?"

Kazeatari could say nothing more, stepping back, at once silent yet with unhappiness stirring at her conscience.

He smiled faintly again, turning to the steel counter. Hakuya was laid aside, a clink almost like a tiny murmur made in sleep echoing from it_. It sounded like Kyou Retsu_. Kagami reached over and patted the scabbard reassuringly. "Be still, your true master will soon wield you as you are meant to be. Soon.."

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

The door was locked. A thousand different scenarios ran through his mind. She had locked it- _why? _Fighting off his rising panic, he tugged futility at the knob, "Kei?" For a moment the image of her lying comatose..or bleeding from self-inflicted wounds passed through his head. He started to pound, rapping his fist against the panel.

"-Just a minute!" her voice penetrated the confines. Echoing out into the hallway. Her voice- not strained. Normal. He relished the sound of it, inhaling air into his suddenly empty lungs. _She was alright...she was okay...he really needed to quit worrying so much_...

The lock clicked back. The door swung open as he reached for the knob again. He expected her to be standing on the other side, instead his gaze sweeping in the small room alighted upon her sitting in bed. Sipping at the orange juice.

"You ate..." he saw that the plates were clean.

She nodded briefly, "mm, yes. I had help." her smile had a mysterious note to it, before he could ask just _who the hell_-, she had plunged her hand between the bed and the table withdrawing a struggling mass of bright yellow plush.

"Kon!" he swore under his breath more, stomping forward to yank the plush lion unceremoniously from her hand. Kei grinned bemusedly at his reaction, waving her glass a little in emphasis. "I was quite surprised when that little guy crawled out from.." she gestured vaguely to the twins' beds.

Ichigo glared fiercely, shaking the gagged lion back and forth. Kon's beady eyes bulged- if that were even possible, arms and legs flailing. The little sneak was probably begging for mercy, Ichigo thought, gruffly asking, "he didn't latch onto your-er, chest, right?" he blushed but still managed to finish.

She shook her head. "No...I was spared _that_, thankfully."

"Good." Scowling, he turned, meaning to go and toss the lion into his closet. He was glad of that. _The little perv groped anything with boobs and two legs_.

"Ichigo.." the rustle and shift of blankets being moved.

"What?" he turned back around coming nearly face to head with the Elemental. _They hadn't been this close since_..visions of the night before played throughout his consciousness. The driving sense of guilt returned full force. His eyes watered, stinging though there was no physical reason for them to be. He would've taken anything- her sword cleaving through his chest, cutting open his arterial veins.

_Anything at all_...his eyes closed.

They opened to the soft feel of her lips brushing his. Kon kicked unmercifully at his thigh, but he ignored it, feeling only the slightest bit disappointed it didn't last longer. Kei stepped back, stroking the back of her hand against his cheek.

She didn't say anything, but then he didn't really expect her to.

Sometimes words...weren't needed.

He knew exactly how she felt.

(*)*)*)

Tensa watched her kiss his wielder. He felt strange doing so, like he was intruding on something meant for them only. _Two people in love_, he thought, surprised, yet not surprised in another way at his own feelings on the matter.

Selfishness said it should be his lips she was _touching_.

His face she should've been _stroking_.

But, he knew that part of him was wrong. _She deserved a chance to be happy. If she was happy then he was too_. Unconsciously his fist clenched. _But, could the boy after everything, make her happy?_

No- he can give her life. The moon cutter thought acrimoniously. Standing by the bed, watching, hearing, seeing. It was only a moment but it felt like a single biting eternity.

The sword whom couldn't _touch_ reality without taking part of her.

Asking. Strengthening the bond between them.

But, Ichigo. Ichigo didn't have to. The boy was of physical reality. Crossing between death and life without another thought.

The sword stepped back, unable to take it. Melting back into his world of bright blue skies and warmth. Prevalent warmth like sunshine spilling into the boy's soul. Ichigo was happy- blissfully, ecstatically. Everything Kage had said...the things Touda had intimated paled in comparison to reality.

He was sure...so sure..

That she was _falling_.

-TBC

AN: *sorry for mistakes* it's late here. -.-; anyway, if we still have the phone next week, I fairly certain the new chapter will be posted _late Tuesday_. Lol..._Kei is tempted_. Hahaha. *Sometime tomorrow I'll check over this chapter* thanks for reading!

No flames!

Reviews appreciated and loved! C:


	69. Tempted

_He's more than a man and this is more than love_  
_The reason that the sky is blue_  
_But clouds are rolling in because I'm gone again_  
_And to him I just can't be true_

_-Unfaithful, Rihanna_

* * *

ShiKai CH.61: _Tempted_

_She brushed the backs of her fingers against his cheek. _

_"Ichigo, I will forgive you for this one time."_

_He looked at her startled, then started to speak, "I-"_

_"Know this however, if you ever lay a hand on me again in the name of your friends, I will not hesitate to show everyone around you... the meaning of hell."_

_"Then...I'd have to defeat you first." He did not want to say it._

_"As if you could." Kei laughed, walking around him to the door, on her way to take a shower._

_Leaving him still standing there_.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape, that night following her return to Tsukikage(*)*)*)

_One-two-three-four_.

Four seconds.

Collision.

Black and silver. Then, breaking off into the opposite direction. In his second release, Tensa was lighter, more agile yet able to disregard most of her easy takedowns. Face sweaty, neck damp, Kei breathed out noisily, waiting for the moment to come again.

Shin-Soku gave her an edge over his Shunpo. No matter the high density compression of the ban-kai state, there was a mediocrity compared with Kazeatari's Shindou and Aizen's Primera Espada's Sonido.

_Stark_...she wondered briefly how the lonely Espada was doing.

"You're preoccupied again." The moon cutter said, his image rippling into a string, the lightest tap of his boots echoing as a warning. _Shi_- Kei didn't have time to finish the thought, ducking swiftly to hear the sword whistle cleanly above her head.

"You're getting complacent. Sloppy."

She endured the insults punctuated by different strikes. Sweeping her back, lunging from side to side to evade them.

"In battle-" the flat edge of his sword smacked into her hand, instantly she lost all sensation with it. Getsu-ten went flying aside, silver tang embedding halfway in the softening concrete.

"You must always give it your-"

She kissed his hand, the blade pressed against her side, its descent _stopped_.

He was pale. She simply beamed, "distracted, Tensa?"

He huffed quietly, scowling when she leaned in closer. "You..did that on purpose."

"Of course I did." Kei smiled sweetly. "You should know by now how I exploit an enemy's perceived weaknesses. Yours being.." her arms slowly twined up around his neck. The regenerative properties within her blood sped up the healing process so that soon the shattered bones were mending. Fusing together beneath the skin. She blew lightly across his face, delighting in the involuntary shudder as she pressed fully against him.

"Myself."

His sword clattered to the ground somewhere, his hands drawing back at first to push then unable to complete the action, clasped one low then one high, forehead pressing to hers. "Damn you.." his lips moved, the words echoing quietly in the slenderest of spaces between them. A dark lock of hair rustled against her cheek like a whisper.

She tangled her fingers in _that hair_..

"I hate...you."

Still smiling softly, she said, "I know."

His mouth sought hers.

"You _should_."

Then, awakened. Forcing herself to moments before his lips brushed hers. She sighed, rolling a pencil between her fingers. The screensaver of infinite space played, traversing through blackness dotted by tiny pinpricks of revolving lights like stars. She reached over and tapped the mouse, the space froze then evaporated into the Internet Explorer homepage.

The time was 6:45 PM in the Tokyo time zone selected. Dinner then homework. _Around eight_. Her glance went to the corner readout on the spacebar. _11:45 PM in Assiah_. It would be verging onto the early side...

Expressionlessly, she dropped her hands onto her lap. _How did he feel now? Was he angry with her-?_ Infuriated because once again she had teased then had rejected his _response? _She thought of Kazeatari reluctantly and knew she would have to tell him.

_I'm going to destroy you-_

Tensa didn't care about logic like his wielder, maybe in that capacity they _fit_ one another.

When Kazeatari had asked if he would fight to protect himself; Kei _knew_ the answer.

_He hated her-but he loved her at the same time. _

_He pulled-but tried to let go at the same time_.

Like she said in answer.

_If it went against __**her**__- his reason for existing, then he would gladly submit_.

Sitting in her room beyond the dimension where the Zanpaku-to resided; she felt tears stinging in the corners of her eyes. "Stupid..." her hands clenched atop her knees and a single tear splashed the crescent moon sword lying sheathed across her lap.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

"I hate you." he stared through the fingers and hands he had pressed to his face. The space- everything seemed cold, empty without her presence. "I need you." Once one had gotten a taste of warmth- the searing heat of fire and everything it was, one couldn't survive without it.

"I hate you-I hate you-I hate you-" the monotone chant broke into a crescendo. His power spiraling outward uncontrollably. Carving into the building, deep cracks shuddering unforgivably into the concrete. It was all one mindless, empty driving thing. He hated- oh yes he hated intensely- envied- coveted-loathed-loved- _he loved her_.

That was the most painful- horrid thing of it.

Exhausted, mentally, emotionally. _Everything_. Slowly his hands slid from tearing at the roots of his hair, falling to the scarred building below. _This was one of his favorites_. _It resembled the hotel she had stayed in during '99 right before the new year in the faraway city of New York_.

Tensa closed his eyes, waiting for the building to mend itself as everything always did in Ichigo's inner world.

Nothing moved. Nothing stirred.

He could _feel_ the splintered quality beneath his damp palms_. What had happened?_ The moon cutter raised his head, seeing everything the same. _Why wasn't_...

Then, he saw something.

A piece of paper like a sticky note in the shape of a cat head lying on the ground.

He picked it up.

_Heart building. :) hope you like_.

Sighed with the Kanji for Fire.

_When had she left it?_ he wondered, looking around curiously. Some of his anger evaporated, his curiosity getting stronger as he set off. Leaving the damaged building behind. Leaping from building to building, he was soon at the largest building at the center of the sideways city. Tensa was unsurprised to see evidences of _her_ marking it.

-_The boy loved her_...

Walking up the center, his sharp sight alighted upon something else unusual in the world.

An item that wasn't a sword.

Instead it was a black case. Heart pounding, he bent low and picked it up like the paper.

Inside resided a pair of tinted sunglasses.

She had meant that gift for _him_, not for Ichigo.

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

The mirror wasn't broken. The icy jet was hardly heeded, amber eyes turning up to the smooth, placid surface. "What the.._fuck?"_ The expletive left his lips quietly, fingers reaching up, skating over the cool glass. It was whole. Unbroken.

He was so sure he had shattered it- cutting his knuckles enough to bleed. If so- his frantic gaze dropped to the sink, seeing none of the crimson spatters nor shards. What the hell- his lips silently formed the unspoken sentence. Desperation- a need of understanding.

Then, he stared into the mirror.

Starting back violently moments later.

_His eyes- _...

Eyes. Shaking fingers rubbed beneath the sockets reminiscent of a blind person feeling the features of another to project a mental image of that person into their mind. He did no such thing, knowing every feature, every detail of his face knowing it was one of a murderer.

They said he looked like his mother.

But, Masaki never had soft motes like gold flickering through her eyes.

_He was becoming-_ Ichigo sunk to his knees, burying his face in his hands. _No- he __**was**_**.**..

_I am you and you are me_.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage Castle(*)*)*)

Flame licked at the polyester fur. Kei watched it consume the plush toy into ash. A rabbit dressed in a kimono made by Ishida's hand. Ichigo had been so proud giving it to her...

She snapped her fingers, the seal on the floor illuminating curved lines. The ashen remnants of a melted plastic eye stared balefully up. Slaughtered. Stray threads wriggled like they had a life of their own. Crouching, she watched as the entire structure of four paws and a head with large ridiculous ears reformed into complete wholeness. Kei closed her eyes, rubbing at her forehead tiredly. The timer went off. _One minute_. Her concentration eased. Progress was immediate, she could control the space better now. She rose, ready to reset the clock and start over again. _The real test would be on a living organism such as a human. For what she had promised to Toya-_

Her cell rang.

She bent and swiftly scooped up the plush toy, depositing it beside the recharger cradle on the desk before picking up her phone to press the talk button.

"Hello! No, I wasn't really doing anything right now, Ichigo."

(*)*)*)

_God-eye_.

The chances were far- nigh impossible. _But what if-_

"Good, you came early, Kyou." Kagami smiled with a confidence he hardly felt, hands rubbing slightly, palms dry yet roughened with the raw materials he had been working with. The boy's dark eyes darted around, resembling a skittish rabbit. He had requested Ren to join them at the fringes of the sunken gardens though the sun was setting, dark would be upon them soon. He would've preferred using the training ground behind his Division yet Toya and Hana were still there.

The other half of the Retsu twins, had expressed support- loudly much to the chagrin of his headache. _Yet sorrow_, Kagami knew, _and slight fear was beneath the surface_. Kyou had put on a brave face much like a little soldier. Brave for the world yet inside he quaked at the thought of _war._

_Poor kid_.

The water wielder tried to think of things- words of support he could say. But, nothing came. Instead he said crisply as Ren walked up, hands looped through her double sash, hazel eyes roving around boredly.

"You called?" The Vizard asked.

"Yes. Both of you actually." Kagami said easily, noting the way Kyou's shoulders heaved back, standing straighter. "There is..ah, something I'm curious about. Kyou-kun perhaps you can enlighten me on a thing or two." He let the sentence hang for a moment watching narrowly as the fifth seat digested everything.

"Alright, Captain Nanatsu. I'll try my best." If anything the boy was forever polite.

"What is.." _here was the beginning_. "The first thing you can recall? Now think back carefully!" his blue eyes were intent on every facial expression the boy made. "Sometimes it'll come to you -in the form of a dream..or some kind of familiarity with a person or persons."

Kyou shook his head, fidgeting from foot to foot. "N-No, sir. I'm sorry there's nothing beyond..." then, he hesitated. Kagami noticed it, catching onto the subtle tug of emotion like elusiveness. Of something just beyond his recollection.

"...what is it?" The water wielder hardly dared hope.

"Well.. there is _something_."

Ren looked to him, hearing the faintest tremor.

"Tell me." Kagami urged.

"..It was a feeling- not a memory so much." Kyou stumbled in his haste to make them understand. "Just this feeling of..knowing Captain Yamamoto. And you and Captain Namaiki. I just..." his eyes filled, voice thickening on the verge of a breakdown.

"It's alright..you don't have to finish now." Kagami clapped the boy's shoulder briefly, patting it briskly before reaching for his Zanpaku-to hilt. "I want to test something else out however. During the great battle over a hundred years ago, you displayed an ability quite unusual to Shinigami. It's rare in fact I would like to see if you can still do it and if so..."

Kyou looked determined.

"You must hone it like a sword it can control." He stepped back, walking a few paces putting distance between them. "Alright, Kyou. Stand in the middle- Ren-chan you're fine where you are."

The Vizard had made a motion to move but now she stayed where she was. "What's this all about?" she frowned, confusion in her tone.

"You're going to attack me," he said smiling. "And Kyou-kun is going to control your reiatsu to keep it from rising." Ren looked skeptical, but readied her position anyway.

"I know someone with a more reiatsu-based attack such as Nekomata would've been more appropriate. However, your Zanpaku-to will suffice merely for a confirmation."

"What kind of confirmation, Captain?" Kyou asked.

Kagami smiled again, shaking his head knowing full well he couldn't relay his suspicions without due cause to anyone. "Are we ready now? Begin!"

(*)*)*)

_Call me after you've done everything for the day_.

That was true for the living world, except the night was still young in Assiah. There were software updates and firewall modules to be built...

_Call and we'll talk_.

"...No, I didn't do much today." She smiled to herself knowing she couldn't tell him about stealth reconnaissance nor the seals being embedded into the ground northeast of the Graylands to serve as a barrier in case of invasion. But, Ichigo would've laughed at such a fear.

_Because he knew the Shinigami._

_He just knew Hitsugaya and Matsumoto wouldn't accept such an order_.

_Kuchiki too_.

Kei wanted to laugh at his naiveté. _How foolish could one be to ignore the long, sordid history of Soul Society?_

"You're so quiet, did something happen?" he asked suddenly on the other end.

"No." she lied on her back, staring up at the canopy of her bed. "I'm just..a little tired is all." She knew he liked to pry. Ask and ask until the root cause was finally revealed. But, for once.. Kei was surprised at his silence.

Instead- his breath echoed into the receiver, he had held it a little too close to his mouth. "What're you..listening to?"

_You can hear it?_ She wondered, tilting an ear upward. From the next room, the laptop's media player belted out music. "..A song by the artist, Rihanna. It's called _Disturbia_." she said, though she herself could barely hear it, the volume was lowered so. "You ever heard before-?"

"No..sounds kind of weird though. I didn't know you liked that kind of music. She's right up there along with that Lady Gaga." Ichigo denounced.

"I like some of her stuff." she said a shade cooler. "Disturbia's about losing your mind." the other end of the line grew strangely silent. She rolled over onto her stomach, "want me to say a few lines?"

"..'kay."

She paused for a moment letting the track reach a certain part, her voice dropping a few octaves lower, husky. "Release me from this curse. I'm trying to remain tame. But I'm struggling. You can't go, go, go..I think I'm going to oh, oh, oh.."

"You're good." Ichigo said after a moment.

Despite the ridiculousness of being flattered, she was. _Just a little_. "Thanks. I listen to it enough to know every line that way my ear is familiarized with the intoning to use."

"...Do you..." hesitance. Reluctance to go on.

"Hmm? What?" she gnawed absently at her lip, fingers traversing the tiny hills and creases of the bedspread.

"..know what it's like to go crazy?"

Her fingers stopped tracing the kanji of a name into the cushy material. "..you should know the answer to that by now."

(*)*)*)

There were two.

Kyou had closed his eyes to the Vizard's expulsion of power. Kagami in the face of it, had calmly instructed him to concentrate, to not worry _if he wasn't able to do it_. But, he wanted to help! If there was anything at all to give them the edge they needed, then he would do it.

Bolstering shaking confidence, he began his search anew, through the woven mass of raw spiritual pressure. Two. One a Hollow's, the other Ren's Shinigami powers. Tangled, weaved together like many threads. Kyou followed one, ever mindful of the few seconds he had left.

_Come on-come on_-

He knew the spiritual structure, the varying size and consistency of the Vizard's abilities. Kyou knew it...all. _The best reiatsu reader in the entire world_..._Hana said_.

There it was! He quickly grasped at the single white thread that bound the two disparate strengths together. The torpid revolving mass froze, shrinking, melting into itself.

"Excellent." Kagami-san's voice cut through his consciousness.

Kyou let go, gradually falling back into his body.

"What did you-" Ren's hazel eyes, the yellow fading from them, bulged wildly with fright. In one hand an inch of her Zanpaku-to showed. Its release state shattered into negated white reishii shards.

"God-eye." Kagami-san said, part amazement part joy in his tone and expression. "It is the ability to manipulate another's reiatsu flow by seeing the threads that make up that power. With this...the war is _ours_."

(*)*)*)The next day, time: midday(*)*)*)

"How is the Arklay facility running?" Kei was on the phone, sitting behind her desk in the Fourth division office. A schematic on the computer showed the four levels of the underground training facility in the northern wasteland.

"In good order," Zoe said crisply over the line. Static crackled and a low chuckle came through. "That's just Sokatsui. One of the trainees just destroyed the doll across the room. I have to go now to replace it." A short pause. "Take care..Captain."

"I will." Kei said, running her fingers over the keys to pan on the security feed. She saw the high-fives of the fresh, young faces of the souls destined to fill the positions of Sixth Division. _Almost_. For a moment the Fire Element tried to remember if she had felt so excited as they did, over the prospect of graduating from years of training.

She hadn't.

Continued existence had been foremost on her mind during the time of the last test before the academy class of six years graduated to become members of the Thirteen Court Guards Squads. _With her marks then_... Kei toyed with a pencil, chewing on the eraser end, eyes tilted up to the ceiling. A seated position below five at least would've been offered.

_Second was Fukutaichou._

_Third perhaps_..

She sighed and reached over to click off the feed from her line. The screen went back to normal operating desktop. _Maybe she would've made Fukutaichou by now. Or been eyed for the vacant Taichou rank seats left by Aizen, Ichimaru and Tosen_.

_But, then._.. Kei smiled down at her terminal, at the black surcoat/ haori over the short grey hakama and kimono. _Knowing she wouldn't have had it any other way_. Checking, she made sure she had filed the other reports and stapled the graph figures together. Leaving her nothing- _really important to do_.

She smiled again, settling back, body relaxing.

Within seconds she had dropped off.

Into Ichigo's mindscape.

(*)*)*)Living world, late afternoon(*)*)*)

His dad couldn't look him in the face.

"How was everything?"

"Alright." He had scrubbed the bloodstains as best he could off the wall and floor.

For a moment, Isshin paused in the doorway as if thinking of something else to say. Ichigo waited, halfway anticipating a knuckle sandwich as a _welcome home present_. His dad was crazy like that.

Then, nothing. Not even one glance.

"...Dad," he tried, getting up from behind his desk, leaving his barely started report on that long-dead Samurai. The man paused, but refused to look back at him.

"What is it?" No booming tones.

_What's wrong- just look at me_- _is it_... _**My eyes?**_ "Dad..._are you okay?"_ He risked being punched back, extending a hand to lightly touch the older man's shoulder. Isshin violently twisted away, backing out into the hallway.

Silence.

"I-I'm fine." his dad said jerkily, "do your homework." Then, backed up some more toward the landing. "A tray will be sent up in a while."

Ichigo stared after his retreating back. _What-not even an option of did he want to have dinner downstairs? _He couldn't fathom his dad's behavior. Hadn't the man stressed the importance of eating dinner as a family...?

From the stairwell, drifted up the sounds of his sisters' voices.

"Is everything alright, dad? You're shaking like a leaf!" Yuzu's voice first, painted with concern.

Then, Karin's, a moment later. "How was Ichi-nii?"

"He was .._the same_." A note Ichigo halfway didn't understand floated upward. Like disappointment and fear. "I-I want you girls..to stay as much as possible.._away_ from your brother."

Upstairs, Ichigo felt only coldness.

"But! Dad-" Only Yuzu spoke.

"I mean it." Rustling, shifting. Ichigo could just picture the small family unit below stairs.

A father hugging his two girls.

"..you girls are very dear to me. I don't want anything bad to happen to you when I'm not around."

"...but, dad, what about Ichi-nii? He wouldn't hurt us- and-and isn't he part of the family too?"

Isshin said nothing.

Ichigo crept back to his room, shutting the door ever so quietly.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

A touch now. Sharper keener the blade poised to her throat. He was angrier now, barely speaking, barely doing anything above trying to cut her to ribbons. Kei relished the hardness of his eyes swimming with hatred and hurt, such a terribly potent combination.

He was more alive.

_Less like a blade_. She felt his fingertips trail through the wisps of her hair. A touch before his sword plunged down into the concrete. She noticed now that it was a different building.

_Why did he move? _

This other was long, thin with a width that of her bedroom excluding the sitting room adjoining, she didn't like it. Little room on either side for dodging or for executing complex moves. Quick, short work would be necessary. Kei side-stepped the next strike, bringing Getsu-ten up in return. Tensa blocked it with a fluid motion forward then back, appearing behind her with his sword sweeping shoulder height.

She raced forward. Spinning around to deal out two swipes which were countered perfectly by the moon cutter. _Damn-_ she had counted on at least one hitting home. Ignoring the recoil-snap pulse of her arm, she lunged to the side, meaning to gain a second before he pursued.

_Slightly faster_. He came after her, slashing-stabbing. Kei rolled out of the way, preparing to kick him in the knees if need be.

A blow landed to her midsection, eyes tearing she struck out nearly blindly across his chest. Cloth, then flesh gave way. Getsu-ten seared a red track through his pale torso. She heard him hiss, his black sword plunging down near her head. She twisted wildly out of the way, kicking upwards again.

It connected.

He toppled to the side...then there were no more words.

It was a struggle for dominance.

Fists, legs, arms. Her back collided with the concrete, her lower half jerking, bucking to throw his heavier weight off. The moon cutter clamped down, rubbing almost sinuously against her groin_. Heat rushed. Swelling inside_. She bucked again but only half aware of the _need_. Hands scrabbled, her nails raked inside his cloak, gouging deep into his back. Sides. Anything she could reach. Blood streaked her kimono as they pressed against one another, writhing in a soundless dance.

_Touching_.

His teeth grazed her lobe, reflexively she twisted away from his hot breath.

Brief pain.

_Mingling breaths_.

_Stickiness_. He had bitten her on the neck, on the side. She felt the long -indrawn shudder of breath heaving his form. _Wet_. His tongue swiped the wound.

_Heartbeats mingling together_.

She shoved him off, locking her legs roughly against his hips, hearing the crack as he fell back down like she had. Blood dotted his bottom lip tinged with clear fluid like saliva. She hated the red on his skin, smeared across the plains of his breast. _Stop this-don't do this_- a voice in her head warned. But, it was faint. Conviction-less.

It knew what her body wanted.

Her hips rolled, her eyes sliding shut, a groan leaving her mouth.

"Nngh...uh..uh.." she panted, her back arching, panties moistening. Hardness nudged at her. Pressing into the insides of her thighs, slipping against the curve at the center. _Perfectly_. Again and again she rubbed, hands falling to his chest, fingers skating over tiny round nubs. She thrust faster against his clothed erection, her shorts bunching up high, delighting at the coarse fabric scraping her bare skin.

_I want_-_more than __**this**_**.**

One flame colored eye then the violet opened. Her gaze dropped down, feeling the pulsing length between her thighs. "T-Tensa..." she was almost afraid to look up into his face.

But, she wasn't a coward.

His eyes were slits, heavy breaths leaving his lips.

Her gaze went to her hands, _fondling his nipples_.

She had done everything by instinct.

A slender slice of red carved down his cheek. She touched it with a trembling finger, seeing the red beneath her nails. Her surcoat was torn, kimono wrenched open. The tops of her breasts spilled out, heaving as she inhaled suddenly ashamed.

_In every way_.

"I'm sorry."

He was expressionless as she caressed his face.

"I'm sorry, Tensa." Kei pressed down flat, lips gently touching his cheek. She knew she had scratched him. "I'm sorry...don't be angry. I-I'll keep my hands off of you...just _don't be angry_."

(*)*)*)

_I'm sorry_. An apology. Almost immediately he wondered _what for? _

"I'm sorry...don't be angry. I-I'll keep my hands off of you...just _don't be angry_." she repeated, softly kissing him on the cheek. Her body felt slick, sweaty pressing against him. He could smell her arousal, feel the corresponding heat of his insides left without satiation.

One arm crept around her.

He wasn't angry.

_Why should he?_ He had learned what he most desired to know.

(*)*)*)Fourth Division office(*)*)*)

Her clothing was in disarray. Her legs sprawled carelessly open, a darker spot than the gray of her uniform had leaked out. She touched it absently, finding the cloth stiff and smelling faintly of _sex_.

Shifting in her chair, she glanced heavy-headed at the time on the spacebar only to find the screen saver running. Annoyed, she tapped the mouse, reading the time as 6:56 PM.

_Great_. She got to her feet, feeling the leadenness of her limbs, the heavy sensation coiled in her gut. She felt a mix of emotions churning inside. _Disappointment. Anger- at herself_.

..._and lust_.

She hadn't gotten a release. Neither had he.

_For men it was different, wasn't it?_ Kei pondered the thought, hanging up the office for the day. _They could...touch themselves. Gain release that way_. Her heart beat sped up, wishing for a moment she could've seen him touching himself. Then, shook it away.

_He was a sword_-

As she moved, stickiness clung to the insides of her inner thighs. Grimacing in annoyance, she simply teleported to the showers.

..._whom she knew now had a perfectly good set of-_

She mentally told her mind chatter to shut up. Opening the door to the outer room- the shower stalls were a hallway down toward the back, she discovered it empty. _Thank goodness_..she didn't think she would've able to handle any awkward questions that might've arisen from her disheveled state.

It didn't take long for her to strip and head to the farthest stall. Procuring a plain robe and towel for when she got out. She turned on the water as cold as it would go. _Freezing_. Her hand withdrew quickly from the icy stream.

Kei stepped in, taking the veritable plunge while her nerves held. The water fell in sheets, streaming down her hair, running rivulets between her breasts. Clasping her arms to her torso, she shivered and tried not to gasp too loudly. Shutting her eyes, she could _feel it_.

_The blood- her blood in her veins burning. _

_Aching. Quickening her pulse to jump, her cheeks to burn_.

She didn't know how she felt anymore. Breathing in and out she regulated her pounding heart to a more sedate, less breathless pace. _She wanted- yes, she wanted him badly_. But, even realization of her lust, the evidence of it of softened flesh and wet slick clinginess beyond what water alone could cleanse; did not matter.

Kei ran her fingers finally through her soaked hair, separating the strands with her fingers.

Why had she stopped?

The answer was crystal clear in her mind the same as _his lips on her throat, her hands wandering down the chest she had carved an angry crimson line into. _

But, she just couldn't face it.

Not now.

(*)*)*) *Dream* (*)*)*)

Surreal.

The sunken garden. Ichigo knew the place despite only being there a small handful of times. Anyone whom had been there at least once would know the tiered levels and varieties of fauna and flora growing within the shadows of the alcoves.

Yet... the stones were lichen-covered. Moss grew between cracks and the ominous shifting came from the steps he descended down. It angled out onto a level space, a clearing. Vines lay diseased with pustules of sick yellow pus, tangled, spreading over the cracked ground. Ichigo shuddered away from the diseased creepers, rustling growing louder like death cries.

Cries for relief from their oozing sores.

_That's crazy_- he told himself. _Plants couldn't speak_.

Then, he saw them.

Like the ghosts he had seen since he was a child; the three of them were _just _there.

Soft sobbing echoed from behind the hands Kei clasped to her face. Hair lay lank and streaming down her shoulders. She was dressed in a faded white kimono and red hakama. _Like a Miko from ancient days_.

Kagami stood a little back to the right, his clothing of patched robes torn, blood spattered. He looked sadly away from everything, half-turned, so only a sliver of his profile was visible. Ichigo's gaze traveled down to the older man whose face he didn't know, dressed in bloodied Shinto priest robes_. A Kariginu and eboshi hat_. Kagami looked to Kei; Ichigo saw what covered the other half of his face.

A broken mask like a Hollow, from the jagged teeth edging his mouth to the dark markings like war paint on the brow.

_Kagami was a...but no! That couldn't_-

Slowly Ichigo turned to the last one.

Kazeatari. Seated on a broken column. Like a Samurai in dark navy and gold. _Like the one in the book_- he thought with growing horror; as the woman lowered her gaze down to her gloved hands, the edge of a knife glittered in them.

_"No." _Ichigo said silently. His voice possessing no more substance than the dagger Kazeatari slit her gut open with. No sound. No cry. Just dark crimson burbling up through the thick fabric.

Kagami looked even sadder. The glinting white tang of a slender sword rose in his hand, a trailing white ribbon curled from it.

Ichigo saw the action with horrified eyes. He knew that sword..- he knew it_. It was...Rukia's_.

Kagami stabbed the priest straight through the heart.

"I killed him. Now kill me." he said evenly, tonelessly as if the kill had meant nothing.

Kei shook her head even harder, tears streaming between her fingers.

_"Stop it! You can't make her!"_ Ichigo yelled, but they didn't seem to hear him.

Kagami looked down again, the blue and the yellow hollow-eye closing. Soon he and sagging corpse had become nothing but white petals torn from flowers, flowing away in the wind that gusted sharply throughout the enclosure.

She was alone now.

"Kei.." he didn't like to see her cry. "Hey.. no one's going to hurt you." Extending his hand out in a gesture meant to show no harm intended, he got closer. "Not anymore..just trust in me. Kei..."

A space remained between them.

Two steps more.

A white wave like a crescent thundered past him.

Crescent..like the _moon fang_. "No!" he cried. _Evade it-move-do something- don't_- but the thoughts were in his head.

"Help! Somebody please!" he darted forward as she fell. Arms catching her descent, body curving in. "Help meeee!" he yelled desperately, watching as the blood poured from the long slash across her torso. She felt so light- so nonexistent- "No! Don't die on me, damn you!"

No response. Her eyelids had fluttered shut, a deathly pallor stealing over her skin.

Ichigo refused to accept the stillness of her heart. "Kei, listen to me, dammit! I'm not going to let you die- you're too..." _precious to me_.

A footstep. A crackle of a trailing creeper snapping underfoot.

His head turned up at the sound before he could stop it.

A tall, broad-shouldered man stood a few feet away, attired in the vague form of robes and the edge of white like a haori flickering like shadow. In one hand, an unsheathed sword resided.

He had come to be sure of her demise.

Ichigo stiffened, arms folding her protectively closer uncaring of the blood soaking into his shirt.

The man's face tilted up.

_He was- he was_-

Amber eyes widened.

(*)*)*) *end of dream sequence* (*)*)*)

Ichigo started up; the dream faded.

Yuzu leapt back with a half-choked shriek. "I-I-Ichi-nii?" her voice trembled. He rubbed at his eyes, feeling the stiffness of his neck. _He had fallen asleep at his desk_.

"Dinner's done." she held the tray out like some kind of peace offering. Snippets of grilled fish and a tiny bowl of white rice. Spicy sauce in a miniature dipping bowl and chopsticks. Ichigo looked at the food and felt nauseated.

"Set it..over there." he waved awkwardly toward the bed.

Yuzu went around him, nervously sliding the tray at the foot of the bed.

For a moment, the room was quiet.

"Did everything go alright with Kei-san?" she finally asked, hovering at the edge of his peripheral vision. It took him longer than a minute to understand what she was asking.

"Oh-oh, yeah.." he stretched his arms over his head. "Everything..was okay."

"That's good." she sounded relieved. Happy even.

He felt a little guilty.

Paper rustled. White sheets of paper stapled together at the corner edged into the line of his vision, Yuzu held it out. When he looked at her questioningly before taking it, he saw the slightest hint of a blush.

"I-It was something I picked up. It's a...horoscope test to determine your compatibility. I-I thought you and Kei-san could go over it together...I-I'm sure it'll 100%!"

He looked into his sister's face, then smiled a little. "Thanks, it seems kind of silly..but I guess it wouldn't harm any for more confirmation." he tapped the papers together, laying them atop the history book cracked open in front of him. _Check- hard bound history books didn't make good places to rest one's head on_.

"That's the spirit, Ichi-nii!" Yuzu fisted her small hands determinedly. "You and Kei-san make a great couple!"

He smiled more genuinely.

At least someone supported him.

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

"-hey!" Kagami's voice called to her from across the hallway leading to dining hall A. Kei barely slowed her steps, not wanting to deal with anyone at that moment.

"What?"

He came toward her after waving Ren and Kazeatari to go on ahead. "I discovered something- is everything alright?" he noticed her paleness.

"Yeah..it's..nothing." Kei shook her head briskly, glad she'd had forethought to dry her hair before the walk back to the castle. Outside the frosted-dripping icicle lanterns had been lit up the main pathway. First Division had been hard at work earlier in the day- being one short as Osore was still gathering up the materials his new Division would need.

"You look..." Kagami wore a light blue scarf knotted loosely around his neck. The color set off his eyes to a pleasant hue and looked none so bad with the dark grey uniform. He had left off his black surcoat. "_Confused_." he struggled. "What's going on?"

By look, she knew her expression gave away nothing._ Emotions_. He had read her. Kei felt the briefest kindling of anger inside before realizing he had probably picked it up all the way down the hall. After all, he had always said that her emotions were stronger than most. _Easier to read then_.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it, I'm just a little tired from the hours of the living world in conjunction to here is all." she said, finding it easy to lie with a straight face. He looked faintly as though he didn't believe her, the subtlest intrusion meaning he was probing the top layer for deceit.

_That bad, huh?_

He found nothing."Alright then. Well, shouldn't -"

Dinner. She smiled, "no, I'm not really hungry. My appetite's off a little, so in a while..if I get hunger pangs, I'll just come down and find something. Tell me tomorrow, 'kay?"

He looked after her as she walked away, "sure."

It was true. _She wasn't hungry at all_.

She went to her room, changing before she settled in the black chair before the ergonomically designed wave desk of light greenish-blue Plexiglas. Then, sighed, pressing the heels of her hands into her forehead. She hadn't wanted Kagami to delve any deeper, to guess what it was that disturbed her conscience so badly.

_What...conscience?_ The Fire wielder lightly ran her fingertips over her lips. _Who was to say what was wrong or right in her mind?_ She smiled slowly, leaning back in her chair. No one. _Tensa was hers...as Ichigo was._

_They were hers to __**break. **_

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

"You're telling me that the one who orchestrated this latest attack on Karakura was..."

Stunned silence had fallen over the small room. Nearby, Matsumoto hovered. Strained, pale around the edges. Like her, Hitsugaya wondered the same thing.

_New enemies...? More than Aizen?_

Ukitake folded up the report the Research and Development Division had compiled based from stats registered during the initial outbreak. His look was grim. "Yes. A Shinigami we thought long dead. He was..banished along with a small group of others for illegally attaining Hollow-like powers over one hundred years ago."

-TBC...

AN: there was another sequence involving _Itchy_- I mean, Ichigo, except this time it was Kei's dream. You'll see C; but I cut it again for next time. Thanks for reading!

No flames!

Reviews loved and appreciated! ^-^


	70. Possession

_I will break into your thoughts  
With what's written on my heart  
I will __**break, break**_  
-I'm so sick, Flyleaf

* * *

ShiKai CH. 63: Possession

_Konjoukei_...

She swiveled some in her seat, head tilted back, lips lightly blowing air out. _The ability to see the spirits of Zanpaku-to_. She hadn't told Kagami about the change her right eye had undergone, it being understood that eventually her left would suffer the strain for both.

Kei knew _that_. If she lived beyond the end of the year to longer, she would lose her sight. But was it just possible she would have Kagami's full ability then? Not simply from one, but both? The idea was somewhat frightening, the thought of becoming blind to the plain of earthen reality.

_Only able to see Zanpaku-to_..._only Tensa_.

She abruptly sat up fully, leaning forward to maneuver the mouse across the pad, frowning as her fingers skated a little to the right, away from the oval external mouse. "Damn it all." Her mouth twisted in a grimace as she snatched for it again, rewarded by the feel of the smooth plastic beneath her hand.

Looking to the screen once more, she guided the cursor to the Address bar at the top of the browser window, clicking down then using her other hand to dance across the keys. Soon the favorites page was up, the cursor gliding down until she double-clicked on an old news article from several years back on an accident in Karakura town.

_Inoue Sora_...

Glancing at the clock in the bottom right corner of the screen, she mentally tallied up the remaining hours until dawn. _Long time_.. satisfied, she settled down, watching as a few short paragraphs loaded around a central image. Kei peered forward, studying the grainy photograph taken outside of the Kurosaki clinic. _He left behind a younger sister_..

Undoubtedly it was the same one- _Inoue Orihime now_. Glancing at the image again of the sobbing girl and the slighter figure of the boy bending over her, Kei wondered if that was when Ichigo had met her.

"She looks as remotely useless as she does now." The fire wielder muttered aloud, smiling faintly. "Good for only _tears_." She clicked the webpage off, loading another from the list.

Kurosaki Masaki's obituary.

(*)*)*) *dream* (*)*)*)

Puddles. She had sworn to only close her eyes for a moment, resting them against the glare of the backlit computer screen, hand poised on saving a copy of Ichigo's mother's obit to file. But, now she was here. The frustrating thing was, that she didn't know what _here_ was.

It was like a place from an old nightmare of hers.

Darkness surrounding the straight path. Sometimes vague outlines like people or even faded voices echoed in the still air. This night it was silent. Kei stared pensively ahead, though her legs longed for momentum. To move forward like a calling down that path. Knowing whether she walked or ran it would be the same.

At the end, she would watch the horrific death of the one she loved the most played out to the deepest part of her guilt. Kei raised a trembling hand to her temple, hearing the rustle of her kimono sleeves. _This was different_. She glanced over her ensemble. She was usually dressed like she was that night, not in her uniform.

But, indeed she was.

Pleated gray hakama cut to far above the knee, tied at the waist by a thick two-sash bow in deep charcoal black. Then a quarter-length sleeve kimono in slate grey, at the collar black showed from the under. The only thing that was missing was her surcoat.

_Strange_ ... her gaze dropped to her hands, realizing then that she could see perfectly again. _My eye_. Her fists clenched, then she took one step forward. Nothing would happen without her triggering it.

Walking.

Fear surrounding her like a miasmic cloud.

Then, running.

She was a coward. The word repeated itself in a band in her mind.

_Coward-Monster-Coward-Monster_-

She stumbled over something, the tip of her sandal catching the glint of metal in the half light. Kei turned on, kneeling on the ground, absently rubbing her bruised knee. A cat-shaped guard-? Her hand shot out toward it suddenly, her lips moving soundlessly.

_Hai..neko?_

The blade had been snapped in half. Another piece of gleaming metal glinted off the path a few feet away.

_This had never __**been**__ before_.

Her violet eyes narrowed, _she did not understand_. _Why was Haineko broken, why hadn't_... she sighed, getting to her feet. Then, started running again, carrying the broken sword at her side. In time she came across _more_. Shards, glittering jagged shards of metal.

_Shirahime. Nekomata. Kazeshini._

Her glance swept the ground.

_Haretosora_. _And more_.

...a broken tang of a solid black sword. _Tensa_. With a cry she dove forward, dropping Haineko's guard as she gathered up the shattered moon cutter. She held what was left of the hilt and guard close to her body, probing, seeking any spark of recognition within the sword. _Tensa-! _Her eyes stung, lips trembling. _This wasn't happening_-

A footstep.

Plip.

The sound of dripping. That part hadn't changed.

Kei could appreciate the irony of the barest bones remaining of the fractured memory.

"Why are you crying, Keiki?" His voice curled softly around her.

"I'm not." she denied as tears coldly ran down her cheeks.

Plip-Plip-Plip. Tears splashed the ground, Kei wished she could_ see_ Tensa's body.

"I just wanted to make you happy." The dripping increased, shadow crept in at the edge of her vision. "Is that so impossible?" The soft petulance of a child had an aura of familiarness to it. Like it had been spoken before, yet her grief-stricken mind could not place it.

"Stop it."

"I just wanted to _see_ you happy, Keiki." he continued softly. "You said you loved me..."

"_Why_ did you kill Tensa?" Her voice was a quiet whisper. "He had nothing to do with _us."_

"Because..you _care_ for him." His tone darkened at the end. "Like you _care_ for this one."

Shunk.

The dripping fell faster.

Ichigo's body slid from the tip of the spear, collapsing into a limp heap beside her.

She screamed silently, mouth opening in abject horror. She threw herself over him, feeling the immediate crimson wetness soak into her abdomen. "Ichigo!" she knew. She knew he was gone. Even as her hands sought a pulse, a heartbeat, breath..anything.

_He was gone like Tensa_.

And now she was very _alone_.

"Did I make you sad..?"

Hot tears scalded her cheeks, soundlessly she lay against the still body, feeling his body heat melting softly away. The broken sword lay between them. _Ichigo and Tensa_..._because of __**her**_. she shut her eyes. "Yes, _you did_..._why_ did you kill them?" _and not me_.

"Everything I've done has been for you, Keiki. You see...I will never stop until you're _**mine**_."

(*)*)*) *end of dream sequence* (*)*)*)

The phone rang.

She bolted awake, heart pounding, lips moving tremblingly.

_'Just kill me.' _

Her eyes darted down to her hands expecting to see them covered in blood.

"Ichi..go." They were clean. She looked at the phone, then snatched it up. "H-Hello?" she knew her voice shook, biting down on her bottom lip briefly, feeling the lance of pain right her thoughts.

"...I wasn't sure if you were still awake or not." His voice was a welcome relief. The tiniest of knots in the pit of her stomach loosened.

"I was- I mean, yeah...sorry, I.." suddenly she didn't know what to say anymore. "Ichigo, could you hold on a moment, I..I need to check on something." her hand rose, sliding through her hair, pushing it back out of her face. She needed to concentrate.

"Alri-"

Kei passed through the boundaries of the worlds. Her speed burning through the layers like air. She had a thousand things lacking of what she wanted to say, unknowing, uncaring of anything except _seeing_. For her own eyes, aching, hurting to natural light.

She needed to make sure he was alive.

Only a nightmare.

A distortion of different memories.

_That was all_.

She heard his phone fall with a quiet thud to his lap.

"Don't speak." she shushed, knowing instinctively she had defied all physical law in his mind.

_So, fast-_ she could imagine his thoughts.

But, he was ridiculous if he hadn't realized by now, the things she was capable of. His lack of understanding- awe perhaps in challenging Kagami. Believing he could defeat _her_ if the need ever arose...they stemmed of incomprehension.

Her lips pursed at his cross-legged position on the bed.

He lacked true _fear_.

For now he was merely startled. Watching as she approached, expression caught between a scowl and surprise.

She wrapped her arms around him, resting her chin on top of the soft spikes of his hair.

Kei did not understand why she had been afraid of _before_.

"I just had to...make sure you were alright."

(*)*)*)

The room was silent. Kei was glad of Ichigo listening for once and staying quiet. She needed time to think, above all to question why the memories had been eclipsed by the present. _What could it all mean-?_ Motionless she stood, clasping his head to her breast, his arms were a little high, resting around her back neither snugly nor loosely.

He seemed to understand she needed comfort but not that which words could easily give. It was not fair for Ichigo nor anyone else to become sacrifices- _not to that thing_, she amended, knowing full well the high price that still required reckoning. Fruition lacked as well as time. But, even so there wasn't much she could do- _not until he showed himself_.

_If Genbu had been released, then that meant_...

Her gaze had drifted down pensively, lost in her thoughts it took her a full moment for her eyes to realize what she was seeing. "Ichigo..what is-" she moved to the side, her hand drifting down to graze fingertips along the ancient painting reproduced on the history book page.

"Wha-oh, that." He rolled his eyes slightly to the ceiling, "something one of my teachers assigned to the class. It's an essay on this guy- um...Ka-"

"Kagamine Kazeki." She finished for him.

"Yeah..hey, you know some of Japanese history?" Ichigo asked, leaning back ostensibly to leave a small space for her to sit down without making it seem obvious.

"It's hard not to, when one was alive during that time." Kei answered, picking up the book yet remaining standing. Her eyes drifted over the blurring pages and kanji script, then going back to the centerpiece of the Samurai General in navy and gold brocade. The features were exaggerated for the age, she herself knowing how much more handsome the man had been in life. However, there they had placed him on a horse with a wild expression, preparing to ride into battle; not in a forest glade with soft, sad eyes and kind words.

The caption beside the picture read: _The great General Kagamine Kazeki-shi on the eve of his desperate charge to break the Tsutsuga line_.

Ichigo absorbed her words, incredulity in his voice. "Wait- you knew this guy? Like that was-"

"Almost five hundred years ago." Kei replied, her eyes narrowing into slits as she looked back at him. "Dare to let the words _'old bag'_ fall from your lips and I guarantee you will never _ever_ have children." her gaze dropped, lingering between his legs in meaning.

"But! That's crazy! That was a really long time ago!" His eyes widened. "How old are-"

_The idiot_, she thought, moving so fast that he didn't even see her coming until she was halfway on top of him, pressing her lips against his, her hand snaking down to rub against his crotch. Ichigo at first, started at the contact then as his jaw worked open to yell- her tongue slipped inside ending his complaints.

He moaned quietly, lids fluttering shut over his glazing amber eyes. Kei stroked his growing erection through his jeans, accordingly slanting her mouth at a slight angle. Alternating aggressive, sucking the length of his wet tongue, massaging, nipping then harder. Forcefully eliciting choked moans as she squeezed his sensitive bulge. Kei felt her own stomach twist at the harsh, pleasured sound. Ichigo panted, grinding with need into her palm, breaking off their kiss to gasp stutteringly her name. "Nnggh...K-Kei..uh..uh.."

"What is it, Ichigo?" she asked softly, delighting in the pink flush gracing his cheeks, his eyes were closed in ecstasy, short heated breaths falling. She could see he wasn't there yet. _So, close to release...but should she give it to him?_ Kei toyed with his waistband, dipping her hand down into the sweltering curve between his thighs. There, her fingers slid along the tip of his shaft. Eager like a little beast, it twitched toward the contact.

Kei smiled, grasping the girth of his cock. Her hand eased up then down, repeating the motion until his cum dribbled out, his moaning erratic. Once her nail slipped, she pinched his head, thumbing his weeping slit.

Ichigo twisted, grunting as he was driven closer to the edge; _pain and pleasure_..

_Poor baby_... her knee slid farther apart across the bedspread where she knelt forward. Her panties feeling quite snug, moistly clinging to her tiny protruding sex. Her tongue flicked over her lips, her hand clamping a vise around the base of his shaft. _He deserved it. For arousing her so_.

"Please-please I need..." he hissed sharply, part pain, part sheer pleasure.

Kei smirked lightly as she withdrew her dripping fingers. "What do you _need_, Ichigo?"

His eyes drifted open.

When she was sure he could see, she dragged her fingertips across her lips, licking away the thick strings of cum. He tasted..._salty with just the slightest hint of sweetness_. Picking up the book in her other hand within moments, she decided she liked how he tasted.

Amber widened.

"I thought you didn't want this whore's touch." she murmured, crossing between the worlds. From far off, fading into the distance, his yell echoed back to her.

"I didn't-" _what? Mean it?_

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

Expressionless, she stood in the middle of her room.

_"So, what... I'm a whore now? I'm something..unclean now?"_

_"Yes! You are!" _

Ichigo could never comprehend the meaning of his words.

Those men had called her a whore- their little whore.

Kei sighed, dropping the history book on the chair. He could never understand the knife those words became. She thought of all the things she could've said.

_What, am I a whore for loving the same man for centuries..?_

_Was I a whore when they violated me-?_

Her body started shaking; _he could never __**understand**_ _what it was like to be __**her**_.

Always a question without an answer.

The Fire Element buried her face in her hands, but tears came no more.

Always an answer without acceptance.

Because no one would ever accept her as she was.

(*)*)*)Living world(*)*)*)

(*Please note, Italic are Ichigo's _real_ thoughts. Italic in bold are- well whose were they in the previous chapters? :JK)

She said she had forgiven him.

_"I thought you didn't want this whore's touch."_

Falling flat, he shut his eyes, brow wrinkling as his body refused to come down from its _high_.

She had done it on purpose.

Licking his chapped lips, his mouth ached for what lacked.

_**Dammit- damn it all! **_

So, he had called her _that_-_and-and maybe it was bad_.

_**But, she had betrayed him!**_ His mind justified quickly, his mouth working in a silent snarl. _**She was the one who should've been begging for forgiveness-not him!**_

_But, he had hit her_- another part pointed out. _He never should've laid a hand on her_-

_**She had laughed in his face**_-

_He never should have hit her_-

_**She was such a little bitch, thinking she was above them**_-

_Her or Zangetsu_-

_**Such a haughty little slut-she needed to**_-

Ichigo covered his face with his hands, he began rocking back and forth moaning brokenly.

_Why had he struck Zangetsu in the first place? Why did he hate his sword at all_? Zangetsu had protected her against that_-

- _**break-she needed to break-break-break**_-

_How could he hate his own sword-how could he hate her?_

- _**break- break like his heart-break-**_

"Shut up." Ichigo whispered hoarsely, his fingers digging into his scalp. "Just please..shut up."

_He didn't hate her- he really didn't- he didn't even know why he had done those things_-_Someone else had said those things-someone else had struck her and screamed at her-_

_**Break into so many pretty little shards**__! _It screamed.

"Give me my sanity back..!" he howled into his pillow, muffling it as much as possible so only a smothered hiss escaped, eyes screwed shut; the shriek resounding over and over within the dark depths of his mind.

He failed to see then, the door to his room close softly and the dark-haired head of Karin tiptoeing back to her room. She had heard noise_- voices_ and had gotten up to check.

As she climbed back into bed, pulling the covers over her head.

Karin wished she _hadn't_.

For this, _this_ had only confirmed those terrible things she suspected yet dared not speak of to Yuzu.

It had sounded like their brother was arguing with himself.

In two different voices.

(*)*)*)Ichigo's mindscape(*)*)*)

Ichigo didn't understand, simply.

Then, there in the inner realm, Zangetsu _could_ understand her more now. Lightning streaks striated the sky in slashing crackles. He missed the blue sky.

But, the boy was _angry. Frustrated, confused. _

And his inner world reflected it.

Yet she was only..._sad_.

He watched her drop the book she had taken, drop her face in her hands and stay that way for a long time. He supposed she was going through withdrawal. Separating her emotions from her mind. Rationality and order prevailed in some part of the chaotic state of her soul- or _being_ as another might've put it.

He did believe she was falling for his wielder...but then where did that leave him?

_The one she lusted after-?_

But, even that assumption was easily proved false by the fact _that she had stopped_.

_Why?_ When he wouldn't have stopped her himself. When everything had been cast aside willingly for a chance...for a moment when she would see him as something other a sword.

A ripple wavered through the atmosphere. From thin air, she appeared. She was dressed simply. Plainly in a solid black yukata that went past her knees. Socked feet were black exposing slim calves, smooth as silk. Staring yet wholly blameless, though he was sure she knew he looked longer than was necessary.

He could not guess why she had come back, yet hesitated to ask since an answer most likely would not be furnished. She enjoyed withholding things like that, it was all just a part of the game she played.

Walking toward him, she stopped in front of his pole, looking up without expression. "Get off of there." Her command lacked inflection, standing as she was with arms at her sides. Tired, he scrutinized. Attempting to read her emotions. He had always been fairly concurrent with her younger self's abrupt mood swings

"What do you want?"

"Get down _now_." Her eyes became mere slits, her anger known to be terrifying at its height yet arousing nonetheless.

He obeyed this time. Stepping down to stare once more into her upturned face. He watched her teeth catch her bottom lip again, a slight jerky nod of her head indicating _no good_.

"Sit down." she ordered imperiously, meaning the ground. He caught the edge, the hint of anger she controlled. His gaze wandered down, alighting on the perfect triangular bead lifting at the peak of each breast. Yet he said nothing, sinking down as she wanted.

Her arms drew around him then. Black upon black mingling, becoming one. Gently she pressed his head against her breast, feeling it lift shallowly with each breath she took. "Why are you doing this?" Though physically repressing any and all sensations stimulated by such closeness, he could not entirely relax within her grasp. _Was this..affection?_ Her heartbeat was soothingly strong to his hearing. Warmth radiating from her body filled his senses, intoxicating, indescribable heat.

"You must promise me..." her hands slid forward, clasping the sides of his face. "You will not die for me... I am not worth the cost of your existence."

(*)*)*)Tsukikage castle(*)*)*)

She felt no relief.

He would find a way to override her command if it was between death or life. Tensa was just like that- stubborn, unyielding even though her word was everything.

A promise was as binding as - _I forbid_.

"Tensa..." in many ways she could see how _alike_ they were. Closing her eyes she breathed in deeply, steeling herself for what came next. The night was long from over. Kei turned determinedly toward the open door of her bedroom, tugging the sides of her robe more firmly closed.

She had to tell Kagami and Kazeatari of what she had seen in the living world.

(*)*)*)

Kei found them both in a downstairs sitting room on the Western side. Here, the decor was mostly striking gold interspersed with black and white splashes. On a cream Davenport sofa against one wall, Kazeatari reclined against some white imitation tiger-striped pillows, a book in hand. Kagami sat across from her, balancing his laptop, peering at the screen intently.

"What's up?" Kazeatari peered beneath the bottom of the novel. _The Red Queen_, Kei read the title silently, hesitating in the doorway. "I need to talk to you about something." She said after another moment of composing her thoughts.

Kagami looked up as well now. His attention going to her, "what is it?" he rubbed at the bridge of his nose tiredly. He had dressed down in a light white and blue striped menswear lounge set. His sandy hair was swept back over his temples, adding to the image of a sedate well of wisdom.

"...Genbu. When I was in the living world, I saw Genbu." She began with a nonchalance she didn't feel. In the room of classical white and elegant blacks, the fear attached to the name seemed almost ridiculous. Like a child's fear of the boogeyman. Yet the effect was almost instantaneous on the two beings.

Peace was shattered.

"What did you say?" Kagami demanded sharply, his eyes widening.

Kazeatari twisted up, her book falling to the floor yet no one paid attention to it.

"I did." Kei said steadily, looking at each of them in turn. "On Wednesday when I went to the living world to meet up with Ichigo. He...his friends suggested we all go to the Park, I didn't care so I went along having nothing better to do."

"At the _park?"_ Kazeatari made a face, incredulity clouding her expression. Kagami tried to shush her, indicating it wasn't important but even Kei could understand the wind wielder's mindset.

"It was at the park while Ichigo and them played that I..." she knew now would be the time to tell them of the Konjoukei ability developing in her right eye. Even then as she spoke, looking down she could see Byakko's massive white paws folded at the other end of the sofa lying near Kazeatari's feet. His great golden eyes so like his Master's, were fixated on her face.

Kei wondered whether or not she should raise her reiatsu level to make his fur curl. Just seeing the tiger brought up a well of embarrassment from the dance then of other times. She glared meaningfully at him before continuing, "Kagami, I can also see Zanpaku-to spirits. I don't know when-"

He stared at her then started to say something.

She cut him off. "I don't know _why_...or _how_. But, it began that day. It was slightly unclear at first, but every day since then, it's just been getting clearer and their images are more well-defined."

"I-I see. Is it both-?"

"No." Kei muttered, glowered as Byakko stuck his tongue out at her. "Just my right." she tapped her finger beneath her eye, peeling it as the tiger snickered. Kagami looked from the sofa end to her, placing his palm to his forehead. "Good God, cut it out both of you!"

Kazeatari looked down at her feet, not able to see anything.

The Guardian of the West yawned then settled his large furry head down, smirking an approximation of a cat-like grin.

"Now, could you please go on, Keiko?"

Once again she was amazed by the white tiger's obedience to someone other than his master. "Anyway, I went on a short walk around, under the pretense I had to make a call..."

In a few minutes, everything had been told.

She waited in silence while they pondered her words.

"That means..." blue eyes drifted upward to her face. "The binding seals were destroyed."

"I..actually don't think so." Kei shook her head slightly. "I've thought of that already and it seems highly improbable unless _he_ has awakened to his true nature. Overcoming Water and Wind's seals should be impossible."

"Well, I can see your point there..." Kagami turned grim. "It took everything and more of what Soryu and Byakko could gather from us- if you'll recall, none of us were in good shape at all when you...did _your thing_ and the guardians hurried to seal up the fourth one."

"It had to be done." Their gazes locked. "You know there was no other way."

The air grew tense.

"Even so," Kazeatari interceded with effort, her fine dark brows becoming a straight line. "why would the snake half of Genbu attack you? What reason is there? I always assumed that despite his master_- Earth's_ sickness, that they wanted to protect you because some part of his love remained pure. So, why-"

Kei's lips thinned, easing into a slight peculiar half-smile. "Perhaps it was because..Zangetsu was with me. He and Haineko, one of yours." Her look became bitterly sardonic. "I can only warn you now, he may eventually come after her."

(*)*)*)

"..Try and get some sleep tonight, Keiko." Kazeatari waved backhanded, stalking off toward her personal set of rooms down the long hallway. Kagami and Kei stood for a moment watching her retreat, then turned in unison, walking back up the opposite way.

"I still can't believe this is starting all over again." he complained quietly, one hand stuck in the pocket of the robe he had slipped on. "It's like I could handle an Arrancar, even a small army of developed ones like Sosuke's. But, this..." he ran his fingers through his hair, shuddering just the slightest bit. Kei looked upon him sympathetically as they came to the main hall, the separate wings branching off into darkness.

"It's inescapable." She murmured, crossing her arms tightly, protectively over her chest. "Don't you remember what he said to us once- _he would never stop?"_

A faint smile, blue eyes lowered. "True. But, even then, maybe I had some kind of hope, you know?"

"Hope?" Now, she was confused.

Kagami passed his hand over his mouth, rubbing his chin looking absently in the distance. "Never mind, it's nothing. Just a fool's dream I guess." Lightly then, he dropped his hand to her shoulder, clapping it gently. "See you in the morning- and please try and get some rest."

She rolled her eyes, preparing to turn off and head toward the South. "I will. You too though!"

He grunted quietly, thinking of a few reports to finish before dawn. As his hand dropped to his side, she turned, the collar of her robe exposing a sliver of the base of her throat. His hand shot out again, "Keiko...who.._marked_ you?" his fingers traced the tiny oval abrasion. Fading redness outlined it and she flinched when he pressed down on the center.

"Is there something there?" her own hand reached up, tugging down a little more of the collar. Kagami studied it more closely, his brow wrinkling as his suspicions were confirmed. "Did Kurosaki do this?"

She bit her lip, looking hesitant, unsure suddenly. "Why?" her voice was unnaturally an octave higher. "What does it mean?"

"..Well." He struggled some, "it was a fad of sorts a couple of centuries ago in Seireitei. A guy would bite or make a small incision in his girl's body and then flood the cut with some of his reiatsu. Eventually the skin would heal and it would become like a tattoo or in other words, the girl would be marked as the guy's special one- I'm surprised Kurosaki knew about this. It's considerably old for the times."

Her eyes closed, her heart racing uncomfortably fast_. He couldn't have-_ heat flushed her cheeks. She remembered all too vividly the moon cutter's lips on her throat, sucking, nibbling..

"Did..Kurosaki force this on you?" Kagami felt the shudder ripple the skin beneath his fingertips even before he felt the intensity of her emotion hit him in waves.

"N-No..he didn't." Kei made an effort to modulate her tones into perfect icy coolness. However, she found the task somewhat more difficult by the hot blush creeping up her neck. Pouting, she averted her face, presenting her cheek to him.

"_He_ didn't."

She wouldn't answer. Her silence was an admittance staring in the face of denial.

Kagami ran his fingers over the tiny promise etched into her body. "Is this..what you _want?"_

From the beginning, Kazeatari and he had agreed. _If it was for her happiness... what little she could have_...

Now, Kei twisted away, unable to even look at him.

"I-I don't know." she mumbled miserably. "I just don't know anymore-!"

(*)*)*)Dimension where Zanpaku-to spirits reside(*)*)*)

This was disturbing. The gate to the other realm closed behind him, Kage pocketing the bronze cat-head shaped key in his trousers. _Haineko had said something had happened between Kurosaki and the Kouseitan'i of Fire...something ugly_.

Kage could guess by the new cracks in the floor of the miniature castle. He had been disinclined to seek out the demon bird, yet had hung around for a time hoping the elemental would show up on her own.

No such luck. He saw no other options left other than to directly approach her...

"Stupid Tensa..." he muttered, making a face no one could see, hand rummaging in his breastpocket for another key shaped like a miniature Manji. "Idiot Tensa..." he placed the squarish black metal key into the atmosphere, turning it until he heard a satisfying click. "Making me do all the work.."

In truth, the mimicker hadn't a clue on what to say to the Elemental.

-_Oh, your boyfriend gets off beating up his Zanpaku-to now and then; and oh yeah he cracked my ribs a couple of days ago, you know you might want to stay away from him_...

He sighed to himself. Yeah, like _**that**_ would go over well.

_Because then she would ask why Ichigo thought he was Zangetsu, and what exactly had he been doing in the moon cutter's mindscape?_ Which were questions, he didn't particularly want to answer.

Replacing the key back inside his pocket, Kage strode forward, ducking low through the smallish door cut between the realms. As expected, he straightened into a dimly lit room of medium size, empty. Devoid of anything at all save for the faint light filtering in through thick window panes running a little past waist-height along the opposite wall.

He peered through the centermost one, cupping a hand above his eyes.

_Near the edge_.. _that was alright_, he thought to himself. It was much better that Tensa not know he was coming, otherwise the moon cutter would probably just hide somewhere. Time was one thing, Kage knew he couldn't waste. _Better to_-

As he turned, something caught his eye.

Made him turn. Stop. Stare.

Destruction. He could see the surface of the building next over. A thick square full of many paned windows. Rips and gashes like lightning strikes within the concrete. _What the hell had happened?_ Kage couldn't figure it out, going from window to window, looking at the same thing. _Why hadn't Kurosaki's ener-_

Distant rumbling caught him off guard. Kage stared wildly around, the tails of his coat fluttered in the sudden drop, the floor beneath him suddenly and unforgivingly giving way completely. He slid fast, striking hard on the side as the entire structure caved in. Hands encased in the thick white gloves, scraped at the slanting tiles, desperate to gain leverage.

_I really am...cursed, dammit_. He thought, pitching backward from the flooring. Twisting his body forward, he kicked off more falling debris, building up momentum as he pushed higher. Finally breathless he tumbled from the last one, rolling midair to skate forward away from the total collapse. Reishii began gathering beneath his palms and heels...yet it flew away, breaking up to his horror.

Damn-damn...he reached deep inside, grasping at the ribbon binding Toya and himself together. Feeling it pull taut, the reishii accumulating in his palm, without another second to spare, Kage tossed it, seeing the form of the Kido taking shape from the raw material.

"Hanaiwa!"

A length of rope shot out, looping twice around a farther building's flagpole. Kage pulled himself to it, swinging onto the level surface as other sounds. Rumbling. Cracking resounded ominously in the air. He spun around, watching as the surrounding skyscrapers nearest the central one he had opened the portal to; became nothing but disintegrating rubble within a matter of moments.

"What..." an eerie silence fell after the destruction. Kage pulled himself to his feet, ignoring his bedraggled state from the fall. "...what is _this?"_ Almost breathless, he turned in a complete ninety-degree angle, seeing the rest of the city behind intact, yet at the edges...

_Like decaying threads, unraveling_...

"Why is this happening?"

-TBC

AN: I was listening to _I'm so sick_- Flyleaf, the chorus especially. _Disturbia_- Rihanna too. :JK *eyebrow waggle* thanks for reading!

No flames!

Reviews appreciated and loved! :)


	71. Modus Operandi

**Sharp like an edge of a samurai sword  
the mental blade cut through flesh and bone  
though my mind's at peace, the world out of order  
missing the inner heat, life gets colder  
oh yes, I have to find my path  
no less, walk on earth, water, and fire**

**-Battlecry, Nujabees**

* * *

ShiKai CH.64: Modus Operandi

-Flashback-

The glass was cold beneath her fingertips, the flickering tiny flames dancing across the thick frosted pane.

There was a voice- Tobiume's, asking; "..What was Reio-dono's judgment?"

Behind if she would turn was a youngish girl with smooth cheeks and long brown hair and another with sadness in his eyes.

"..We are to be nothing more. The others and I." she said calmly.

"No-!" Tobiume cried in distress.

"It was..solely his decision." Kei looked down at her flat chest lifting and rising with the beat of a heart. Would she miss this vessel of flesh, the tangible coolness of water and the blazing warmth of flame held?

Wistful, her eyes slid closed, fingertips gliding over the pane as if seeking something.

"What is going to happen to us?"

She heard the Plum's voice from faraway.

"..You and the other four will belong to the Shinigami that come after Shigekuni. They are to be the inheritors of the afterlife."

Silence yet she could feel their gazes on her back.

"Why?" The question to everything that remained painfully unspoken.

Kei took a breath. As Keiki, her mind was resolute, still. Smooth as unfractured glass.

"Because it is the way things must be."

The catch of a sob. Then, rustling as Tobiume dashed from the room, covering her mouth with her trailing sleeves. Kei felt the eyes of the other remain fixated on her back for a moment longer. Then, quiet steps walked away.

She raked her nails down the window pane.

_It is..how things must be_.

Tsukikage the Gods' seat was to become the place of refuge for the souls.

_As it should be_.

She shut her eyes, hoping she had chosen well.

_Shige_-

"Keiki.." the new voice came from the doorway.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her blood ran cold.

"May I speak with you?" He asked permission always. He never said _sister_ anymore, she had noticed.

"Yes." Her assent came from custom, a part of her that retained hope.

_"I love you."_ His eyes said. _"I want you."_

His eyes frightened her.

"What was it you wished to speak to me about?" Her voice came out unintentionally harsh. Cold feeling as silence fell in between them. Keiki wanted to turn around and hold her arms out to him, because that was the way she was.

But, Kei held still. Still, unflinching as his steps echoed quietly closer, coming up from behind. Then, it was his body, hard, masculine. Pressing into every curve of her back. Kei wondered briefly if Ichigo were to embrace her the same way, if it would feel the _same_. She shook herself mentally. Ichigo and he were vastly different.

There was no comparison.

Then, she relaxed. Pretending. Kei was Keiki, yet her mind was her own. She pretended it was Ichigo holding her so warmly.

No one since had ever held her like he did.

She missed it without realizing it.

"What is it?" Silks rustled, her head turned a fraction of the way. Kei's voice was softer then, soft though reality screamed at every fiber of her being. In every second of twisted memory.

The past was the present. The future empty blackness.

"I'm afraid." she was. His arms momentarily tightened around her. "I'm afraid." she repeated though her lips were numb. "Please, hold me."

_Hold me and never let me go_.

Ichigo- _no_, her mind knew it wasn't him.

Yet..she could smell _him_.

"Do you ..hate me, Kei?"

Kei closed her eyes, turning to burrow fully into the man's embrace. "I don't." Her lips moved on their own accord. "I could never..._ever_..hate you, Ichigo."

She understood it then.

Everything was a subconscious replaying of a memory with his voice. His scent. His body molding into every curve, every line of hers. This was her dream- a _dream Ichigo_ as it were.

That meant she could tell him anything.

"You're such an idiot."

"Excuse me?" he sounded vaguely annoyed. _Like reality would be._

"You heard me.." Kei mumbled into the thick leather-like garment. The roughened pebble-like texture tickled her lips and scraped her cheek as she pressed closer against him. "You _are_ such an idiot trying to protect everyone and everything..I almost hate you for it."

"I thought you said you didn't hate me-"

"I said _almost_. But that...that isn't ...I...you make me feel.." gone was Keiki's calm acceptance. Kei uncomfortable in her own mind, struggled to formulate the words she would never say during waking.

"..feel so _alive_."

He was silent for a time, then his voice nearly tremulous spoke. "Alive- but you are alive! So, what do you-"

"Like I said- don't be an idiot and shut it!" Kei snapped. _He was getting to be a little too much like the real Ichigo_.

"Geez! Now, you're starting to sound like Rukia!" he retorted indignantly.

"Don't compare me to that bitch." She twined her arms up, shoving his head down. Her eyes flashed as she whispered against his mouth. "I thought I told you to shut up in_ my dream_, Ichigo!" She rammed her lips against his ferociously, taking him by complete surprise.

Nipping hard on his bottom lip, she forcefully gained entry, continuing her assault. The body beneath her began to tremble, his knees shaking as she rubbed against his front, teeth biting, tongue flicking against the insides of his mouth.

"St-stop.." he groaned, saliva connected them by a fine, clear string.

Kei clawed at his chest, her fingers hooking into the thick cloth, tearing, yanking. "Why?" she asked. He peered at her, blinking rapidly seeming to be seeing her for the first time.

"Why?" _Dream-Ichigo_ repeated. Then, laughed shortly, stuttering off into a broken moan. Her nails raked into his skin as they had the glass window pane.

"_Why_ should I stop?" Kei paused to admire the six angry red scratches she had gouged into his torso. Her eyes flickered up to his, her lips curling into a cruel smile. "_You're mine_..every _fucking_ inch of you is _mine_." Her hands went to his chest again, shredding the remaining cloth, her palms rolled then over his shawl muscles, running over the plains of his breast, feeling the heavy beating of his heart.

_Mine_..she licked his nipple. Rolling the tiny nub around her tongue.

"Hey! S-stop that-!" He gasped, backing up suddenly.

Through the haze in her mind, she discerned his shock, his eyes flashing golden amber. Yet she didn't care. Heaviness filled the pit of her stomach, her veins burned as though the blood that ran within them had been set aflame. "I want you.." she stalked forward like a predator, hungrily eyeing his bleeding body.

Their eyes met, then she released her reiatsu, moaning almost sensually aroused as pure heat radiated from her every inch of her being. Ichigo was completely overwhelmed. His eyes rolled back, swollen lips parting as the very air thickened. He sunk to his knees, panting heavily.

Kei smiled, her hand loosening the sash of her kimono. "What is it, Ichigo? Is it too much for you?" she leaned in, bending low. His head hung as though defeated, orange spikes flattened.

"K-Kei.." he whimpered.

"Yes?" she tilted his chin up with her hand, angling her lips to hover inches above his skin.

He couldn't speak.

Her tongue lapped away the stray droplets of salty sweat beading at the corner of his lips, her reiatsu flooding his body from the inside out. "You're mine.." Kei murmured into the shell of his ear, "you'll _always_ be mine _like Tensa_."

...Seireitei...

The oil lamp burned low.

"She was such an intelligent child." Paper rustled as a wrinkled hand touched the image of a fair-haired girl.

"Hisakata Kurai Keiko?" Chojiro looked out upon the night from the balcony. His Taichou sat behind the great desk, hands knotting together.

"Yes." The old man answered gravely. "It grieves me terribly, the waste of such potential."

"But, sir-"

"The Juppongatana is a band of rebels and dissenters, nothing more. The very notion that one could create another Soul Society without the most fundamental basics of our laws!" Yamamoto pounded his fist on the desk. "Is absurd!"

After a time, the ancient Shinigami's anger had ebbed. Abating to near placidity.

"Do you...regret it, sir? Ordering the deaths of her parents?" The question remained, hovering pallidly like a decaying ghost within the shadowy interiors of the elder man's mind. Chojiro couldn't begin to fathom the inner layers that made up the man he trusted and respected as head of Soul Society- sans Royal family.

The old man touched the photo of the girl _almost_ with tenderness.

Yet never answered.

...Unknown...

Crying.

That was the first thing Ichigo heard. Blinking away the traces of the fluorescent light from his room, his narrowed eyes swept the darkened space. Infinite it seemed, without substance like hovering miasmic particles. "Who's there?" he called sharply, listening intently for a response.

The weeping continued. He thought it belonged to a child. The way soft hiccoughs followed like sniffles. "Hey! Can you hear me?" he walked forward, his steps silent on the ground he couldn't see. "Where are-"

"You can hear him now." The familiar double of his voice said.

Ichigo spun around, heart beating fast. His widening amber eyes took in the sight of the mirror surrounded by darkness. He was sure it hadn't been there before. "What the hell! Who is that?" Meaning the child.

"He cries always." The reflection said emptily. "Because..he is alone."

"That still doesn't answer my question!" Furiously, he glared at himself. For that was what it was- himself. Not the Hollow whom was another part of his soul- this. This was different. Part of his mind, part of his heart. What he _felt_.

"You will understand in time."

"No shit." He chose to affect nonchalance, that everything wasn't scaring the hell out of him. That he wasn't going out of his mind. Yeah...he smirked to himself. Just keep pretending everything was alright while talking to his own reflection.

_Now, that wasn't crazy at all, was it?_

"What's the deal anyway? Why am I here?" he snapped.

"Such impatience." The reflection murmured. "Your body slumbers yet your heart was called here for a single purpose I think this night."

"What the hell are you talking about?" he knew he had fallen asleep. Curled up holding the white camisole she had left behind in lieu of its owner. _It smelled like her_.

An almost fixated, possessed light burned fervently in the strange golden eyes of the other. "Do you want to see her, Ichigo?"

"Of course." The answer came easily. He couldn't change what had happened before, he couldn't say enough words to make her believe he was truly sorry. But, it wasn't enough. Not a glimpse. Not a smile tossed off carelessly.

Not even burning kisses applied to his feverish skin.

He wished she was there in his arms. Near so that he could watch over her and keep her safe. His mind stubbornly clung to her weakness- _no_, he thought firmly. _She had to be protected- ergo he had to have her close_.

Then, he snorted softly to belie his eagerness. "What new magic trick are you going to teach me?"

The other him smiled yet somehow the dangerous, sleek edge had worn off.

Ichigo recognized his own face now.

"A way to enter her dreams."

...Unknown realm...

_Thought wasn't logical, action possessing no consequence for a being transcending all boundaries was of relevance_.

The sound of a ball pounding against a wall shattered the deathly stillness.

"...Gen." The child's voice was plaintive, a pitch softer like a recoiling hidden within. "..I'm lonely."

In the darkness of its own inner world, for both were two halves of one entity; the blinded one trained its sightless face in the direction of the child's tremor.

A second that could've been an eternity passed.

"..play with me?"

"You know I cannot." Resignation had since withered the inside of its very core, eating it apart until bleakness had saturated its mind. It - not he, not they. The little one had known its mind even before speaking, such was the permanence between them.

"..Gen. Does she.."

"-despise us?" Finished _It_. The blind one reached out into the darkness, encountering stale air.

"Gen." A whine. _To the right_.

Fingers slid through thick, soft as down locks. "I lack the knowledge to answer your query."

"_Yes_ or _no_ would suffice." The little one said with mild petulance. "I hope never..." the child added softer.

Silence like a pall fell over them.

"..do you remember when _she_ would open her arms to me and hold me and Byakko would be slumbering on the banks of the river ..?"

_Grassy banks and a great striped white tiger lying prone, tail thumping a metronomic pulse. _

_Suzaku cooing softly, flying low so that orange, gold and crimson wingtips grazed the reflection of the blue Dragon within. _

_Then, in the distance..a maiden as beautiful as a dream in crimson silks and rippling tresses of moonlit rainbow. Her smile radiant as flame, as soft as tenderness. _

_Their Master's dream._

_His world. _

_Therefore she was their world._

_Happiness inversed to screaming._

_Sobbing. _

_Broken bodies littering the ground lying in crimson pools._

_"Why did you kill them?"_

The little one was replaying the memory in their shared mind.

"She seemed so sad...people are sad when they cry...so why did we make her cry, Gen?"

It thought of tears, helpless rage, bitterness..and remorse.

"Because..we exist to serve our Master and his will shall not be questioned."

...Ichigo's mindscape...

"I...am going to send you my tailoring bill. My coat is ripped."

The moon cutter's eyes closed. He did not want to deal with this distraction _now_. "Can you not see that your presence is undesired, therefore a bother to the sanity of others?"

Kage dropped the split end of his suit coat. "Sanity-? Oh, that's right, your wielder is certifiably insane. I just realized that- oh wait. I did know that..."

"Kage. _Leave_."

"Tensa, do you- no, did you know that several buildings collapsed at the fringes of this world?" The mimicker shook his head briskly, shuddering.

The other didn't even look at him, "I am Zangetsu, not Tensa Zangetsu."

"Is there a difference?" Kage asked in a purely rhetorical fashion, expecting a reply for it was very uncivil to not respond when asked a perfectly logical question.

But, Zangetsu was quiet.

So, the mimicker began with a shrug, "you never correct _her_ when she calls you as Zangetsu, _Tensa_. So, I figured there was no difference."

"What did you come for?" He asked harshly, overlooking Kage's assertion.

"Geez...you are crotchety. Just like an old man."

Dark eyes peered over the tops of the new glasses, yet Zangetsu said nothing as it was best rather than bowing to provocation.

Unfortunately the mimicker was adverse to subtle hints.

"..Oh, my! Are those new shades?" A smirk was in his voice. "Why...they look terribly similar to the pair our dearest Kouseitan'i gifted to Kurosaki-kun not that I myself am perfectly versed with D&G menswear glasses."

"What are you here for?" Zangetsu growled, feeling as though the other's snide, astute observations had gone on long enough.

"Am I not allowed to simply stop in for a chat, hmm?" Kage's knee-high boots clicked perfunctorily, reminiscent of a militarist- like stride. Not fooled, Zangetsu watched _him_ narrowly, shaking his unruly head. "You're never like that. What is it you really wanted?"

"You hurt my feelings by saying such rude, undeniably true things!" Kage mocked. "I would think you'd at least appreciate my coming here once in a while to talk- therefore keeping your mind from simply rotting away."

He looked away.

"..Since it was from me and Toya-ko, that you learned of the mark you bestowed upon our dearest Kouseitan'i."

...Tsukikage castle, next morning...

"What're you reading?"

The crinkle of a page turning and Kei's voice vibrated in the morning air. "Just about this famous Samurai, Kagamine Kazeki. He was quite well known for his reckless charges into enemy lines as well as being brave and fearless in the face of overwhelming odds."

Kazeatari grew silent. Frozen almost at the end of the table, en route to the coffeepot against the wall. For once she did not flutter her fan nor speak above a quiet murmur. "..Oh? What happened to him?"

Another page turned, lifting halfway in Kei's small handed grasp. "He.." her eyes scanned the page quickly, though she already knew what would be written. "..while the army was encamped on the banks of the Joganji river, an assassination attempt was made on Lord Fujikuro's life. Kazeki-shi then gave the ultimate sacrifice worthy of praise as living by the warrior's code of Bushido..blah-blah.." Kei traced her finger down the flowing Kanji script.

Her smile widened. "Took an arrow to the breast and as he laying dying..." she smirked fully, locking eyes with the Wind Element, reading further on. "Kagamine Kazeki-shi called out the name of his beloved: _Kanae_, historians say."

Kazeatari had the grace to flush angrily. "Those fools!"

"Face it," Kei said tactlessly, "they're going to glamorize every little detail about your life. Cut it apart and reassemble it into something the masses will idolize. _That_ is the way of the world."

The other grew silent, tightness around the fringes of her mouth. She snorted, clasping her fan beneath her chin. "I guess it's true. I ...never thought about how I wanted to be remembered." Kazeatari slid into one of the vacant seats farther down the table on the other side. The chair legs scraping was the only sound for a time, creaking of the wood as her weight settled.

Kei watched her intently.

"Not as..a coward most certainly." Wind shook her head. "It was..the strangest thing to be out there- I knew I wanted to die fighting in a sea of many rather be tortured by the Shinigami like Kagami."

One purple eye and one crimson flame orb lowered, "it was a matter of pride then."

She thought a moment then smiled faintly with a trace of bitterness. "You know me well. I couldn't bear to let those bastards claim that I- Wind had been taken down by a number of lowlife weaklings!" her fist tightened and for a moment she almost pounded the counter with it then hesitated, shoving her hair from her face.

"...that battle." Almost roughly she indicated the book lying open in front of Kei. "My Lord Fujikuro believed all was lost..he had retired to his private tent with the Generals whom had seen many winters of constant battle. I and my small group of men had been cut off from the main army. Yusuke-"

"Full name."

Kazeatari waved her hand. "Um..Yusuke no Kiyomori. He was my attendant. His face is so clear in my mind...his face and his words. I didn't care as I spurred my horse forward. The strange thing was...was finding Yusuke at my back and my soldiers beside me. _Our General is so courageous. Our General isn't afraid_- they rallied..."

"And broke the Tsutsuga line leading to Lord Kagehisa Fujikuro's victory."

"They rallied for a coward."

"You saved lives, Atari." Kei murmured, her gaze softening. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself."

"...I committed Seppuku, Keiko. I was..._a coward_." Kazeatari said, her expression one the Fire wielder had seen rarely. Saddened. Defeated. "No matter what they say..I killed myself because I didn't want to die by a Shinigami's blade."

...Ichigo's mindscape...

Inside, the moon cutter seethed. Yet outwardly his expression was bland, bored even.

"Then, again I guess you never believed at the time you'd be able to make such a promise to her."

"Silence!" the spirit snapped.

"Oh, so you want me to be quiet? Even when I know of something..that shall we say could strengthen your bond with her..?"

...Tsukikage castle...

The screen showed rudimentary figures. Numbers in basic code- small fry for the fast-moving fingers of the girl with her blonde hair tied up at the nape of her neck. The clock on the bottom left corner of the screen gave the time as 3:55 PM. She'd been going at it for two hours straight, not stopping except to sip at the tea Toya had been kind enough to bring by before heading out himself.

Training- always training. Preparation for the war not their own. She felt a little miffed at that. Let Soul Society fight their own battles, let them pay for their _own_ mistakes.

Perhaps that was a harsh line of thinking. For once she and Haretosora were in accord on that end. Yet others like Hisrio whom despite being First's Lieutenant, still held a thread of regret for when he had once been a member of a Noble house.

Equality- they were all equals now. There was no precedence over rank it was merely power. From the strongest to the lowest.

Takara took a sip again, her left hand dashing across rapid figures in reverse code. The tea was cold already. Grimacing at the faint bitterness at the bottom of the cup, she continued on. Rewriting the five primary levels of security around the Research and Development's mainframe.

It was rough at best, hacking into the lower levels to see the list of projects catalogued from top-priority to low. Remote access was limited at this level yet it was what Kagami had asked for after dinner the night before.

She could tell he wanted to know something- a project perhaps that had been taken up again.

Her fingers flew over the keys faster now, nearing the end of the security program. She bit down on her lip, catching it between her teeth. _Almost there- almost- almost_- her mind repeated as the segments of code ended abruptly. She hit ENTER.

The screen went black.

Takara waited in breathless silence, absolutely still in the rolling chair.

"Access Accepted." Said the mechanical voice in vague female accents from the computer speakers. Startled, Takara leaned forward eagerly, her palm rolling over the ergonomically designed ball mouse, her blue eyes scanning the fine print loading on the screen.

..._seemed to be nothing more than_-

Binding. The word leapt out at her.

Takara highlighted the sentence in blue, wondering what it could mean.

_Sakasama hyoushi azarashi- Reverse-binding seal_.

A chill swept through her though the day was warm.

...Seireitei...

"Nemu..you idiot! Look at what you've done!" His screech would've shattered the eardrums of anyone in the close vicinity save for the fact that the girl whom it was addressed to, merely bowed her head, murmuring _sorry_.

She was used to this- _her father's sometimes strange methods of affection_.

"You'd better damn well be!" His eyes swiveled over the ancient artifact lying on the metal table. His hands itched to examine the dull red collar standard to the Prison grounds of the white tower. _This however_...

Mayuri detected the faintest pulsation within the innocuous device.

Nemu stayed where she had fallen, face trained in perfect servility to the scientist, his expression burning with fervency.

"It is amazing.." Mayuri breathed, taking up the blood sample preserved from Yamamoto-Hisakata Keiko's academy days. Only the tiniest drops remained. Mayuri was careful then, tipping so little onto the thick rounded tubular circlet. "How even the most primal unit of matter can be controlled- constrained and _bound _by so little."

Red gleamed black.

"..Sir?" Nemu's eyes widened a fraction. Mayuri had completely forgotten his anger at her clumsiness, stepping back with the sweep of his hand to the apparatus covered in tiny curling symbols.

"This, Nemu..is a product of supreme genius. The Gyaku-Shimon. We will be basing our newest project, the sakasama-hyoushi from this."

...Tsukikage castle...

"This is connected with the study of something held within the Daireisho archive of Central Forty-six." Takara informed, stapled copies of the printouts from the Research and Development Division, in her arms. Kagami looked through the duplicates she had made. Glancing sharply up as she spoke.

"Did you say the archive of Central Forty-six?" A furrow creased his brow.

Takara nodded somberly, "yes. It appears that since the murder and the hold on replacing the council members; Taichou of Twelfth Company, Kurotsuchi Mayuri has been under some kind order that allots the following study of the artifact held within chamber seventy-five as preceding all else."

Kagami read the underlined sentence silently. A look Takara halfway didn't understand came into his eyes. "Do we know who gave this order?" his voice betrayed nothing.

"The Soutaichou, Shigekuni Yamamoto."

"So...it's started then."

-TBC..

AN: I had a bloody foot- it's a little better now. Woe is me... but thanks for reading!

No flames!

Reviews please! :)


	72. In your skin

_You never go_  
_You're always here (suffocating me)_  
_Under my skin_  
_I cannot run away_

_-Already over, Red_

* * *

ShiKai CH.65: In your skin

Takara left after being dismissed.

She was a good girl. Gin had been right about something for once, nevertheless, he drummed his fingers atop the small pile. The pad of his index stung after a moment and raising it to his face, he realized he had gotten a tiny papercut on the side. _Figures_.

He had never been like Fire, healing almost instantaneously as what could be termed by modern science Bacilli in her blood multiplied cells and regenerated skin follicles. She was strong, she didn't need anyone protecting her. He damn well knew it.

And that was what Kurosaki didn't seem to understand.

Ignoring the sting, he reached into the desk drawer and pulled out a container of vaseline. Dabbing a small bit of the pungent salve on the slice, he shook his head clear of the irrelevant thoughts that had begun to cloud it_. Kurosaki would never_- pity that, _the boy could've helped them_.

Kagami's gaze fell on the top sheet again. His mouth lost the smile he had worn to reassure Takara. He hoped at the very least that Gin could take care of her now. _Because he didn't think they would be able to for much longer_.

Reaching for his cup, he made a face at the empty contents. Most likely Kei would be up at the castle still, probably in the dining hall. He had to tell her and Kazeatari about this...he smiled by habit again to the empty office. _As if the appearance of Genbu heralding the nearness of Earth wasn't enough_...

...

The paper was dumped right in front of her in passing. She glanced at it briefly then curious eyes rose to the Water wielder's back as he poured himself a cup of tea.

"Read it." Kagami commanded tonelessly.

Kei tilted up the white printer paper sheet, her gaze going immediately to the highlighted words in yellow marker.

"..It can't be."

"Oh, but it is." He turned around, smiling without humor.

"How did you get this?" Kei tried to remain calm. _This couldn't- it simply couldn't be_.

"Takara."

She understood.

"You know what this means don't you?" Kagami walked around and took up his usual seat, clasping his mug steadily in one hand.

She stared at him.

"..You can stop dreaming of a happy ending because it will never _be_."

...

Kei couldn't rationalize her feelings. Her finger traced the words printed in black ink then closed her fist, breathing in and out. Her coffee remained forgotten. Kagami was trying to be kind. She stared down at the paper until the lines blurred.

Keiko inside, stirred.

_You know, don't you? _The Fire wielder smiled faintly, rising in one fluid motion. Her chair slid back into place noiselessly while her free hand swept up the book and papers. She had every intention of going out to her favorite spot in the gardens beneath the shadowy arbor to write the essay, then hesitated to do so as the place evoked certain memories of Ichigo.

_"Do you believe in fate?" _

_"There is no such thing as a fate that cannot be altered."_

He understood nothing and that fact saddened her. Made her chest hurt in strange ways. Pacing around for a time on a terrace on the eastern side, she watched the clouds drift lazily across a vibrant blue sky.

Seeing the sky reminded her of the living world and the color of the sky within his mindscape when he was happy. Tensa had said Ichigo was happy to hear her speak his name even once rather than a hundred times from Inoue. Her lips pursed as she abruptly came to a stop. Her sandals clicked twice, sharply resounding on the ancient stone, her arms leaning forward onto the thick, worn railing.

A frown curved her mouth as she began to wonder why she had even been thinking of him then. What did it matter if she could make him happy-? Kei watched idly on as down below Hana ran circles around Kyou, the fourth seat's voice carrying high up as she wanted to be the one _to take Captain Namaiki's lunch_.

_Lunch?_ Kei tapped her wrist then remembered in time she had forgotten to wear a watch. _How late was it anyway?_ A pair of mismatched eyes rolled upward, pensively turning to the sky again. Soon, the twins' voices had faded from earshot and Kei was left alone, uncomfortable with her thoughts.

_What was wrong with her_...rubbing her forehead in irritation, she scowled suddenly as a new thought occurred to her. _She wasn't_...

Kei shook her fair head. _It was stupid in every sense of the word._ _Even if she wanted to believe_...unconsciously her hands fisted. _What would it hurt to imagine_. Oh, she had before. _What if I were human? __Could it really ...__**work**__?_

As rational as her reasoning was, her heart still pounded with giddiness. Her spirit felt light, light like it brimmed with youthful vigor. Like in her dream, the slightest of smiles erased the gloom from her face. _He made her feel alive..like no one else could_.

...

Within two hours it was done. Bing Search supplemented the idolization from Ichigo's text book and a few recollections of Kazeatari's. The addition of Yusuke no Kiyomori, attendant to the General, shed some depth of personality to the otherwise lengthy history piece. Reviewing it once then twice, Kei cast her gaze again on the print of the Samurai.

"You were so different then." she said wistfully. Standing, she absently trailed her hand down the page. "What changed us?"

What made us who we are?

Of course the image of ink could not answer.

Flipping the spine back, she hastily scribbled out a note taken from a pad of paper near the speakers.

_-Ichigo, rewrite it in your own hand and turn it in. Maybe...we can do something.._

Her pen scrawled the word then hesitated, lifting it to her lips to absently chew the nib. She hadn't meant to get his hopes up_. Really, what was she thinking?_ Kei withdrew the pen from her lips, choosing without another thought.

_The setting sun here is quite lovely._

_- _火

She hoped it was invitation enough to get her meaning across. Kei opened a portal then, not bothering to tell anyone of her leave-taking. Shin-Soku as before left her outside the clinic. Racing forward, she phased inside, her steps silent as she came to a stop on the landing.

Turning the knob she walked into an empty room.

Kei was only half-aware of disappointment. Dull like a blunted blade slicing into her. _How could she have forgotten?_ He was still at school.

Sighing to herself, she set the book and paper down on the center of his desk, making sure the sticky note remained on top. Once that was accomplished, she looked around some, picking apart the uniquely male scent that permeated the confines.

She lowered herself to perch at the end of the bed, leaning over to grasp at the edge of his pillow, she pulled it closer, breathing in the smell clinging to the worn fabric. _This was his scent_...the scent she knew.

Surprised only a little by the same strange lightheadedness in her being provoked by the thought, Kei lied down, feet hanging off the edge, arm supporting her head beneath the pillow. _She would wait_- she thought, mental clock tallying the time as perhaps an hour or so before he came home. _That wasn't a long time_-

The door crept open a few inches, two light brown eyes peered in nervously then widened.

"Kei-san!" Yuzu exclaimed.

She blinked, then slowly she realized that the girl could see her. _Impossible_. _Without the temporary ability to gain physical materiality from solidifying the shape of her reiatsu_...

"When did you come?" Seemingly over her hesitation, Yuzu pushed the door open wider, carrying a small laundry basket propped on one hip.

"I.." Kei couldn't think of what to say. _Obviously she hadn't come through the front door and_ ... "Don't tell!" her mind worked quickly, two fingers pressing to her lips. Motioning the girl closer, she indicated to her to shut the door lest Isshin or the other twin walked by.

Eyes alight with curiosity, Yuzu closed the door and set the basket down by the closet probably meaning to put away neatly the clean folded T-shirts. Then, she moved in front of the bed, expectantly, hands clasped together.

The Fire wielder had sat up during that time, shifting upright. "..I didn't want to see your brother actually." Kei lied. Finding it much easier to focus on small things in the room rather than the little girl's expression. "We...had a slight misunderstanding-"

"I knew it!"

It was Kei's turn to stare. Her lips parted in surprise. _Did he-_

Small hands balled up in indignant fists. "Ichi-nii has been acting real strange since then!" Yuzu then proceeded to rattle off several instances of when her brother didn't act normal. Kei saw nothing in the behavior mentioned to otherwise indicate Ichigo had told of what had transpired that night.

Upon further thought, the slightest of smirks curled her mouth. _Of course he wouldn't. He wouldn't tell his family how he had walked out on her and how when he had returned yelled and blamed the ruined evening on her_. "I see.._he_ didn't tell you then." Kei let her smirk evaporate when Yuzu had finished..

The little girl blinked, wide-eyed. "What! Did something else happen?"

She wanted to be cruel. "..Well, remember when you called here from the hotel and I told you that he had just left..?"

...

A red ball. As bright as a red crayon. He stared at it then around, searching for the owner. No one, strange. Shrugging he bent, his hand sliding around it, when for some reason he looked up. Ahead was a pair of small feet. A child-? Ichigo blinked, realizing its approach had been soundless. Straightening, he scrutinized it more closely.

Red jacket like a windbreaker, hood low covering most of its face yet he was sure now it was a little boy whose body flickered on the edges. _A ghost then_...

"This yours?" The street was quiet, the sun setting cast a slight golden tint to the landscape.

The boy held out arms that were encased in sleeves, just slivers of fingers appeared from below the cuff.

Ichigo tossed it to him.

The boy caught it and tossed it back.

On and on. The red ball whizzing between the small space.

Ichigo laughed quietly, the child's enjoyment a soft queer coo. _Maybe the child couldn't speak_. Curiously, he studied the little one closer thinking he had seen him somewhere. _But, where?_

As he puzzled over the familiarity; a voice cut through the air.

"Kurosaki, what're you-"

"Hey, Ishida." Though the Quincy tended to get on his nerves quite often, Ichigo still responded, turning away from the little ghost boy and to his friend. "Does this kid look familiar to you?" he asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, thinking maybe it was the spirit of a lost child from the news.

Ishida stared at him. One straight thin black eyebrow creeping up. "Kurosaki, what child?"

It was Ichigo's turn to stare, scowling as he spun back around, jabbing his finger toward an empty space. "What the hell do you mean? Surely you must've seen him!"

Ishida looked, then looked back at him.

Ichigo knew of course that ghosts usually did disappear once they were in danger of being seen by more than one psychically gifted person. Call it a self-defensive mechanism if you will. Yet the Quincy stared at him, unblinkingly, his voice firm.

"Kurosaki, you were alone. There was no one..there."

"What?" he asked faintly. No- demanded without the usual roughness.

Ishida pushed his glasses back up his thin nose, peering once that was accomplished more closely into the sub's face. "Kurosaki...did Yamamoto-san visit you last night?" Asking a question of his own and completely disregarding Ichigo's.

A flush spread across his cheeks. "W-Why?"

"I can sense her reiatsu.." Ishida said, his tone changing to mild surprise. "It's...seeping out of every pore of your body."

...

In a few minutes she had come to the end of her condensed retelling. Her smirk she hid inside, feigning near heartbreak. _It __**was**__ true_-..she hadn't lied about anything. In the end however, Yuzu was rightfully angered and ..patting her shoulder in comfort.

"Stupid big brother! How could he do that to you!" she gasped. "We need to tell dad! Dad'll-"

"No," Kei said firmly, "Isshin mustn't know."

"But!" The girl whined. "Dad can talk to him!"

_The day Ichigo actually listens to his dad_... Kei was sure it would be a waste of time, not to mention she didn't particularly want to see Engetsu's wielder. "No, do not say anything of what I just told you. Rather, promise me you will not stay alone with him and...also be very careful when around him even if your father and Karin are there."

Yuzu looked troubled. "..that's exactly what dad said."

Once again she was surprised. "What do you mean?"

The little girl pouted, "well...it was right after we had gotten back and dad had gone up to check on Ichi-nii and when dad came back down...he seemed..bothered by something. We immediately thought something was wrong with Ichi-nii but dad wouldn't tell us anything except to stay away from Ichi-nii."

"But, why?" Kei wondered aloud, her brows drawing together in a frown. "Why would-" then she stopped speaking. She could feel it. Ichigo's overflowing reiatsu coming up the street. Her hands fell on the little girl's shoulders, quickly Kei pulled her into a brief hug. Sinking to eye-level then, repeating her warning.

"Be very careful around Ichigo, okay?"

Yuzu hesitated then nodded tremblingly. "Okay."

"Good." Kei stood, feeling him closer. Beyond the window, down below five steps from the door. How was she going to get out? Yuzu was looking at her now and Kei was aware of the look. She couldn't go downstairs and pretend to leave by the door.

_He was there_-

She bit her lip, spinning sharply to the blank wall.

_The door knob was turning_.

Kei drew her hand sharply forward. Slits of light appeared from the very atmosphere forming into the rough outline of a door hovering in midair. Yuzu started back with large, incredulous eyes.

"Not a word." Kei reminded, utilizing her speed to transcend the boundaries between the living world and Assiah just as Ichigo's footsteps sounded on the stairs.

...

Yuzu remained still, staring at the place where the girl whom was so very dear to her brother had disappeared through. A door in the...

The sound of the bedroom door opening jarred her from her confusion.

"I-Ichi-nii!" she exclaimed, spinning toward the door and her brother's tall, lanky form filling it.

"What are you doing in my room?" his sharp amber eyes darted around the room trying to see if anything was amiss. "I-I was putting your clothes away!" Yuzu squeaked a little too quickly by the way his gaze suddenly swiveled to her.

Then, they shifted to the right toward the desk. From the corner of her eye, Yuzu saw nothing but one of his text books sitting there with the edge of some papers sticking out from it. His expression flickered, his tone changing. Losing its annoyance.

"..Yuzu, did anyone come?"

She swallowed bravely, remembered Kei-san's warning. "No. No one came at least not while me and Karin have been home."

His gaze remained fixed on the book. "I see."

She began to edge around him especially when he moved. Dropping his book bag on the desk chair with a careless thud. As soon as his back was to her, she made for the door, knowing without hesitation that he had forgotten she was even there.

Her hand was on the knob about to pull it shut behind her when his voice startled her enough to let it go.

"Are you sure no one came while I was gone?"

Yuzu could feel his strange eyes turn and pinpoint on her with such a look that she trembled inside but fought hard not to show it.

"N-No." Then, she left. Quickly, hurriedly going down the stairs before he could see the lie written on her face.

...

Ichigo listened to his sister's quickened steps fade off into the downstairs. Sarcasm almost made him call out to her that she had forgotten her laundry basket, yet he didn't, taking up instead the history book knowing Kei had been there no matter what Yuzu had said.

_It hurt a little..knowing she hadn't waited for him to come back_.

Settling down on the edge of his bed, he soon discovered warmth seeping through his pants. Warmth like body heat. Forgetting momentarily the book balanced across his knees, Ichigo passed his hand lightly over the top of the bedspread, finding the faint body-shaped indentation imprinted shallowly into it. His eyes widened marginally as strands of hair tangled around his fingers from his pillow. The most warmth was concentrated there.

Peering closer at the strands, he discerned the subtle darkish flaxen gleaming dully beneath the overhead light.

_She had been there_. Breathing in almost harshly, he gathered up the pillow, clutching it to his chest. _She had lain on his bed_. Feeling surged in his chest, despite her delicate torturing, despite loving the way her fingers had danced along his shaft. He loved her..even if others believed it bordered on obsession.

_Uryu be damned_. Ichigo thought, scowling unseeingly ahead. _The Quincy was just jealous 'cause he had never loved anyone like that! _Satisfied with his justification, he turned finally down to the note stuck to the book cover.

_-Ichigo, rewrite it in your own hand and turn it in. Maybe...we can do something.._

_The setting sun here is quite lovely._

(1)-火

His heart leapt. It was as good as any verbal invitation.

Suddenly the evening of his family avoiding him and the empty room staring him in the face, vanished. On the contrary he couldn't wait for it to end.

...Assiah...

Kei had every intention of staying in. Ichigo would surely call once he got home and read her note, the logical thing would be to wait and see if he wanted to see the sunset from the northern wastelands and if so...

She knew she was thinking too much. Pacing agitatedly outside the castle walls, her senses weren't ready for the great ripple of power waiting just beyond the barrier-clad walls. It washed over her as soon as she stepped inside; Seijin held one side of the large gates open while Mai murmured words of respect.

"Time has been wasted, woman."

The cold yet vaguely familiar well-enunciated voice sent chills to dance across her skin.

"Where were you, Kei?" Kagami looked somewhat uneasy, his blue-eyed gaze searching her face then turning back to the smaller, slighter figure in monochrome white and black. "Here she is, Ulquiorra. I presume we're to leave immediately then?"

"That is correct." Hard jade green eyes- beautiful eyes like poisonous absinthe flickered over her face. Kei met his look, tilting her head at an imperious, challenging angle. She dared him to question her whereabouts.

"We must go." Ulquiorra looked away after another moment, another heartbeat of hers. He was always looking away. Never seeing _her_. "Aizen-sama awaits the Elementals." Like a perfect soldier. The reflection stung her.

She thought briefly of her note and the setting sun she had wanted to see with fresh eyes. To see it through different eyes. It was not to be.

Takara approached bearing a severely Kido-bound blade. Kei's eyes wandered over the scabbard and white-horned guard, taking it from the blonde Lieutenant with a nod. Soft whimpers echoed from the sword. Kei knew Mai and even Seijin heard, glancing surreptitiously in their direction.

"Hush..shh.." she murmured as if calming a frightened child.

The sword became silent, bound tightly in chains.

It was conscious of who bore it.

"One day..." she said quietly as the slats of the dimensional wall slid apart beneath the Espada's fingers. She thought of Ichigo, her heart hurt the slightest bit then. "One day everything...will be alright."

She had to believe it.

-TBC

AN: shorter than usual, but the pace I was going for is to show the development of Kei's heart. :) Next time: Kei and the others meet with an impatient Aizen. Their truce is threatened and Tensa decides to follow through with Kage's guidance.

Translation note: (1) Japanese character for _Fire_.

No flames!

Reviews loved- PMs are not favored as review subs.


	73. In your mind

_Enemy of mine, I'll fuck you like the devil. Violent inside, beautiful and evil. I'm a ghost. You're an angel. One that was saved.. just remains of an age. Lost in a day dream, what do you see?_

_-Stranger in a Strange land, Thirty Seconds to Mars_

* * *

ShiKai CH.66: In your mind

He couldn't fight the sensation- is it a sensation? More of an emotion, pitching his voice higher.

_Crushed Sekki-seki_ _ore infused into the center, enveloped by molten silver essence. The glitter in the tang itself came from adamantine the hardest substance known to the living world. Ether was infused into the Tsuba_..._It was a work of supreme craftsmanship_.

Pride.

He couldn't be more proud of the exquisite weapon the man with curling dark brown hair around the temples and warm yet coolly mocking brown eyes, appraised.

"_Seisatsu_, is its release command." Kei informed in the silence that followed.

Aizen seemed to absorb this for a moment, turning his gaze up to meet hesitant blue waiting for approval. "The ultimate blade, you say?" Kagami knew all the thoughts running beneath the surface of the man's pleasant facade.

Underneath it all, the man simply desired power.

Once though. Kagami tried to smile, his lips curling in a slight approximation of an easy grin. "I told you, didn't I? That I'd create the most powerful inorganic weapon of the mental plane and that it would be yours."

The smile reached the eyes. For a moment it was out of time and it was a black-robed Shinigami smiling down. The vision hovered for a moment over Aizen. A shadow, a ghost of another yet Kagami was sure. He was sure it had not been an _illusion._

...

She felt nothing when the sword left her hands. Kagami bore it up to Aizen. She didn't like the man more or less pitied his desire for power. Yet she had not made the weapon, Kagami had. And in the end it was his choice of whom to bestow it upon.

She tried to appear attentive but her mind kept wandering.

_Had Ichigo called yet? _

Kagami spoke with pride in his voice of the materials utilized in Hakuya's creation yet she heard none of it.

_Was he disappointed she hadn't answered?_

Her intent it seemed could never be carried across. _Not with Tensa whom couldn't accept her concern nor Ichigo whom believed the word of his friends above hers. She despised __**them**_. Her mismatched eyes hardened, unseeing she stared ahead.

Why couldn't she have something- someone for once?

Frowning softly at her train of extraneous thought, Kei forced herself to refocus and turn her gaze to Aizen and his Arrancars. Kagami had finished speaking moments before and now a heavy silence began to descend.

She decided to break it. "_Seisatsu_, is its release command." Kei sensed the air vibrate ever so softly as innately the soulless blade heard its call. Aizen sensed it as well, the slightest of puckers creasing his smooth high forehead then evening out.

"The ultimate blade, you say?" He looked to Kagami.

Water smiled, "I told you didn't I? That I'd create the most powerful inorganic weapon and that it would be yours."

Something passed between them, like a mark of recognition. An understanding held long before she had come into Kagami's life. Aizen's bland, courteous smile remained the same yet Kei detected the change in his eyes. It was only there for a moment. A single fleeting second when the shallowness lifted.

She saw the true Aizen; clarity chasing away the shadows in her mind.

_No...Hakuya was perfect_. Her gaze fell to the white-horned guard and elegant black scabbard. She smiled as the tiny half-moon carved into the top flashed in the light. Ever so lightly then, her hand slipped and caressed the solid black sheath of Getsu-ten at her waist.

Everything was nearly there...so near to completion.

Her gaze lifted, sensing someone else watching her. Her one purple and flame crimson met emerald absinthe. Ulquiorra looked at her, expressionless even uncaring seeming as she stared back.

Kei offered a small smile.

He didn't return it.

Somehow it didn't disturb her as much. She thought of Tsukikage and of her note. Then, tomorrow's sunset came to mind and her spirits lifted. The one regret bothering her peace was that Gekkouha, the last soulless katana blade remained imperfect.

_A sacrifice would have to be chosen_...

...Living world...

He dressed carefully, choosing a clean T-shirt from the pile Yuzu had left, then a pair of green cargo pants. Standing before the bathroom mirror, he combed the unruly spikes of his hair down, attempting neatness. Then, grumbled to himself as they sprung right back up haphazardly. He ran his fingers through it then, mussing it the normal way. _It would just have to do_.

As he opened the bathroom door, Karin stepped back.

"Where you going?" she asked, cannily eying his careful grooming.

"None of your concern." Ichigo muttered, stepping around her to go back to his room. He wondered if the place _she_ had in mind was going to be cold. He knew something of the time difference between the worlds and even the distinct differences of the sunrise and sunset.

Which was why he felt nervously excited. A churning mixture of both emotions unsettling his stomach, fluttering like butterflies against his ribcage. Ridiculous! He gave his door an extra hard slam, the doorframe shuddering violently with the force. Ichigo didn't stop to apologize as Karin looked from the hallway.

_It was stupid to be nervous! How many times had they been alone together ...in rather comprising positions_... his cheeks burned hot. Throwing a vicious scowl to the unassuming book lying on the middle of his bed, Ichigo paced around. His socked feet made little noise turning in a neat smallish circle.

When should he call-?

Glancing at the alarm clock on his bedside table, the time read 7:32 PM.

Was that too early? Plowing a hand through his hair, he double checked the time on his wristwatch. 7:42 PM. It was ten minutes off. Picking up his cell from the mess of his school uniform exchanged messily for civilian clothes, the time read 7:52 PM.

"What the _fuck..?" _His eyes skimmed over the backlit LCD screen, tiny bars indicating he was within calling range up to a certain distance. _How could all_.. Ichigo spun around to the alarm clock. Then, stopped.

His eyes transmitted the clock face to memory, processing the information to his brain yet something..was off. 8:02 PM read the alarm clock. His frantic gaze dropped to his wrist, turning over the rounded dial quickly upward. 8:02. Then, finally he stared at the current time on his cell.

"8:02 PM." Hooking the cell to the loop at his waistband, he dropped his face into his hands. Rubbing hard at his eyes. There had to be something wrong with his eyesight. _Yeah..that was it. He had just seen the time wrong, was all_. Catching his bottom lip between his teeth nervously, he tore at it unconsciously until copper seeped onto his tongue.

He remembered the note. _It was time to call_. Taking up the phone again, he speed-dialed her number.

The other line rang.

Four minutes passed.

Eight rings echoing in the inner shell of his ear.

She didn't answer.

Maybe it was dinnertime. For the life of him, he couldn't remember whether or not Assiah's time was forward or backward from Tokyo's. The messaging service came through.

Ichigo hung up, sighing to himself. It probably was dinnertime...or maybe she had forgotten. He didn't like that alternative. Sitting down at the edge of his bed, he redialed after five minutes unable to keep still for any other longer period.

Ten rings. Messaging service.

"Hey..I got your note..um, just calling to ask..like when exactly?" He cleared his throat nervously, the sound rasping through. "I-I'm available now- or whenever you want.." he paused then realizing how it sounded. A dull flush crept onto his face again. "You know!...just call me when you get a chance. 'Bye.."

He forget to say _I love you_.

But, she knew that.

Grumpily, he scowled at the floor. _I love you- was just so- so_-

His cell rang. Eagerly he scanned the number flashing. _Inoue's_. He didn't want to tie up his line by answering. Besides..what could she want? Casting a speculative glance toward his badge hanging from one of the bedposts. It wasn't ringing. So, it wasn't a Hollow attack. She probably just wanted to talk. Ichigo's finger hovered over the talk button.

Then, he removed it.

Expressionless as the phone continued to ring.

Kei's words floated through his mind as Inoue's cheerful voice came through the speaker.

_"Open your eyes, Ichigo. Can't you see-"_

"Hi, Kurosaki-kun!" A little self-conscious giggle. "Just wanted to talk..heeheehee..you know me!" more giggles. He thought she sounded silly. So, immature unlike Kei.

Ichigo depressed the button.

_"-what they're doing __to us__?"_

He was sure now that was what she had said.

Inoue's message ended. The inbox light blinked then stopped as he scrolled down and deleted the message. He didn't need to replay it. _What __**were**__ they doing to them?_ he had known already for a time that Kei was less than respected by some of his friends. Though exactly why he hadn't a clue.

Scowling at the room, his fingers punched in her number without looking. The familiar beep-beep resounded in the air for a full six minutes, during that Ichigo's expression ranged from perturbed in the event that something could've happened to her, annoyed on the fourth ring. Then, pissed off.

"Answer your phone, Kei!" The ringtone continued. It was annoying the hell out of him actually. Lying fully on the bed, he stared at the screen until the numbers blurred. Twenty minutes. His gaze languidly slid to the stapled sheets of paper. _The essay she had written_. He hated the idea of cheating.._but if it got them time together_...

In the hallway outside his room, footsteps passed. Then, paused. The tread ingrained in memory recognized them as belonging to Yuzu. His dad had a heavy, pounding step. Karin had a stalk to hers as if angry at the world inside. But..Yuzu..

Only Yuzu could match hesitation with fear.

It was as palpable as the tremor that ran up his spine at the thought of _her_ in his sister's place.

_Afraid_.. a voice slithered. _Submissive..._

The cell dropped from his lax fingers, falling to the bedspread with a muted thump. Amber eyes slid back. It was in his mind. No, it was more real. Like a waking vision. He could even _hear the crackle of the fire in the grate, the press of her lips, the rustle of the blood-colored slip sliding higher over creamy thighs_.

_She wore nothing underneath, his embarrassment had long since fled, mindful of its lack, he filled his gaze long with the sight of the supple body parting for his inspection._

_'Ichigo...' Kei whimpered, longing in her strangely bi-colored eyes._

_His stomach fluttered. _

_His heart leapt in ways it never had before. _

_Their gazes met. _

_She said, 'I ..love you.' _

"-I love you too, Kei-" Then reality broke.

"Ichi-nii..?" The sound of the door creaking open and Yuzu's voice broke his bubble of euphoric joy. Amber eyes opened, blur clouding them. He wanted to get back to that dream. Not the reality of a beeping, unanswered phone and his sister's peculiar looks.

"Wha-what is it, Yuzu?" Heat remained on his cheeks, yet Ichigo composed his expression enough into its normal scowl. The blonde-haired twin stood in the threshold of his room in pink plaid PJs. He thought she looked adorable. _Precious_ even though he would never say the word aloud.

"..Don't change." She said suddenly. Then as he was about to speak, to say _he wasn't changing. What was she talking about?_ She spoke again. Gazing imploringly into his face. "Ichi-nii..I really like Kei-san. Please don't do anything stupid to lose her!"

...Las Noches...

She didn't want to be alone with the man. A nervous tic asserted itself beating an unsteady staccato of her heart against her ribcage. Strangely it felt like being kicked again, the same raw shattered feeling as bones cracked apart from their wholeness. Upon further reflection standing in the large room illumined by the great screen and solitary chair Aizen occupied.

She preferred being there in Las Noches than being beaten by a human whom said he loved her. What a strange paradox her mind worked in.

"The immensity of your power is astounding." Aizen's quiet murmur rippled across the quiet. Never raised yet filling the vacant space with a tremor. A vibration. "You countered my reiatsu before the small Shinigami, Gin is so fond of...felt it."

"It was easy." Kei scoffed moments later catching his smile widening, realizing she had fallen right into his cunning snare.

"I suppose it was." He inclined the fine stemware toward her in offering. Claret glittered within. Kei shook her head briefly, the words somehow making her feel young. Inexperienced. "I don't drink." she said in apology.

Aizen assented silently in understanding. Tasting the wine with an expression of great savoring. "You are a being whom transcends the evolution of someone like myself. Higher as you pierce the boundaries of the worlds without thought, without care. Nothing hinders the fulfillment of your whims-"

"I wouldn't say _nothing_." She said before she could stop herself.

"Oh?" He leaned forward, affecting a look of deeply absorbed interest. "Pray tell what is it your heart desires..yet cannot have?"

"I don't know." Standing in the dimly lit large echoing room within the maze of a thousand monochrome, lifeless rooms. She didn't _know_. Not really. Not anymore. _What was it in truth...what her heart wanted so dearly yet couldn't have? _Frowning at her own confusion, Kei gave herself a mental shake, turning instead a faintly cavalier smile to the man.

"I don't know is still my answer...but then I would have to say that which I most fear is knowing what it is _I truly want_."

He nodded sagely with an air of pompous benediction; she didn't give him time to formulate another perceiving question.

"But..enough about me. I am boring." Kei said with a pout, feigning earnestness as she looked to the man. "I would much rather hear about you and..." their gazes locked. Neither backed down. "Lacking ten Vasto Lordes complete, what do you plan to achieve with only four above sixteenth generation?"

"You discredit Nnoitora and Grimmjow." Aizen chided, a tiny frown touching his full, well-defined lips. "My Espadas Quinta and Sexta-"

"Nnoitora.." Her lip curled in disdain. "Is of the Sixteenth Generation, a full cycle descending from those of purer, more powerful blood. Grimmjow is _the same_."

"Hypothetical though your assumptions-"

"Are true." Kei cut him off, matching his feigned graciousness. "Don't take us for fools, Aizen. With such a small force, Kurosaki Ichigo could rally his friends and easily overcome your _Espadas_."

Wine tipped more. A pleasant smile like the slither and coil of a serpent flitted across his face. "Ah, but, Yamamoto-san. I believe from the beginning..you ah..said that Kurosaki Ichigo-kun was of no consequence to either of us. His interference limited- you said, ne- promised."

Her expression at once stony had begun to flicker. Ripple into hardness at the edges.

"I believe your words were..._**I**__ will become his weakness_. Were they not..Yamamoto-san?"

"You know nothing of it." She pronounced coldly, her eyes smoldering with repressed anger. _You know nothing of us_.

He smirked. "Careful, Yamamoto-san. That kind of _thinking_ is dangerous. Victory regardless of the cost is the key to existence. I wonder...you can do it, can't you?"

She stared at him. She didn't want to hear it.

"Fight your former friend, Yadomaru Lisa?"

"Wha..what?"

"..I believe she was a Fukutaichou when you were a student at the academy." He pretended to look thoughtful, rubbing his chin. "You were close, weren't you. Kind of like..._sisters_."

"What the hell are you-"

"The masked army." He said as if the single moniker explained everything. For that was what it was. A name. A name she had heard..spoken of in passing.

"I didn't anticipate the minor nuisances they'd become when I chose them for my experiments." Aizen continued as if her horror meant nothing. "They are.._the others_. Expect resistance from them..they are- how shall we say, that little town of Karakura's secret protectors."

...

"So..you are the Tercera?" Kagami could sense the water twisting around the aura of the blonde woman. Her dark skin contrasted almost hideously against the pale blue of her eyes and the bright yellow of her hair. A thin braid hung to the left of her shoulder.

"Halibel-sama, to you, Shinigami!" Snapped a thin Arrancar girl with short black hair. He was vaguely reminded of one of Kurosaki's sisters. Yet this other was older.

"Apache." Halibel said, with neither a look nor rise in her voice. The Fraccion instantly slunk to her mistress's shadow. "Sorry, Halibel-sama." came the contrite murmur. Others followed. Clinging to the shadows of the large training ground. Kagami let his gaze drift, his senses picking them apart by strength.

After a time, he swiveled his gaze almost questioningly to the female Espada. "Oblige me? I haven't been afforded a decent fight in ages."

"You are..asking me to spar with you?" Halibel seemed barely inclined to let the few syllables pass through her mouth-covering. He was surprised to find her voice pleasant though her blade was unusual as it was a short broadsword.

"I suppose so." He shrugged in nonchalance, aware intensely of the other eyes watching them.

Halibel's pale blue eyes passed over his face then her hand gestured away. The one called Apache and others he identified silently as Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun stalked quietly away from the ring. The tomboyish Apache turned back once and stuck her tongue out at him.

_Very mature_. His eyes discerned another, one whom Halibel looked to, indicating more sharply. As the other crept closer into the limited light; Kagami received a slight shock. _It was a Shinigami...no...what had once been a Shinigami_. A male that had been Hollowified.

"Go." She commanded with little force.

The male Shinigami/Arrancar turned wordlessly to where the girls had gone.

"Who...who was that?" Kagami stared after the slightly bowed figure in a mix of white Arrancar clothes and black Shinigami. "I could swear I knew him once." It slipped out before he had even processed correctly what he was saying.

"Hitomi." She answered, taking a few steps to the south. "He was once a Shinigami under Aizen-sama's command in Seireitei."

"Let me guess. Fifth Company, held the rank of fourth seat." Kagami smiled, following suit in circling his opponent. "He defected early on and rejoined Sosuke here in Hueco Mundo and somehow ended up becoming one of your Fraccion?"

"Correct." Halibel clasped a firm hand around the hilt over her shoulder, leading him to hastily put his hands up in mock surrender. "Hold on...no resurrección state. Nothing that serious, please."

"You are the Elemento del Agua..." she favored him with an undecipherable look. "There is nothing el miedo de los Elementos. Like Aizen-sama." she added softer.

Though he held her gaze, Kagami shook his head almost imperceptibly. "No. Allí _es_ uno incluso el miedo de Elementals." He met her look. "One. There is only one..we fear above all else."

...

She slapped him. The blow resounded sharply in the air, shattering the silence unforgivably. Her upraised hand barely stung yet redness blossomed on Aizen's pale face.

"As I expected." His hand rose, lightly touching his own cheek. Kei watched the skin blossom a deeper hue, broken capillaries beneath the mantle of flesh bursting. His fingertips came away tipped by the slightest hint of red.

"You consciously hold back. _Why_.." for once a soft, subtle confusion deepened his tone. His light brown eyes searched her face. "Why...do you repress your power?"

Her hand fisted, falling to her side. She thought then of all the blows she could've avoided from Ichigo during the time of her imprisonment in that very Palace. She remembered the cuts and scrapes and broken bones she could've deflected with ease from Tensa. Then, she knew _why_, with a smile. "Because..if I defeat every single opponent that comes my way _just because I don't hold back_...where is the fun in that?"

For a moment, surprise lit up his eyes, then as soon as it had registered in her vision. It was gone. Smugness came back. "Indeed.." soon enough, an elegant long-fingered hand grasped her about the wrist, tugging her closer. Kei stared at the patch of bloodied skin marring his handsome face. Ordinarily she would've balked at being pulled closer to the man.

_Any man_.

_But_, she reminded herself that she had gotten over that already.

"I can tell..." Aizen murmured. Kei's knees brushed against his. Despite his stature as eclipsing hers, the chair degraded the difference. She was the elevated one now.

"What can you tell?" Her other wrist was encircled. Aizen though seated, maintained a physical strength she couldn't overcome without spiritually repelling the force consciously. She let him pull her down then. Until their faces were only inches away. She could smell his breath, the tea-scent of green and crisp sharp mint. It lingered on him, seeping from his very essence.

Kei thought it _wasn't unpleasant_.

Her mismatched eyes stared into the brown, finding it strange that there could be so many different browns in nature.

"..you'll be the perfect accompaniment to red Zinfandel. An exquisite flavor of sharply sweet to the delectable taste of your flesh." He breathed in as if savoring her scent. "I do believe you will complement my power well ..."

"What are you..." she didn't like the sudden change in his eyes. Mild to harsh. Possessive.

His fingers trailed up the insides of her forearms. "..I will devour you instead of Kurosaki-kun."

...

"That the best you got, Kitty?" Kazeatari taunted. She hadn't a real interest in the panting, blue-haired male whose glare withered quite a few of the lesser Arrancar. Only she appeared immune among those within the room.

"Aw, shut up, bitch!" Grimmjow growled, his sharp canines flashing in a maniacal grin. He seemed almost _mad_, charging in so recklessly without thought, without plan. She sidestepped his attack easily, diverting the crackling flow of the reishii sheathing his large hand. Balas. Kazeatari traversed the room within seconds, a smoking crate scarring the wall, his fist embedded within.

His anger deepened. "Hold still! Why don't, ya?"

"That logic is deeply flawed." She muttered, dark strands of mocha-colored hair lifting in the wind curving around the fan. "For if I did it would accomplish nothing save for being struck by your claws."

He snarled unintelligibly, lashing out as if desperate to prove something.

"What is it you want, kitty?" Kazeatari weaved from side to side. Grimmjow lunged after her, clawing futilely at the spaces she left behind. "What is it you so desperately want to prove?"

He spat.

She flicked her fan, the air currents diverting the spittle.

"You really want to know?" he asked.

Kazeatari answered shortly, "yes."

His chest puffed out in pride, one large tendony hand reaching for the teal hilt stuck through his sash. "To crush all of you motherfuckers! Evade me now, bitch! Grind! Pantera!"

...

They were walking. Takara didn't complain though, she had always liked the tall thin, silver-haired man's company despite what everyone said. Well, not everyone- the blonde corrected herself. Keiko nor Kagami had never said a deprecatory word about the peculiar ex Fukutaichou.

Takara now wondered what he thought of her ...what he thought of everything happening around him. That train of curiosity lead her to recall something else. _Perhaps...he would know._

"Ichimaru-san.."

"Hm?"

A few Arrancar servants clung to the shadows. One acknowledged him on behalf of them all. Gin accepted it with reticence. Waiting until they had come into a seemingly deserted stretch of bare corridor.

"What is it, Taka-chan?" He questioned eventually, turning with affected seriousness. She giggled a little at his superfluous exterior. Sobering moments later, her blue eyes intent on his face.

"..Do you know what is held within Chamber seventy-five of the Daireisho archive hall in Seireitei?"

A flicker passed over his expression. His smile slipped, "..now why would you worry your adorable little head over something so far away?"

_She couldn't tell him why_. "Do you know?" Takara persisted.

"..Well.." He crossed his arms loosely over his chest. "I think the only thing- you know it was an artifact that had to be kept separate from everything else."

"Oh, really?" Takara breathed, wondering what could be so valuable..or so deadly.

"Yeah..it was the Gyaku-Shimon. Gyaku for reverse and Shimon for four gates. It was some kind of binding device- don't take my word for it though...Aizen-sama would know more about it than me."

_A binding device-?_ She turned his words over in her head, thinking hard on it. _What could it all mean? _She started some as his hand pressed into her shoulder. A squeeze turned into an awkward little pat.

"What is it, Taka-chan? Why are you making that face-? Did 'ol Gin upset you?"

She shook her head mutely, unflinching even in their closeness. "No...it's not you." She bit her lip, trying to proceed carefully. "But, Ichimaru-san, are you sure there's nothing else you can recall about the Gyaku-Shimon? Anything at all!" she added hurriedly. "Any little thing would help!"

Looking into her small face burning with such fervor, he patted her shoulder again. Unable to tell her all of that which he knew. His fingers slowly tightened, leaning in, Gin whispered softly into her ear. "I haven't a doubt that eventually you will know everything. However..I will tell you that it is very ancient. Very old in fact..old man Yama is the one who commissioned its creation almost a thousand years ago."

-TBC..

AN: I will check over this chapter sometime tomorrow, so apologies for mistakes.

No flames!

Reviews please :)


	74. Darker than the bLaCk

Throw stones, breaking bones, then wondering why you run for cover  
You fight the world from inside  
Lay down, playing dead to the pages just another wasted day in your mind

-In your skin, Lifehouse

ShiKai Chapter.67: Darker than the black

Kei tore out of Aizen's grasp, her eyes flashed a warning to him then darted around, sensing the immediate rise of Kazeatari's spiritual pressure. Unlike her own which erupted in undulating heat waves, smelting the atmosphere itself at its height. Kazekiri- scion of the Western Guardian became the air itself. Motion..stiffened. Kei felt the ring of vibration spiraling around the massive complex, invisible bands of concentrated air twirling. Twisting.

"Kaze!" She cried aloud, running for the doors. Aizen stood and followed after her, though much calmer, subtle menace dripped from his voice as he murmured, "Grimmjow.."

She was about to snap that it wasn't- how could he tell...when she detected it as well. A released Sixteenth Generation near Kazeatari's shikai. It wasn't Nnoitora. As she and Aizen hurried up the corridor, in deference to his Shunpo, she lessened her pace yet could sense many others beginning to converge upon the area four floors down.

_This was taking too long_.

Closing her eyes, she pitched her body forward, knowing it appeared she was going to fall. No- _pass through_. His gasp echoed in the air a split second before she went down. The floor became materiality, while her body became immateriality.

"See you there." She murmured then phased completely from sight.

...Living world...

Yuzu's favorite show was on, yet she was nowhere in sight. Karin leaned back, frowning at the TV. She didn't like the ridiculous antics that constituted the variety show, but didn't have the heart to simply turn the channel.

"Yuzu! Your show is on!" She called then heard quiet steps. _Good_, her head half-turned, her legs folded beneath her, shifting. Karin expected to hear a barrage of excited murmurs, instead the slouching figure of a teenage boy went into the kitchen.

"Ichigo." Karin said before she could stop herself.

The boy whom was her brother, stiffened. Then turned ever so slowly. On his lips was perched a faintly happy smile. "Oh, hello, Karin-chan. I didn't see you there."

She stared at him, the TV droned on in the background. "Are you feeling alright?" She wasn't used to this side of her brother. He was always scowling- always unhappy... her gaze roved over him then fixated on his face. She didn't like this. _It was unnatural. It wasn't..Ichigo._

"Yeah.." A large tanned hand slid through orange hair. "Why wouldn't I be?" The grin seemed off as well. Amber glittering as he winked impishly at her. "I got the sweetest little sisters in the Country and the most beautiful girl in the worlds as my girlfriend." His shrug was luxurious. "What more could I want?"

Karin wondered at _worlds_. One dark eyebrow crept up, "love _is_ blind."

A soft chuckle floated from the other side. She settled down, pretending to become engrossed in the program yet was intensely aware of every noise, every footfall as _Ichigo_ rummaged around in the kitchen. In time, the fridge closed, juice glugging as it was being poured into a cup.

"Watch this with me." Karin carefully called, mindful of keeping her tone minimum. Nonchalant. Footsteps crossed around and soon what-looked like her brother sunk into the last cushion, clasping a glassful of bright orange liquid.

Yuzu wasn't coming. Karin had the vague idea that she was in their room upstairs. _All for the better_. Her dark-eyed glance slid sideways to study the profile presented to her. Animation danced across every feature. From slight amusement to the glint in his eye. He was relaxed. Without a chip on his shoulder and a punk attitude to boot.

Karin was surprised to find she missed the old Ichigo..

Then, it happened.

His head turned ever so slightly, his body remaining horribly stiff almost like a marionette doll on strings.

She stared openly now, unable to stop herself.

The thing grinned a wide, rictus grin.

"I think I'd better go _back_ now, Karin-chan."

She remained expressionless, shrugging nonchalantly as if she didn't care either way. "Whatever." Then, turned. Forcing herself to stare at the TV screen while glittering amber orbs _stared at her_.

Relief flooded her senses when it lifted.

Juice glugged down in a quick swig. Then the floor creaked as the floorboards shifted beneath the weight of his feet. "'night, Karin-chan."

She didn't reply. Waiting until the steps had receded up the stairs, until the door had closed off the landing. Then and only then did she breathe out.

And unclench her white knuckled hand from the cushion.

She started when the TV show ended, a jaunty theme song playing over the credits. When all the nerves in her body had relaxed, she looked down at the time on the DVD player: 8:00 PM. Quick footsteps sounded behind followed by a familiar chiding voice.

"Karin! Why didn't you tell me my show was on?" Yuzu cried indignantly.

"I called you..." Karin muttered in reply, rolling her eyes slightly to the ceiling. "But, you never came."

"Oh, sorry! I was-"

"Ichigo..watched it with me." She murmured, her hands falling to her lap. Yuzu instantly became silent, _white-faced_- Karin thought, but didn't dare look up to check her suspicions.

"A-A-And..how was he?"

_How was their big brother __**supposed**__ to be?_ The question in her mind was rhetorically sarcastic. Her fairer twin perched on the edge of the sofa, biting her lip nervously. Karin realized she was waiting for an answer.

"He was..the same." She lied yet in a way it wasn't.

Her sister mirrored pale observation, the not-knowing, suspecting, fearing part of it that was Karin's as well. Just what was their brother becoming? The answer neither girl could find.

Answerless then. They stayed wrapped in silence on the sofa, neither touching for reminder of companionship yet knowing neither were alone in the lack of the key to everything.

Upstairs, footsteps paced.

...Las Noches...

Kei, mindful of the increasing abilities of her own _gifts_, could sense even without rereading the other, the sharp differences between Grimmjow's released form and Kazekiri's shikai. _Shikai_...mismatched eyes narrowed.

_He would be annihilated_.

She was sure of that now. Before if anything, she'd had a few doubts, one being of Kazeatari herself in the event of her becoming fond of the Panther Arrancar. She needn't have worried. Kazeatari was proving even then just how deadly Wind itself could be.

Kei leapt back as she got on the scene, mere seconds later, a whirling tornado whipped by tearing a path across the large training ground.

A feline yowl of rage-filled pain split the air.

Kei tossed her gaze to the maelstrom of the storm's fury, picking out the bloodied form of the large armor-backed Arrancar immediately. "Kazeatari! Stop t-this!" She yelled but it was like screaming in a glass room. Her words were taken and torn apart by the howling gust, hair whipping furiously in her eyes and streaming into her mouth.

"KAZEATARI!" she bellowed again, feeling the wind sharpen ever so slightly, pinpointing. Slicing. The edges were fine-honed now. Kei choked against the shifting compression, the mass of swirling air, compacting into razor thin arcs.

"..don't you dare.." From the corner of her eye, she saw Kagami standing protectively in front of Halibel and her Fraccion. On their faces was stark _fear_.

She shut her eyes against the onslaught.

_You're all afraid, aren't you..? _

She could sense Aizen at the fringes, protecting himself in Hakuya's sekki-seki barrier. It withstood the Wind.

_Of what your eyes see, of what is ancient. Unnamable_.

The Wind was concentrated now. Building up at a point.

"Don't you dare.." her eyes opened, her hand flew to Getsu-ten's hilt. "ATTACK ME, KAZEATARI!"

Getsu-ten's completely silver blade burst forth into being, the silvery incandescence cutting a swath through the grayness of the air. Kei balanced the blade sideways, the curved edge pointed downward. "Mu.." Blackness began seeping off the tang in jagged peaks. Kei slashed abruptly sideways, "-Getsu!"

The moonless night encompassed everything in an instant.

...

Kazeatari hadn't meant it. Caught in the eye of her own power, she felt the distinct vibration of Kei's step. Everything was a vibration. A step. A breath. Every bodily movement crashing on her eardrums.

Shindou.

She could _hear_ the clumsy oaf's bounds and leaps as he charged after her. She could _feel_ the scrape of his claws rake the air.

"You're dead!" He cackled, unleashing Desgarron.

_No, you're dead_. She thought impassively, raising her sword. She imagined Kurosaki's face in place of the teal-eyed Arrancar. Every grunt, every splash of gore was Kurosaki's.

_Why did she despise him so much?_

It was as if every ugly feeling within the tempestuous natured spirit of Wind had suddenly pinpointed on Kurosaki as the cause of all their suffering.

Theirs.

They.

For a split second, she saw Kurosaki's face half in shadow and two crouching figures one smaller, the other tall, behind him. She heard the ground shake, she heard the sky scream and the entire world shook.

Her rage became a blade.

"Tsume..." her whisper was heard by no one.

In the distance a voice called. _It was Keiko_- Kazeatari hesitated.

_Keiko- Keiko was_... her mind struggled with rationality. _Keiki. Keiki was alive- he hadn't killed_-

..._no_. Kazeatari shut her hearing to the pleads.

_Keiko couldn't kill Kurosaki, because she lov_-

A change spliced throughout the entirety of the Wind vortex in which Kazeatari stood. Blackness washed over her lids, darker than the night of the desert.

Mugetsu. The light stealer.

Kazeatari held her breath, still in the midnight pitch.

It was Grimmjow she was fighting..._**Grimmjow**_. Not...Kurosaki.

The madness ebbed.

She was sane again.

...

The destruction was immense.

Little by little, the black receded revealing gigantic craters pocking the floor and huge cracks running deep into the white stone.

"..You!" Kei stalked forward, bringing her hand sharply across Kazeatari's dusky face. The sound resounded in the still air. "Just what the _fuck_ did you think you were doing?" She snarled only inches apart from the other's chest.

Kazeatari didn't even flinch from the raging fire burning in the other's gaze. "I am a Kouseitan'i. There should be nothing in the worlds that can sneer down at _me_."

Fire stared; implicit the sentence was there hidden behind the framework of the other's mind. "Is..this..what it's all about?" Kei asked quietly, her voice rising unsteadily, "a _fucking_ power trip!"

"It's not a power trip, as you seem to suggest." Kazeatari said coolly, staring her right back in the eyes. "It is merely the truth-"

"-Crushing any little thing that tries to defy your magnificence?" Her tone rose on a single hysterical note.

Quiet footsteps approached and Aizen spoke placatingly, "Ladies. I concur with Kaze-san's inference of your status as the worlds' earthbound Gods."

Kei turned to him, her expression a cross between annoyance and sheer disbelief which was clearly evident in her tone. "_Us_. Gods?"

"Why, yes." He smiled at her pleasantly as if minutes- if not moments before he had spoken of devouring her in a purely literal sense as she felt. Raising her mismatched eyes to study his face, Kei wondered just _what_ went on in the man's mind.

"What're you talking about?"

"Nothing. Only of the ease in which Kaze-san leveled most of my training facility below the Palace. Let alone...single-handedly defeating a level- a how did you say again?" He smiled at his forgetfulness. She glowered and Kazeatari looked away.

"A level..sixteen. Far below your standards and too...your full cooperation is required in crushing Soul Society with my army."

"You think you know..." Kei murmured, trailing off.

Aizen reached out then, but she shrugged away. Getting away from his touch, her skin crawling. "Your _reasons_. Wasn't that what you were going to speak of, Yamamoto-san?" He continued softly.

Her lips pursed, eyes hardening.

His smile changed into a smirk, cold domineering cruelty in his forceful gaze. "Vengeance, is it not?"

...Tsukikage Castle...

_I hate you_. She told her reflection in the bathroom mirror. The blur was the same as her fingertips trailed down the cool glass expanse. Once she had dragged her nails down a window pane and thought of being rendered to complete non-existence.

But. That was Keiki.

Keiko wouldn't let either of them rest until she'd been given what was once promised.

Kei touched the reflection of her own face in the mirror. _Who am I?_ She asked herself. The glass couldn't answer yet her lips moved of their own accord.

"I am me." Repeating the action, she traced the line of her mouth on the glass. "I am _Kei_, whom Ichigo loves." She smiled then. A flash of hesitance followed by a suffusion of color. "There is...no other."

Kei drew her knuckles lightly against the glass. _There was no other_. Tossing her clothing then in a heap on the cold bathroom floor, she touched the porcelain of the sink bowl discovering the temperature a tad cooler than she liked. _Why...?_

She frowned at her hands, subtly elevating the warmth.

Once it was normal, she walked out, donning a simple black robe, tying the sash almost as an afterthought. On its stand by the laptop, her cell blinked. Messages. Contemplating them for a moment, she blew air from her lips noisily. _Of course...Ichigo_.

"How could I have forgotten?" she muttered to herself, pressing the play button.

_"Hey..I got your note..um, just calling to ask..like when exactly? I-I'm available now- or whenever you want..You know!...just call me when you get a chance. 'Bye.."_

She could hear his awkwardness. _His excitement_. . .

Her eyes lowered, her fingers dancing across the keypad.

The ringtone rang in the silence.

Kei sighed softly as no response came. _He had probably fallen asleep by now._ Thinking on it some more, she raised the phone, cradling it.

Redialing.

"...Ichigo, it's..me. I-I'm sorry I didn't catch your call earlier. Things were really hectic, but I just wanted to tell you that I..." The words caught in her throat, refusing to find their release in the warmed air. In the shadowy sedateness of the sitting room lit by a few choice lamps in the corners. She couldn't fathom what was inducing her to even _think_ those thoughts.

"I.." Then, she couldn't get any farther.

The two words choked her.

Smothered the slender channel of her esophagus.

Resolutely, she swallowed several times, breathing in and out attempting to calm her racing heart. "Never mind that. But, I will say that tomorrow, I'll pick you up at- four maybe?" Gathering her confidence again, she went on more firmly. "I'll pack us a lunch basket, so don't worry about dinner. Once you explain to Yuzu, I'm sure she'll understand."

Silence fell again.

Kei opened her mouth to speak. I...

Instead, no sound- no word would come.

Her hand closed tautly around the slim plastic. "See you tomorrow, Ichigo."

She hung up.

Unable to say, _I miss you_.

-TBC

12-01-2010

AN: sorry for the shortness T_T but I have to get to bed. Thanks for reading. :)

No flames!

Reviews please! :)


	75. On your side

_You are the only "you"_  
_Till now and from now on_  
_Even if there comes a time_  
_When the whole world becomes our enemy_  
_I'll protect you_

_ -Ichirin no hana, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR_

* * *

ShiKai CH.68: On your side

"Come on out...I know you're there." A dull thunk resonated within the confines of the silent office. Kagami had set aside the newly crafted Tsuba, the metal glinting beneath the desk's pool of light. From beyond that tiny illumination, a greater shadow grew. Crawling outward into a pair of slender legs and a torso with a head attached.

Featureless yet immaterial.

The shade stood with arms slightly crooked, hands in nonexistent pockets.

"The Konjoukei is as amazing as ever." The spirit said solemnly.

He shook his head, a chuckle reverberating throughout his body. "I've seen you before." Kagami replaced the fine carving instrument he had been using to outline intricate patterns into the guard aside. "You must be one of ours...Toya's, isn't it?"

"Your guess is..." The Zanpaku-to hesitated then suddenly cracked a grin flashing teeth. "_Correct_. I am Kage, Toya Amakusa's Zanpaku-to. And I've known that you could see me for ages now."

He nodded, "I figured so. But, the question I'm more concerned with, is why you're stalking around Tsukikage like this?" He knitted his fingers together, creating a bridge to rest his chin on. "Are you like the others and can't stand the idea that your wielder will bear a soulless weapon?"

The sound of the Zanpaku-to laughing filled the air.

Kagami remained silent, watchful as though he feared the spirit would take up its blade and run it through the beginnings of the Ninjato residing on his desk. "What's so funny?" he demanded once the spirit's mirth had subsided to a degree.

Kage feigned wiping tears no one could see from his face. "Pardon my outburst. It is merely your conjecture that I was the same as the other Zanpaku-to..."

He could feel the spirit's gaze roving over his face.

"..But in that you are quite mistaken. I simply cannot understand you...the man who never sleeps. The man always searching _for the way out_. When there is never a way out."

Silence fell. Uncomfortably laden with that which held truth in it.

"Perhaps." Kagami assented with an incline of his chin and a slight sardonic smile curving his lips. "One can never be too careful however. Or in a way it could be considered a hobby. Creating a failsafe that is."

"What kind of failsafe is _this_?" Kage murmured.

The air became charged with the spirit's disapproval.

"You are too cruel to Toya to ask _this_ of him."

Faded blue eyes lowered, the smile still tugging on the corners of his mouth by habit though his emotions were anything but. "I only ask that he harden his heart for a moment-"

"And let you kill yourself with the blade you forged for him?" Kage demanded roughly, in the motion of striding forward.

Kagami observed the spirit narrowly. "Ah...so you know." Pensive fingers touched the perfect oval guard lying on the subtle concave edge. "You've already guessed the difference between the soulless blades and the Kouseitan'i sword...this _deicide_ blade."

Kage remained silent as Kagami lifted up the guard, holding it as though it were complete. The short blade flickered into the perfect mimicry of the water cutter.

"Don't-"

The tang slit the air as he brought it down across his throat.

"For good measure.." Kagami muttered, switching hands. He drew the tang across his stomach. Wincing as the sharp, cool breath of the solidified water ghosted through his kimono onto his skin itself.

"Hara-kiri." He said in the quiet that followed. Setting the piece of the guard back after another long moment, he managed a painless smile. "Seppuku is the more elegant term for committing suicide."

Kage balled his hands up into fists. Shaking.

"...This Ninjato is made up of both Kishi and Reishii. Therefore it can break down living flesh, cleave through spiritual bodies as well as having the properties of the Elementals within it." He looked down at the Tsuba, swept back bangs falling forward into his eyes lending him an almost boyish look. "I designed it after the short sword Kazeatari killed her male incarnation the samurai Kagamine Kazeki with. Utilizing time-magic, I gained a glimpse and immediately began work on it. Nostalgic, eh?" he smiled.

"Morbid." The Zanpaku-to replied with distaste.

Undaunted, Kagami cracked his tired joints, rolling his shoulders back then. "Why? It's only a weapon. Without its making, if...everything goes wrong and we are at the brink of annihilation.."

The spirit froze in a different kind of silence. One bred of horror.

"Toya would've been asked to place you- as his sword against her breast."

The Zanpaku-to gasped sharply, collapsing to his knees.

"_That would be your inevitable use_- to ensure that she did not get captured by the enemy.. -_without this double-edged Ninjato blade_."

...

She cut her hand. Glaring without a yelp as blood drops splashed the cutting board then as she pulled back in an attempt to salvage the cucumber, crimson dotted the floor and her sandals.

"_Fuck!"_ Kei hissed more out of annoyance than pain. Her hand throbbed as she applied pressure with the other, running over to the large double-basin sink across the kitchen, she shoved the tap hard, sticking her bleeding hand beneath the icy jet for a few seconds.

_Klutz_. Her eyes rolled at her own stupidity for not being more careful. Turning the water off, she flexed her hand, watching as the skin grew over the jagged slice.

It still hurt.

_I'll live_. She went back to the central island, ignoring the pain. Tossing the stained knife in the sink, she snatched another from the block, deftly gliding it through the thin green stalks.

She didn't have to do this now.

In fact she had hours and hours until the appointed time.

Her hands kept moving.

_Nervous, wasn't she?_

Kei bit her lip as fingers moved methodically over the vegetables. Patting them dry of excess water, then gliding her knife through them. She didn't like thinking of the other time she had tried to cook for him- that...that...

She felt a brief lance of pain.

Glancing down she glimpsed her whitened knuckles, the blood draining from them to pool at the deep slice across the back of her thumb.

"Shit." Her curse echoed dully in the quiet kitchen. Stainless reflected a trail of crimson splotches as she held her hand aloft, cradling her wounded finger close into the palm of the other. Repeating the motion as before, she watched the muted red spiral down the many holes of the drain.

_He had screamed at her, he had ..struck her_..

Her gaze blurred. Steam arose from the falling water. Recoiling suddenly, Kei clamped down hard on her reiatsu. The tap had been boiling from the inside out.

She clenched her fists. The skin had healed, stretching over the gash perfectly. She still felt the invisible scar. A thin line of pain through the area.

"So, it's starting." She said aloud to herself.

...

The foodstuffs were ready by two in Assiah's time.

Stowing everything in a wicker basket lined with light blue and white checkered plaid; Kei went back to her room, unwilling to face any other denizens inhabiting the castle at that particular hour. In truth she was tired, not simply physically but verging on emotionally.

She shouldn't have cooked.

Rubbing a hand to her temples, she yawned deeply, her chest expanding beneath the dark grey kimono. It felt a waste to dress. He hadn't even noticed her outfit- the care she had taken to dress up for him. Such feeling arose within her chest.

Anger at her stupidity.

Annoyance that she should care any little bit.

Then, hate.

She _hated_ them.

Her phone rang suddenly.

It was Kagami, asking if she would observe a few matches with Toya wielding Gekkouha against the natural Zanpaku-to of the other officers.

She said _yes_.

She had nothing better to do after all.

...

The clang resonated throughout the air.

Gekkouha sang dully against Reiki; Toya sidestepping to avoid the shimmering golden discs ready to entrap at any moment. Sweat stood out on his upper lip, his dark hair pulled back hung lank against his cheeks.

"Ishuku." Kyou commanded calmly, at his voice, the discs retracted. Hovering in a semi-circle like a shield mid-level to the small boy.

"Round one- complete. It's a draw." Kei called, cupping her hands to her mouth. The two officers stepped to a respectful distance to one another, bowing curtly in traditional style. Toya held Gekkouha loosely, tilting the silver blade downward. Reiki remained unsheathed as well.

Kei checked the time, then clapped sharply. "Round two, begin!"

Toya and Kyou nodded briskly to show they understood, sliding back into practiced Zanjutsu stances a piece.

It had been Kagami's idea to take the imperfect Gekkouha and test it like a bokken or a Shinai on the training ground. The blade had held up against Shirahime for one match; the white princess unable to freeze Toya's reiatsu as the borrowed sword emitted none. After the first victory, Kei had called her off and sent her back to fourth's office, noticing Kyou had seemed eager on the fringes to try out his Zanpaku-to against a created.

_The true and the false_.

She studied her short nails, reaching up to brush back a few strands of displaced hair from her face. The wind grew sharper from their movements. Gekkouha in Toya's hands, was gaining the advantage. Like with Shirahime as the opponent; Gekkouha was perfect as an empty sword.

She hadn't yet told Kagami of her plan.

_Of what she wished to become of the other part of her soul's spirit powers. Her Shinigami power. Keiko's- hers. One day not far away_...

Kyou repelled Toya's attack.

The change in the air, made her thoughts snap back to the present. Her eyes quickly scanning over their positions. Toya pressed his free hand to staunch the free-flow of blood from his shoulder. Kyou breathed just as heavily yet launched a vicious offensive, bearing down on Third's Captain with his Zanpaku-to still gleaming with blood.

She realized what was coming.

Either Toya would accept defeat.

Or..

"Obutsu-Tsuki.." He whispered against Reiki's onslaught. White amassed. Blinding light like pure energy, rippled outward then exploded like a dying star.

_Moon dust_.

Kyou screamed.

It encompassed everything.

...Unknown world...

Water rippled, breaking across the reflection of a small girl. Dark purplish black bangs fringed her large light brown eyes. Dainty hands were encased in dark grey bracers edged by gold. The girl sat on a grassy bank, the grass the color of seafoam. The girl's tresses, longer, swept the ground as her pointed chin upturned to the query.

"Ashura, how can you be alright with this?" Questioned a fair-haired boy, his silver eyes cool like, wise knowing mirrors. "Should you even be awake yet?"

"Kotoko..." murmured the Shinteichou of tenth. "I, unlike you, uphold the commandment given to us. We are not to _interfere_." Her gaze slanted away, "I am...quite healed after almost two thousand years, thank you very much."

He looked pensive, "ah. True. Yet it was Aka-Bara, our own comrade's thorns whom pierced your body...after _he_ took possession of them."

"You speak of Earth and of that time as though it were yesterday." She wondered aloud.

"To some, it is. Was. Seemingly, almost yesterday." Kotoko mused, his eyes tilting up to regard the cloudless sky over the plateau of land. "He destroyed everything we were...everything the Kouseitan'i stood for as well."

"Had Keiki reduced his existence to ashes from the beginning, we wouldn't have lost as much as you've lamented." Ashura said, her expression haughty.

"So, cold." Murmured the silver-eyed boy almost mockingly. "Yet you still view Keiki with a sort of sadness..."

"My thoughts." Ashura's eyes hardened, light slashing through them. "How dare you perceive-"

"..her power is waning as their time of exile slips away like sands in an hourglass." Kotoko said, gazing down at the pool of water his comrade had been scrying through.

"It is to be expected-"

"No, it's fate." Sadness came over his peaceful expression.

She became silent, her hands clasped together on her lap.

"What was Keiki's final fate...seeress?" he asked after a long moment.

Ashura closed her beautiful eyes.

"Answer. For that is which my ability perceived of your thoughts. You thought of her fate, the final death which would erase her existence from the worlds forever." Kotoko pressed, his silver eyes steady on her face. "It is the fate which she had asked of you to predict before rebirth. What...tell me. What did you see in the water mirror?"

She opened her eyes, "it was..."

...Realm of the Fire Zanpaku-to...

Kage walked on in a kind of stupor. One born of the deepest sort of dread a Zanpaku-to could feel. He supposed the idea was an inevitable consequence of his existence. _To end the Kouseitan'i of Fire's life_.

Being so close as the sword of one of her allies- the notion was all too real.

Too much tasting of reality.

_I-could-be-asked-to-kill-her_. He thought to himself, ignoring the dust his tall, knee-high boots scuffed up. He went on, ignorant of the broken bits of glass pocking the ground. The black tower- his mindscape of impenetrable obsidian as shiny as glass yet as opaque as a wall was his refuge and also his destination.

He needed time to think-

Time to...

There wasn't enough time.

Kage knew it. Clenching white-gloved hands to his sides, looking down. He seemed to see the future Water had warned of. The mimicking sword- able to mimic almost any sword in prior or current existence.

That wasn't an option.

Toya though he would balk at such a request, would undoubtedly cave.

He would give in- as Haretosora did once.

_Because of ..a promise_.

He couldn't let it-

Something small and red flashed into his blurred sight. Confused, the mimicker regarded the sudden appearance of a perfect round object of spherical shape resting at his paused feet. "..Where did-"

"Play with me."

He froze at the child's voice.

Every joint in his body suddenly becoming immobile. Paralyzed as his eyes took in the form accompanying the voice.

How adorable.

_It_ was a child. One with a head of thick coppery curls like the scales of a desert snake.

Inquisitive eyes shown with piercing intelligence glittering within.

He wanted to run. He was damned sure _It_ knew it too.

"Play with me, mimicker." _It_ said, petulance lending an edge to the innocent tyke's tone it affected. The red of its sweater and hood stood out against the bleak-skied world. In the distance, Kage could see past it; the black tower rising high on the plain of glittering glass shards.

Past it.

Beyond it.

_It _stood in the way of refuge.

_What to do. Oh, just what to do? _

Kage bent neatly at the waist, folding over like an accordion, hands curving around the red ball. "I'm not too good with kids actually." He watched it narrowly. Perceiving it await eagerly the returning of the ball. _It had been fooled_.

"Many others have told me so..." He hoped the sound of the sword materializing was silent. "I mean- who in their right mind would do this to a kid?" Bringing his foot sharply back, he kicked the ball forward, then twisted his right arm forward releasing a mighty circular blackness.

_Mugetsu_.

The child let loose an unearthly roar of hatred.

Kage leapt into the shadows gathering at his feet, sensing the ground tremble beneath the onslaught thundering up from _below_.

Material impermeability allowed him passage. Passing through the spears as they pierced the plain. He breathed harshly of the cool, frost-bitten air of Shirahime's isolated realm. High wrought iron gates of glittering white adamantine stood, chained to all.

He wasn't interested in entry.

"Shit." Kage muttered. Beneath his heels, the ground quaked.

"You." Said the child.

"Yeah. What?" He faked a grin, hands planting themselves on his hips. If death came..being ripped to shreds by wind gusts sounded a thousand times better than a slow demise by impaling.

_What a morbid idea_.

"What will come, will come."

"What?"

"You cannot stop it." The child said levelly, the unnatural eyes bright on Kage. "My master-"

"How dare you trespass!" A voice keen like a ringing blade cut through the air. The mimicker was aware of the gliding white form- stunning like a vision of pure ice appearing beyond the narrow bars, in her delicate hands reposed a long light blue staff.

"Maiden of Hell's winter.."

Kage didn't dare take his eyes from it. Standing his ground a little to the left of the chained gatepost. SunoShira-Kisaki inclined her frosted hair, eyes like ice flints staring at the fourth guardian. "Leave, foul creature of the abyss!" she declared fiercely.

"Mimicker." The child murmured, addressing him as well.

Her warning had done nothing.

The tip of her glaive, a large fleur delis carved crystal crackled with a threatening light.

Kage held his breath, ready to leap away at a moment's notice. He didn't want to get caught between the _White Queen_ and her kill.

"Listen well.." The voice hovered thin, reed-like in the air. The blood red cloak fading at the edges becoming a misted scale covering the arms and torso of the thing. "My Master shall have what he desires most in the world."

Shirahime's bankai form hissed. Her beautiful features twisting into ice cold hatred. "He shall have _nothing, _you beast!" She lowered her glaive decisively, determination in her gaze.

The Hebi glared back, eons of solemn hatred radiating from its very core.

"We will never be alone again." Genbu pronounced quietly.

"Begone!" SunoShira-Kisaki roared, slashing her glaive forward. "Muhyo-Getten!"

Kage leapt back, the tails of his coat streaming in the icy wind that kicked up. His boot heels freezing themselves as the landscape was suddenly transformed into a frigid wasteland. The last he saw of the hebi of Genbu, was the blood red a mar in the glittering white pureness.

Vanish.

Spears stopping in their directive path toward Shirahime's barred keep.

In the silence that followed the shifting crunch of the ice crystals solidifying into their infamous coldness; Kage tried to move only to find he had been frozen from the waist down in a huge cluster of jagged crystals growing in a splayed manner outward.

Shirahime in her bankai form, snorted. Her thin upper lip curling as her aristocratic nostrils flared in disgust. "_It_ evaded me."

"Clearly." Kage said helpfully, trying not to seem panicked as his comrade- in so mild terms, appeared to have forgotten he was still there. _Trapped too_. "Thanks- by the way. Um...if you would be so kind, Shira..." with increasing alarm, he glimpsed the White Queen turning about regally, her layered mantle glittering with frost and rough cut diamonds set into her narrow bodice.

_She was the picture of royalty itself._

_Grand and delicate, like a flower on a field of snow_.

Yet as cruel as ice.

And she disregarded him.

"The _form_ suits you." She said with a vague smile, passing through the bars of her lonely world.

Kage looked over his shoulder at her slowly retreating figure and muttered, "damn."

He was frozen solid.

...Tsukikage Castle...

Gekkouha's imperfect state irradiated a milky light over the entire complex. Kei shielded her eyes against the worst of it, shutting her lids tightly. A tremor ran through Getsu-ten sheathed at her waist. _You sense it too, huh?_ Recognition rippled through her as the long consumed Zanpaku-to resonated strongly against the moonlight of the false world.

_Assimiliar to the darkness of Hakuya..._

_Like a paradox of evil and good caught within a mindless rage._

_They, were the swords Kagami forged._

_The soulless blades_.

"..Tsukiakari!" Kei hollered, cutting apart the moondust with many reflective orbs of fantasia-like rainbows.

Kyou's deafening scream became apparent as the fifth seat's Zanpaku-to clattered to the ground from outstretched clawing fingers. Tears streamed down his reddened, screwed up face. One hand tore at the roots of his short black hair, words filling Kei with horror as he uttered them in a mindless chant of despair.

"Make-it-stop-make-it-stop-make-it-stop!"

Toya stared aghast, his eyes falling to the trembling, nullified blade in his hand to the boy on his knees. "What have I..." The Captain of Third couldn't go on. His own eyes filled. Kei sheathed her sword, using Shin-Soku to reach Kyou just as in the distance, Hana's piercing yell of her brother's name shattered the unearthly calm.

"Kyou..hey, Kyou-kun...what is it?" Kei wrapped her arms around the shaking fifth seat. His grey shihakusho clung damply to his back, darker circles beginning to appear around his neck and armpits. Helplessly, Kei patted his upper arm, sliding her fingers around his hand, attempting to pry it from his head. "Hey, hey..Kyou-kun. It's over. It's over! So, snap out of it!"

His broken moans continued.

"Stop it, Kyou! Just stop! No one's going to hurt you!" She cried desperately in another failed at attempt to reach the boy. From the corner of her eye, Toya had collapsed as well, burying his raffish head in his hands.

"What have I done?" he whispered.

Her chin tilted up. She stared at him.

Kyou suddenly stiffened, his body ridging in her clasp.

"Retsu!" Kei barked, hoping to gain a reaction, then swiveled toward Toya; "don't just sit there, Amakusa! Do something! Get help!"

"..I can't take it..I'm a failure..okaasan..otousan.." Kyou's voice rose and broke on a sob. "Nee-chan!"

Kei heard the crackle of Hana's shunpo tearing up a track from the barracks near the gates to their location behind Second Division. Just behind her, Kazeatari and Rizu Sakurai.

"Kyou-! What is-" as she spoke again, reiatsu like a wave. A smooth pool of calm water washed over her. Kei twisted around crying at the same time that her eyes alighted on the man. "Kagami!" Then, back down to Kyou distressed. "What's happening to him?"

"He's been poisoned." Kagami said, his blue eyes passing almost cursorily over the raving boy. "As you've guessed I'm sure by now, it isn't light Gekkouha emits when Moon dust is released."

_That explained_...

"-but why wasn't I affected as well?"

"Listen please." He said, sounding irritated for once. "It's a type of lunacy that affects the mind. Where guilt lies- where the conscience bears in part to thought and actions."

"What're you saying?"

"Simply that Gekkouha is imperfect and thus the one who bore it was affected as well." Kagami finished with slight, quiet smile. Walking over to the downed Captain of Third, he bent low, reaching out a hand to pat the man's quivering shoulder. "Hey, Toya. Whatever happened back then, it wasn't your fault. Remember..remember that man's face. Hirako Shinji? Ring a bell?"

Toya didn't even acknowledge the elder man's presence.

"No? Well...that's understandable." Kagami picked up the sword he had created, carefully. Holding it as though it were something fragile. Something delicate. Kei watched on mutely as he rose to his full weight, tilting the blade sideways.

"Odori no Tsuki." Kagami intoned without inflection.

_Moon dance_.

The blade evaporated into tiny moon-shaped petals, flowing in a dance-like pattern. Sashaying. Shimmering as they kissed the heads of the afflicted. Kei felt some alight on her skin, paper thin circles that fluttered to the stone ground.

She was untouched.

Hana and the others arrived moments later.

...

"What did you see, Kyou-kun?" She had asked.

"I-I don't remember any of that." He had murmured, stunned almost as they had spoken of his fall and incoherent ramblings. Toya as well had little recollection from the time of releasing Gekkouha to hearing Kagami's voice after Moon dance had faded.

Gekkouha of course would require time to recover its previous state.

Kei had watched the man treat the weapon as though it were a hurt child.

One in need of care.

Then, upon later thinking about it over dinner; she recalled his justification that the soulless blades were like his children.

With a smile, she perceived he still thought of them that way.

No matter what the true Zanpaku-to felt.

Retiring to her rooms after an hour or so of lingering over coffee in one of the private libraries on the Western side of the castle; Kei had bid everyone a goodnight then swiftly traversed the castle floors. First to dress. Then to the kitchens.

She was late.

Tossing off her usual short hakama and kimono, she exchanged it for a regular set of robes and plain sandals. It wouldn't do for him to think she had dressed up for him. Flicking a hand through her hair, she soon decided to gather it up into a loose knot. _She was far past wanting to impress the boy_.

Minimalism and sedateness would serve to temper her expectations for the night.

That and her reiatsu.

_Lay a hand on me again_... she thought, peering once out into the night.

_And ...you will regret it..I swear it to my very being_.

Her fingers tightened.

"If you strike me..I will destroy them all."

...Living world...

She crossed the dimensions with ease.

The veil between the worlds like a whisper of a breeze falling away at her momentum.

She loved her speed.

Pausing atop the roof of the clinic, Kei heard the door open below and Yuzu and...Inoue's voices in conversation.

She froze.

Then, slowly sunk to her knees, peering over the rooftop to the ground.

Inoue's bright sunshine head moved away.

"Thanks again, Yuzu-chan! I didn't mean to be a bother to you guys or your brother..." Inoue giggled self-consciously, dressed in her grey school uniform. "You know me! Hahaha! Dumb old hime-chan!"

_What was it..? _

"I didn't think Ichi-nii could actually tutor anyone." Yuzu remarked from the doorway. "But, if it works for you...well, go for it! See you tomorrow, Orihime-chan!"

The girls waved to each other.

Kei sat back, masking her reiatsu.

_So, he was tutoring Inoue_.

_Such a little thing...he wouldn't have bothered telling her of it because it meant...nothing_.

_Right?_

...

Saying _yeah alright_, to his friend, hadn't been difficult.

Thinking back on it, as he busied himself replacing text books and piling stray sheets of note paper on his desk; they had talked more than actually studied.

Inoue liked to...talk.

About weird things.

Things he didn't halfway understand like little green aliens and leeks and bean paste taking over the world.

_Seriously?_ He had caught himself more than once raising an eyebrow at the strangeness of his friend, sitting on his bed while he sat at the desk turned toward her. Just sitting there, talking so happily...

Ichigo had been mindful of course, of the time.

An hour and a half spent in Inoue's company was all he had before Kei was supposed to get there. He wondered if she would bother with the front door or simply appear in his room like the _other_ time.

Then, he decided it didn't matter.

He was careful, though to tell Yuzu of his plans for skipping dinner. She was rightfully disappointed- not as much as he thought she should've been. Noticing the slight, guilty expression before it vanished on her small face.

_Like relief_..

But, his sister had brightened once he had mentioned offhandedly that _he was going out and that he and Kei were going to have dinner somewhere_.

That made it alright.

His dad hadn't said anything perverted, or anything at all for that matter.

Neither had Karin.

She had ignored him completely, focusing on her homework at the table.

But, he wasn't bothered.

_**She**_ was coming-he was going to see her- ..._and the other inside him couldn't be more __**pleased**_.

The space distorted around him, the difference jolting him from his thoughts. Books slid from his hands, falling with dull thuds a piece to the floor. Unheeding, a grin broke out over his face as the fair-haired girl stepped through the ripple. Clad in a plain charcoal grey shihakusho and sandals with black socks, her hair was upswept giving her features a hardness he hadn't noticed before.

Now, more than ever, she resembled a _Goddess_.

"Hi." He said, suddenly nervous.

Kei disregarded his greeting, her sharp eyes sweeping the room looking for any trace of something. Like she could sense Inoue had been there.

He decided not to tell her.

It might start an argument- that, above all he wanted to avoid.

"Have any of your friends visited lately?" Her sudden question startled him.

Remembering his hasty decision from moments before; Ichigo shook his head, trying to appear nonchalant about the whole thing. "Nah. They've been busy with training and stuff."

"Hn." She grunted softly, retiring her search.

He wondered if she thought it was a wasted effort on their part. Studying her closed-up expression, it was getting harder and harder for him to read her moods. He got his answer soon enough.

"Why do they engage their energies in such meaningless pursuits?" Kei asked no one in particular.

He felt the tiniest flare up of anger. "There's a war coming. Of course everyone's going to do their part to help our side win!"

For a moment, confusion flickered across her expression at something in ...his sentence.

Then, she asked quietly. "Are you on...my side, Ichigo?"

He forgot his anger. Opening his arms, stepping forward with gruff reassurance. "Of course I am!"

She didn't step into his embrace.

He tried not to mind.

Not to feel the cold.

She had the basket, it would've been awkward holding her with it.

He told himself that - _repeatedly_.

"Shall we go?" He asked, uncomfortable in the silence that had descended upon the room.

She shrugged, as if not caring yet still drew her free hand slowly across the empty air.

A portal appeared to the sunlit landscape of Assiah.

He went first.

She after him, sealing the gateway behind them.

He hoped their night would improve.

-TBC..

AN: thanks for reading.

No flames!

Reviews please :)


	76. Killing Dance

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

-Henry David Thoreau

ShiKai CH.69: Killing dance

He chose not to warn her. It wouldn't do any good; Kagami had known her for too long already to know better than to try and dissuade the Fire Element from doing or going after something she wanted.

It was that easy.

He supposed in a way, leaning back in the desk chair, his weight making it shift slightly from side to side. On a curved lacquered sword stand on the desk, rested the gleaming Gekkouha. The blade had nearly recovered to forty-nine percent or so he calculated, testing the energy level brimming just beneath the cool surface.

Kagami was no fool. He could see as well as anyone else that she had some sort of...he hesitated at feeling. It was such a strong word and not one easily used in conjunction to Kei. _Want_, he decided. Pensively, he watched the threads of loose reishii become entangled then sucked into the tang. Gekkouha was a masterpiece- _his_ masterpiece. But, then he always considered every sword he created, a masterpiece in the beginning.

Tapping the pen tip on the arm-pad of the chair, he sighed. _It was a sort of fascination_. Though he hesitated at obsessed. Kurosaki certainly seemed like it, even if the boy himself would deny it left and right. Both of them- Kei and Kurosaki seemed to...

The word came to him.

_Revolve_.

It was almost as if neither could stay away from the other.

Like a dance.

_A killing dance_.

Whether or not, his instincts outweighed his wishes; Kagami could only feel that it would never end well for _them_.

...Mindscape...

Shirahime paused thoughtfully, tilting her gaze at an angle to regard the clasp maintained on her glaive.

Her grip shook.

Trembled.

Ice blue eyes slid shut, her spare bosom heaved with a minute sigh.

She had been afraid.

Afraid of Genbu.

Any Zanpaku-to spirit knowledgeable of the story and its ramifications on the present would display proper fear of those insane ones.

_The earth-shaker._

_The serpent and the tortoise_.

They had been called by many different names throughout the centuries of dormancy. While their influence had waned over the Earth-type Zanpaku-to neither had the terror stricken in the hearts of the souls from so long ago.

The snow White Queen stood amidst the frozen splendor of her castle and knew she had been blessed to have escaped unscathed from such an encounter.

That, Genbu had released.

Been- awakened from the far cave within the last level of the Meido, by the casters of the ancient seal; she knew of. It was to fulfill the prophecy. The end of the beginning. Shirahime deep in the frosted over confines of her heart, so rigid and cold as her appearance and power dictated-

_Regretted this course_.

_Zoe was happy_.

"Why?" The soft tones of a young girl echoed from inside the ethereally beautiful woman. Her throne of carved ice crystal roses and briars awaited in the middle of the great hall. "Why can't we continue the way we always have?"

She went to her throne then and sat regally.

Tears frozen into crystal droplets fell from her pale, ever so cold cheeks.

The future would come to pass.

It was unchangeable.

...

_What is it you want from me?_

It was difficult to ask, and even more, she didn't want to admit confusion. Pride would never allow it. Standing beneath the night sky of Assiah, breathing in the cool sharpness of the wind-blown off the tops of the glaciers; she felt a deep uneasiness in her soul.

_What was different?_

"Keiko?" A light touch on her elbow turned into a full cup, as his hand folded around her arm. Kei felt the warmth of his palm seeping in through the fabric. _Comfortable_, she thought. But, still pulled away without knowing exactly why. A step or two to the side, and she realized what she had done. "Sorry." she offered by way of apology. Her voice soon faded, the tiniest pang of absence hovering phantom-like in the pit of her stomach.

She felt coldness.

His hand didn't return.

"Is this..far enough?" When he spoke again, it was as if the previous moment had never happened. Kei was glad for it, then a little saddened, trying her best not to show it. "Yeah. The higher it is the colder, but the views are spectacular as night begins to fall."

He chuckled, a brief noise that colored the air. "Oh? I'm not cold at all."

This time, she smirked, "that's 'cause I'm controlling the temperature. No one else in the worlds can do it." She played it up, by turning to face him, shadow silhouetting his sunset hair and the hard panels of his face.

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh." Kei held still, her chin tilted at a teasing angle. Ichigo approached, faintly smiling. She didn't flinch when he dropped his hands on her shoulders, nor when his arms went around her pulling her close. Flush against his chest, she tilted her head back, letting his lips capture hers in an explosively passionate kiss.

Tongues tangled. Flesh yielded. She felt their teeth clank, but was too absorbed to care. It was easy to let go, to have control wrested from her. Kei felt herself sinking, melting into him, until every curve of her body was pressed against his much harder, muscular one.

_Like falling_, she likened the sensation, powerful heat like a raging inferno smoldering in her belly. She craved- oh how she craved it. _Satiation_. His much stronger, rougher hands pulled apart her kimono, traveling down her sides to her hips, massaging the supple flesh with worshipping caresses. Kei wriggled her hips sinuously, tiny sparks of electricity shooting up her spine as his hardness grazed her inner thigh.

She wanted more- _like always_.

But.

Their kiss broke, saliva trailed down her chin and then down her throat, his lips hot and possessive. Kei inhaled sharply, her heart pounding as one hand cupped her ass, his mouth dipping in at her left breast.

She wanted it-

But.

He let go. Before his tongue had curled around her sensitive pink nipple. She was almost disappointed. _Relieved_. A mixture of feeling that gripped her heart. _Indecisiveness_.

"..Sorry." His voice had a husky note, one he failed to hide. "I-I can't take you like this."

She didn't say anything.

As if on cue, his stomach growled quite loudly, breaking the tension-filled silence.

"Sorry." Ichigo sounded mildly repentant then. Embarrassed.

She smiled, sliding from his grasp to stand on her own. Her kimono hung open, exposing slivers of her breasts. Twice she caught him glance then forcefully away. She appreciated his attempt at diffidence. It was _almost_ sweet.

"It's alright." She clasped the sides of her kimono closed, smiling faintly. "Let's eat, hmm?"

He smiled back a little hesitantly, unsure for her change of heart, but still ready to accept it.

_It was_...

...Mindscape...

They were all the same.

Nekomata had assured himself of this. Had gender been more conspicuous, he might've been assumed regal. Noble- looking. He was a Lynx, the spirit of a great cat. Yet his fur was as black as night, as thick and viscous as tar. He had as little form as a shadow, yet didn't consider Kage any closer kin than any of the other Zanpaku-to.

Nekomata had loyalty to two.

In his warren-like den, under a rocky incline, head folded on two massive paws; he resembled a statue. A great mass of still darkness that occasionally breathed, rumbled or growled. He growled in thought, at the fastidious lack of delicacy maintained by some of those supposed- as his comrades.

They were- his wielder's comrades.

So, Nekomata slumbered.

Unencumbered by concern like the mimicking sword.

He slept.

The ground beneath his paws shook.

Rumbled with great force.

Nekomata sensed the power, the heaviness of it splice the land from the ground up.

_Who..?_

He lifted his head and instinctively sensed it gathering toward the East where the thorn-bound castle of the White Princess lay. He knew her to be strong, yet...

He growled lowly in his throat. Fangs bared in challenge as black smoke lips pulled back. Nekomata gnashed his teeth. He _knew_ it- the creature whom had been banished into the abyss. He recognized its power.

_Shirahime could not rout this enemy, her ice_..

A ripple passed through Nekomata's muscular form.

The enemy had been repelled.

The great cat stood, inhaling sharply of the change in the dim world.

_Ice. Pure. Clean_.

She had succeeded. Realization of her victory, slight to the immensity of the Demon now set to vanquish them one day; Nekomata knew he had to act. To disregard would be to sever his loyalty to the one most sacred.

The great cat turned to the east, then vanished in a bounding leap.

...Tsukikage Castle grounds...

Takara didn't giggle.

Replaying the short time spent in Ichimaru's company, she was sober. A perfect little soul of reflection, gazing out the window in an absorbed mode. Her crystal-clear blue eyes wandered the narrow glimpse of lawn afforded by her view, while her mind turned over Ichimaru's words, attempting to find her answer within them.

The man was so-so cryptic!

A minor emotion of irritation flittered across the blonde's small heart-shaped face.

_"I haven't a doubt that eventually you will know everything. However..I will tell you that it is very ancient. Very old in fact..old man Yama is the one who commissioned its creation almost a thousand years ago."_

Shigekuni Yamamoto...in the end, it all came down to that single man.

Takara propped her chin in her upturned palm, resting her elbow on the window casement set deep into the stone wall.

Everything- she could hear Ichimaru's voice rising and falling low, speaking of the rigid laws of Seireitei. Of the cruelty. Of intolerance. Of the need for...change.

Oh, if only-! Her small fists suddenly clenched in an outburst of silent emotion. Her jaw tightened. She wanted to be of help. She wanted to be of use to them. Takara wasn't foolish. From the beginning it was them- will always be...

Them.

Too powerful, too dangerous, considered too evil to live.

But, Takara knew differently.

Thinking back over her childhood in the Rukongai, she saw the corruption, the suffering. Yet hadn't a desire in her heart to change it. Selfish- she thought now. Haretosora was never far from correcting her.

She wanted to survive then.

Be a Shinigami, live behind the white walled city.

But, then Ichimaru Gin came.

Then, the damned souls of the Kouseitan'i.

Then, Takara knew where her place was.

They had given her everything.

Takara stared out the window, no longer calm and peaceable, more fixated. Steady, still. Determined. She was like a tiny light compared to Keiko's raging flame, a tiny slip of movement beside Kazeatari's storm and a single droplet to the mighty ocean extended by Kagami's hand.

But, she wanted to help.

She had a feeling- no an instinct.

A sensation spreading outward from the pit of her being.

It was imperative that she learn what the Gyaku-Shimon had been created for.

Within Chamber seventy-five...

She suddenly made her decision, turning around sharply, she left to find Toya..

...

Thirty four minutes.

With an exhalation of breath as soft as it was labored deep inside, Zoe released her power. The frosted glaive in her mind vanished quickly, mist evaporating from the Queen. Her blade became the princess.

'You've done well.' Echoed the tiny princess's voice in her consciousness.

"Half an hour." Murmured the Lieutenant, physically as well as mentally exhausted. Her drain came as her reiatsu level plummeted. She was weak- it was pitiful that she couldn't hold her beautiful sword's form for longer. Zoe was disappointed with herself.

Shirahime within the ice castle, sensed it yet couldn't draw enough power to manifest her corporeal form. _'Do not be...when our minds touch, our strength becomes one. Limits do not touch our power.'_

"Even so-!" Zoe's expression crumpled, her lips shook with a tremor felt by the spirit. Unseeing, she stared at the open computer screen, her disappointment rising. "If it were to come to pass of Kurosaki becoming-"

_'Our enemy?'_ whispered Shirahime.

"I am afraid.." confessed her wielder softly. "I am afraid of his power."

The white princess felt her master's sorrow tinged fear. The spirit despised fear. Fear made one weak. One powerless, held back from realizing their true potential. _Her master's fear was_..

Shirahime refused it.

_Not that future_.

_**Bloodied. **__Beaten__**. A **__black __**sword **__plunged __**through **__**the**____Elemental's____**heart**_.

_'Non. Non. It will never happen!'_ The white princess screamed. Ice sheets shattered from the piercing echo. She had faced the earth-shaker. She had survived. She would not let fate destroy the world.

_**'He will not destroy her again!'**_ Shirahime declared, forgetting herself and her wielder's momentary confusion.

"Again? But, of whom do you speak?" Zoe questioned aloud.

The white princess fell silent.

...Mindscape...

It was _damned_ cold. As not a water Zanpaku-to, she ranked high on the echelon of the ancient ones. Kage could see why the name of the _White Queen_ was so feared in the centuries before she had gone to the hand of the sedate Gaijin woman.

_So, why had she chosen obscurity?_

He puzzled over it, even as his limbs at first leaden, steadily grew numb, incapable of mobility.

_Maybe it was something he would ask her, given that she didn't first turn him into a new ice sculpture for her patio or something_-

The ground shook, a dark malaise-like mist obscured the pure crystalline ice. Kage felt the tremors deep with the crystal base, a habitual grin sliding into place on lips he couldn't feel anymore.

"What's up, Neko-o-mata?" He almost added _rama_ but at the last second decided not to push his luck. The big cat was one of the few whom could withstand Shirahime's expansive power. And maybe set free a comrade...

The demon cat sniffed the air, large blackened pink nostrils flaring. "It was here." Then, a swift, almost accusatory turn toward Kage. "You lead it here. Why?" There was much force in the deep growl.

Kage attempted a shrug, but found his body was a little too stiff to manage the motion. In the end he chose to answer verbally, "the fourth guardian followed me here. There wasn't much I could do to dissuade it, you know me and my overflowing charisma..."

If it was possible, the demon cat did the slightest eye-roll, turning his broad, rippling body of sinewy muscle to the castle keep just visible beyond the barred gates. "Shirahime repulsed it back." A flicker of wonder changed to quick anger. "And _you_ did not assist?"

Kage again tried nonchalance. "Well, ye- no. I figured Shira wouldn't appreciate me interfering with her kill." _Not getting in her way_, he added mentally. Nekomata inclined his head gravely, absorbing the words, and finally nodding in understanding. "I see. Where did _It_ go to?"

"Dunno." Kage muttered, suddenly feeling his lower extremities freezing beyond normal comfortable limits. "Could you perhaps turn your nicely formed proboscis over here and blast away this ice, pretty please?"

Nekomata growled.

...

Shirahime barely acknowledged her uninvited guests with a narrowing of her icy blue eyes.

The double doors swung open silently to admit Nekomata whom padded in, gaze fixated solely on their host and then Kage a little slower, oohing-and-aahing over the interior of the castle. Nekomata ignored his companion and wandered alone forward, sinking to a bow of respect to the seated princess.

"Pardon the intrusion, your highness."

"Please." Shirahime spoke, her cultured child's voice echoing in the silent hall. "Simply _Shira_, will do."

A soft snicker came from Kage.

The other two Zanpaku-to ignored his lack of gravity.

"You sensed the disturbance?" Shirahime questioned.

"Of course."

"Did you assume perhaps that I could not handle it?" From another, mockery might've been present, but from the sedate countenance of the tiny princess, only vague curiosity asserted itself. Nekomata shook his large feline head, "I would never be so uncouth as to question your abilities."

She observed him alone, "no, then." A short silence lapsed. "Perhaps not. I understand where your concern stems from and I am gratified at its existence. However, you have little to fear for my well-being."

"Exactly what I said to Neko_rama!_" Kage cut in, feeling quite forgotten a few minutes past during their conversation. "Shira-chan can take care of-"

Nekomata snarled.

Kage backed up in a wide circle, getting the message. With a forced laugh, he shrugged, "also I did forget to add- or did I mention it already...hmm." His trailing off thoughtfulness prompted Shirahime to frown in exasperation, "_speak_ if you are so inclined, mimicker."

He looked at both of them in turn. "Well, I'm scared shitless at the thought of facing the Earth-Shaker."

Shirahime inclined one thin bluish-white eyebrow. Her child-like form kicked small booted feet against the edge of the large throne. Once again, Kage had to marvel at the perfect balance of deadly grace intermingled with innocence. He knew of the Yuki-onna Sode no Shirayuki whom possessed ethereal beauty but lacked the centuries and power of the dark fire Zanpaku-to before him.

"I see. Perhaps it was for the best that you did not perish by my ice. You can make the arrangements with the Zanpaku-to amicable to the Kouseitan'i of Fire."

Kage still thinking of other things, backtracked hastily, "wait- I make the arrangements?"

Shira smiled coldly, "yes, I do think that best. After all your only talent is for talking. Go now to the mindscape of Sogyo no Kotowari, Ukitake Jushiro's fish twins."

The mimicker flinched at the first part of her sentence yet endeavored to hide it. "Okay, okay. I'm going-" something else occurred to him as he was preparing to jump to the next mindscape. "Shira, what do you mean perish? Were you trying to kill me?"

Shirahim only sent him a slight, mysterious smile.

...Northlands...

He whistled softly, his breath becoming a white stream in the frigid air. "Nice spot actually. It's...really cold though."

She had forgotten his mortality. Chagrined inside at her thoughtlessness, she immediately forced the temperature to rise up higher around him. Taking the blanket from the basket, she snapped it open briskly. "Better?"

"..Yeah." He murmured, finding he no longer had to rub at the sleeves of his thin jacket. White clouds still streamed from his mouth but soon he was smiling, moving to assist her. "How do you do that?" he began conversationally. Kei averted her face momentarily, tossing the ball back to his court.

"Do what?"

"Do that thing.." Ichigo persisted. "You know...like with heat and stuff?"

Her eyes closed and she sighed slightly. "It just comes naturally. Like breathing but in another way."

He sat down as she did, folding one leg beneath his weight, the other balanced just so. "Oh, so you mean like you were born with knowing how- not that it was something you learned later on."

She paused in setting out the thermos, her lips finally pulling into a faint smile. It was the first real smile he had seen during their short time. He loved it.

"Yes, that's right. As the souls of the natural elements made into flesh, spiritual or not, we were each born with an innate knowledge of the natural world and how precisely to bend it to our will." Kei poured a little of the sloshing contents into a plastic cup, handing it to him, she considered the reflection of the firmament in the perfect circle of liquid.

He spoke before she could, folding his larger hand around hers. "I can't imagine, I guess, what it would be like to already know things. I've learned everything _I know_ but for you, it's different."

"Some people think of it as a curse." Kei said shortly, seeming to come back to herself. She began to withdraw, but he clung on stubbornly.

"Well, I don't! It's what makes you unique-what makes you, _you_." His amber eyes stared intently into hers, trying to make her believe as he did. In time, Kei smiled again, gently sliding her free hand over his and taking the cup away. "You're so young, Ichigo. It's refreshing to see such ardent belief in something. Like.._innocence_."

He sensed the change in her demeanor, fighting off a grin, he cradled her hand tightly; determined not to let go of a chance to make things right between them. "Yeah, well, I've been told that before..." he added quickly. "Not that I'm offended!" He let out a nervous bark of laughter.

She smiled in understanding.

"Just that everyone's told me that at one point or another...when I really don't see anything special about it." Ichigo shrugged, discovering that if he shifted a certain way, he could catch the scent of her power. He hadn't thought before that reiatsu could possess a scent, hers seemed to be the exception. "...I doubt the innocence part."

Again, the shadow of a smile crept onto her face, her chin tilted inquiringly, lips parting. "Oh?" Then, for some unaccountable reason, her eyes slid off to the side, looking at something over his shoulder. Ichigo resisted the urge to turn and look. Some sense inside, told him he wouldn't see anything there anyway. Rather than break the moment, he slid their hands apart, reaching instead to slide his thumb and forefinger upward in a caressing motion along the rise of her cheekbone.

Kei turned back to him, her smile subtly more pronounced. "Prove me wrong then." she whispered against his lips.

...

It was hard being watched- no, that wasn't entirely fair. Kei likened it more to having a disapproving chaperone lingering in the background, one that gave continuous reproving looks and glowered balefully the longer she and Ichigo talked.

One would've thought the old man to be her father- except for the difference in looks and his non-materiality meaning only she was privy to his glowers. Ichigo was totally unaffected. Kei found that unfair, trying to ignore the rise in the back of her neck hairs, the shadow of the tall Zanpaku-to falling over them.

"Prove me wrong then." She said seriously one minute, then the next, giggled and had snuggled up against his side, drawing one arm around her torso to keep her snug. She tilted her head up and smiled into his face, catching the slightest look of disappointment be replaced by a quick return smile.

_Men. Them and their wanton seduction tactics_.

She tried to ignore the Zanpaku-to.

Failing miserably.

_Why did he have to look at her like that..?_ Kei frowned. Like she was amorally unfaithful. It wasn't deliberate, but some part of her still remained...guilt-ridden.

...Tsukikage castle...

Kanzaki stood at the window, hands clasped at the small of his back, just observing. Taking in the tiny world surrounded by a high wall and great guarded gates. He supposed they had done well.

As crumbs he had once thought of himself as.

As a Quincy General in a war on the brink of total loss.

-_Not good enough _- The doubt had preyed heavily on his mind.

He slipped his glasses off, withdrawing a cleaning cloth from the inner of his sleeve. Dabbing at the lenses distractedly, he turned his thoughts to the pre-imminent.

_An Arrancar..._

_Soul Society had never tolerated Hollows_.

He knew they would earn _her_ hatred, for such a purging.

Kanzaki hadn't a doubt the Stealth Force would be sent out with orders to kill on sight once they learned and glimpsed with their own eyes- an Arrancar among the Shinigami strays. Hitsugaya-Taichou had said nothing of Fourth's third seat above a word or two of caution once to Keiko. Kanzaki present at the time, had seen the Elemental's dismissal of the warning.

_They wouldn't_..

Her thoughts at that moment were laid bare for his inspection.

.._**dare**_.

Oh, but they would.

Kanzaki knew how corrupt and dirty Soul Society was. The reason why cold-blooded murder was sanctified as the family name was sacred.

_Ichino-miya_.

_Matsukaze. _

Two families sacrificed. Kanzaki had seen the pain carried by the survivors. _Kazura and Mai_. They were contented enough with what had been made, this life pieced together from the ashes_. In the end however_..

He shut his eyes, the sun set casting the world in momentary darkness.

_Soul Society was unforgiving_.

He didn't know how long they would last.

...

Toya studied his hands. Narrow tapering fingers, subtle curve to the fleshy pad of his palm. They were the hands of an artist. He folded them in a common gesture known to Kido officers, meant to channel one's energies.

He felt the familiar tingle of his power flowing.

Then, abruptly he dropped it.

Resuming his recline against the tree trunk.

Once he was an officer in the Kido corps.

Once...but that was long ago.

_"..remember that man's face. Hirako Shinj..."_

He did remember_. No_- Toya frowned, absently raising a hand to brush back the overhang of dark fringe from his eyes.

He remembered a voice- his taut with dark anger.

Pronouncing Kido.

He saw frightened watery hazel eyes.

Hirako's fear written in the bared-teeth snarl.

_"You're mad!"_

"Maybe I am." Then, he let it go.

But, it was wrong.

Everything was wrong.

Toya dug his heels into his eyes, desperate to erase the image suspended forever in his mind, like a taunt. A reminder of failure. His guilt. He thought of Kyou now. Of the boy's rambling madness.

_Lunacy_-

"Toya!" Called in sotto voce, was the clear tones of a young woman.

His Lieutenant.

Toya leaned over, pushing back the new green leaves to glimpse the girl far down below. She wore an expression of concern. Of determination. Rather than answer from such a height, for he believed it to be rude; Toya simply folded his legs and flipped off the branch neatly. Landing with near perfect cat-like grace to the ground beside her.

"Is something wrong, Takara-san?"

The girl clenched her fists, her blue eyes sliding around nervously- he thought.

"I have a favor to ask of you."

He blinked, surprised she had made a request of him. Yet rolled his shoulders slightly, "okay. So...what is it?"

She took a deep breath and leaned in closer. He was taller than her so he inclined his head to listen as she whispered in a low voice. "Help me get into the Daireishokairō of Central 46."

-TBC

AN: certain scenes were rewritten. -.-; Urgh. Anyway, chapter 70 is already written, Ch.71 is halfway, CH.72 is done and Ch.73 is being written now. The action picks up...

No flames.

Reviews appreciated


	77. The claws of memory

"After it's too late to turn back, after it's too late to even regret...only then, realization comes with great pain."

_ Ho-Yeon to Ju-Rang (Time and Again vol.4)

ShiKai CH.70: The claws of memory

_The __Daireishokairō__...containing the long history of the Soul Society and the keep of its treasures_.

"You're mad!" he exclaimed without feeling. The lingering light of the day fading into twilight illuminated Takara's sudden flush and the determined glint more prominently in her eyes. "Maybe I am!" she lifted her chin in subtle defiance, "but, it's the only chance we got to help them! So, please-please say you'll help, Toya!" she grasped at his arm, gazing imploringly into his face. Toya swallowed hard at the expression in those baby blue eyes.

Sure, she was his Lieutenant and had been his superior officer for over a hundred years yet most men would've been hard-pressed not to have been swayed by such an appeal. He found himself weakening despite his general mindset the idea was absurd. _Foolish even and doomed to fail, the consequences would be too_...

He nodded jerkily once then as hope flickered back to life in her eyes, he solidified his decision.

"..Okay..I..I'll do it."

She hugged him fiercely then.

"Thank you..thank you...you'll see. This will help us in the end."

...

A knock sounded at the door.

Kagami's gaze lifted from the sword, passing over to the panels of the door. He thought the firm yet soft rapping was familiar. Takara perhaps though the Lieutenant was of a more hesitant thud. She didn't like the idea of disturbing another, but then he wasn't sure. Logic reasoned it was her, but he held back from searching the reiatsu pattern to be sure.

"Come in." He called after another beat brought about the recurrence of the same knock.

The handle twisted, then the door swung inward to reveal Takara and hovering behind her with an indescribable air of unease, Toya. The man paled visibly- Kagami observed, upon seeing the sword resting on the lacquered stand. Kagami supposed he couldn't blame the man, settling back, he crossed his legs and arms, smiling welcomingly as they approached.

"Taka-chan and Captain Amakusa, what may I do for you?"

The blonde had parted her lips to speak then suddenly bit down unsure.

He waited.

The pair fidgeted; Toya looking as though he wished he were anywhere, but where he was. Takara twice seemed to want to speak then abruptly clammed up, flushing deeper still.

"H-How-" she finally got out.

"Yes?" he murmured pleasantly.

Takara faltered then was saved having to say more as the closed door suddenly burst open and a halfway drenched Kimiko stood shaking there. He and the others turned, took in her appearance, he noted the puddles of water accumulating on the wooden floor, knowing soon they would run into thin rivulet streams to the Oriental rug at the center of the room.

"Kimi-"

"Captain! Come quick! It's a disaster!"

He raised a thin blond brow, shrewd in his questioning. "What kind of _disaster?"_

The purple-haired girl flailed her fists, voice rising to impending catastrophe level. "Just come with me! _Now!"_

He held up a hand, "alright..alright." Glancing to the Captain and Lieutenant pair, he shook his head apologetically, "sorry, guys. Guess I have to-"

"Can we borrow that?" Takara demanded, jabbing her finger in the direction of the Gekkouha.

Kagami paused in stepping around his desk, his forehead creasing. "Sure, but...why?"

She floundered.

Toya quickly placed his hand on her shoulder, taking charge almost perceptibly. "What, the Lieutenant means is, sir, we-no, I would like to try out the Gekkouha once more."

Kagami felt some surprise, glancing sternly to Kimiko's direction just as the girl was about to start sputtering again. "Are you sure? We cannot be positive if there any lingering traces of the Moon Dust remaining in your system." His voice though mild belied the steadiness in his gaze. "While you were not the full recipient of the attack, Kyou-kun was plenty enough proof of the potency of the toxin released into the atmosphere. I'd rather not risk another incident occurring particularly without my super-"

"I know that." Toya insisted, his dark eyes grave. "But, sir, we wanted to test out your weapon against the pure light of the Haretosora." He tightened his grip minutely on her shoulder. "My own Lieutenant's Zanpaku-to. Surely, you can see the results we might glean from an interaction between the two disparate blades..?"

The water wielder had the vague sense he was being conned into something. But, then he shrugged it mentally away. He trusted the man and looked upon the blonde with kindly eyes. They had been together through a lot. He trusted her judgment to not do something terribly foolish.

"Go ahead then. You have my permission." he said dismissively, glancing to his own Lieutenant's shoving motions toward the door.

_Let's go_.

He could read her impatience and chuckled under his breath at it. Takara moved from Toya to retrieve the sword, her hands were almost upon it, when Kagami spoke up again.

"I hope you realize Gekkouha is still in its recuperative state. It's somewhat useless at this point. If you-"

"We'll take it anyway." Toya said firmly, ignoring Takara's fleeting look of dismay. The Captain of Third continued, more sure of himself. "And if you don't mind as well, sir. The Hokuto-Shichisei would also be a welcome addition. Wouldn't want anything get out of hand in any case."

Kagami motioned vaguely backwards to his desk. "In the top drawer- the key's in the cup holder."

Toya nodded, "thank you, sir."

"It's fine." Kagami said distractedly, Kimiko had latched onto his arm, pulling already to the supposed disaster zone. "-Just be careful..you two!"

"We will." Takara's voice chirruped, floating out, but then he wasn't sure by then for they were already exiting the hallway to the main door, Kimiko pulling him along with a strength no one would've countenanced her petite stature.

...

The sword needed to recuperate.

The idea was so foolish that she had a hard time laughing and crying, her mind unable to decide which emotion fit their situation best as she held the sheathed weapon in her hands. "What...are we going to do now?" she whispered aloud; Kagami and Kimiko's steps had faded into the distance.

The urge to cry was stronger now.

Toya shifted his weight, producing a quiet creak that broke the stillness.

Takara felt the corners of her eyes prickle with tell-tale moistness. Inhaling sharply, she attempted to stave off the tears. "I guess it was kind of ridiculous for me to think I could help them. I mean...I'm a nobody."

"Don't say that." Toya said suddenly sharp, he turned to her looking more resolute than she had ever seen. "It isn't stupid to want to be of use to those you care about! Look! We'll find a way...we'll.." his gaze drifted down to the sword she held. His demeanor changed. "Bring it here. I think I..."

Takara wasn't sure what he was thinking, but she did as he asked. Carefully setting the white scabbard down full-length at the edge of the desk. "What is it?" she asked, stepping aside, glimpsing his preoccupation as he neared the blade.

"Kagami-san..showed me something." Toya murmured, running his fingertips over the gold flowers adorning the sheath.

Takara held her breath.

"..he showed me how to manipulate time."

...

It was a gamble; Toya had only ever seen the technique used on a living organism, never an inanimate object. He hadn't any idea how it was going to work...if it did at all. Toya willed his eyes to close, all of his training demanded supreme concentration as the slats of time itself moved apart and reformed under his command.

Takara waited in breathless anxiety, her wide blue eyes taking in everything as the last haze of rainbow-like dust vanished into the blade's surface. Toya held still for a moment longer than released his breath, "it's as ready as it'll ever be."

They both gazed down at the white lacquered sheath, the five gold flowers glimmering. Takara stretched out a hand, unconsciously holding her breath for the electrical pulse to repulse her away, but nothing. Her palm closed around the hilt, fingers curling around the solidity of the created object.

She looked to Toya, "mimic Getsu-ten."

...

The sensation that something was wrong was palpable. On the edge, Kei approached the castle after midnight; regretfully, Ichigo had obeyed her about the lateness of the hour and they had parted at the threshold between the worlds with a quick kiss.

It hadn't been particularly sweet, Kei had, had other things on her mind. She couldn't shake it. Her instincts screamed at her. Entering through the main doors, she glanced about the hall. It wasn't unusual to see a few officers still lingering on the floors, completing one task or another.

Tsukikage was a castle of night and the Soul reapers were its inhabitants.

Kei hailed a familiar woman with short chin-length straight brown hair. Mai Matsukaze glanced up at her approach, pushing fringe from her eyes.

"Good evening, Captain Yamamoto." Mai said pleasantly, leaning against the straw broom she had been pushing across the flagstone floor. Kei frowned playfully, "come now. What officiousness demands we pay lip service to rank among private quarters?"

The usually stern woman smiled unwillingly.

Kei grinned, clapping her on the shoulder as she passed, "nothing amiss?" She meant to sound nonchalant, easy. But, Mai caught onto something in her tone, glancing curiously after her.

"No. Nothing. Why do you ask?"

Kei stopped, "just a feeling." she forced a smile that the other didn't see. "Must be my imagination..I guess. Oh, by the way, do you know where Takara is? There is something I must speak to her about before turning in for the night." The feeling intensified, for some reason it felt connected to the blonde Lieutenant.

Mai thought a moment, not noticing now the visible preoccupation in the other's bearing. "I believe I saw her and third se-I mean," she giggled a little; one of Kei's eyebrows crept up. She hadn't thought the woman was capable of a demure giggle.

"Captain Amakusa." Mai finished rather proudly.

_Oh Gods...she must have a crush on Toya_. Kei thought with growing amusement. Mai didn't seem to realize there was an obvious blush on her cheeks as she went on. "Captain Amakusa and Lieutenant Shimizu were heading toward the training grounds last I saw. Would you like for me to run down there and give the Lieutenant a message?"

Kei shook her head, "no, it's alright. I'll do it myself." Vaguely aware of Mai's brief disappointment; Kei pretended to start toward the southern wing, pausing again only after a few steps.

"Mai.."

"Yes?"

The Fire wielder hesitated, "...what do you think of Captain Nanatsu as a man?"

There was a frown in the former Noble's voice. "what do you mean?"

"Do you find him attractive?" Kei asked bluntly.

Now, Mai showed reluctance, her slightly angular features twisting in a frown. "Yes. I suppose..so. Anyone would."

"Anyone?" Kei questioned, then after another beat, added. "In comparison to Captain Nanatsu, how does Toya Amakusa measure up?"

Mai flushed darkly behind the other's back. "I-I never thought about it before."

"Please try." Kei encouraged.

"B-But, I guess...well..Captain Nanatsu...well there's just something about him." Mai struggled, "he's..he's beautiful. Ethereal. Unreal," she looked to the Fire element. "Like yourself." When Kei didn't answer right away, Mai hurried on. "He is like something untouchable, something not meant for mere mortal hands."

"And Toya?" Kei thought but didn't add. _Poor Kagami_.

"..Amakusa is different. He's unassuming, he's ...handsome in his own way."

While the reply was expected, Kei cut her off, "I see. Power then, has no sway over your judgment."

"I meant no disrespect to yourself, ma'am."

"It's quite alright. None taken." Kei probed the castle grounds with her senses, keeping her expression neutral. As I thought... she could just pick up the pulsating energy of the barrier behind Second Division. _They're not here_.

She turned away, saying to Mai, "well have a goodnight."

Mai returned the greeting, only after a moment of the other's disappearance down the long curve to the southern wing, wondering.

...

It was nearly full dark by the time they left the office of Second Division, going around to the back where the stone circle of the training ground was bathed in moonlight. Takara shivered as she glanced around; in the distance Kagami and Kimiko's reiatsus flickered in the gardens behind Tsukikage's massive structure.

Toya split from her side, backing up. He looked evenly into her eyes, "are you sure about this?"

Takara breathed in deeply, breaking gazes with him. Above the stars glowed across the heavens, a breathtaking sight. "Yes. She slipped Gekkouha through her sash, it lay against Haretosora. Toya nodded, nervous again, steeling himself, he took half a step back, momentarily raising a Kyomon around the circumference of the stone.

_Kagami wouldn't think it strange...and it would keep the disappearance of their energy signatures a secret for a while_. Once he was satisfied with the barrier, he withdrew his Zanpaku-to. Kage's shapeless form of shadow rippled as a darkness darker than the night surrounding them...

Then, transformed into a huge curving katana.

Takara gasped unable to help it. "Is- is that...?"

Toya stared at the blade reminiscent of a crescent moon, the inner curve shaded black like the waxing phase of the lunar orb in the sky. Knowledge of its attacks and power filtered in from Kage, for a moment he didn't answer, attempting to absorb everything all at once.

After a long silence, he nodded jerkily, looking pale. "Y-yes. This is the original shikai of Getsu-ten before the dancing snake devoured it." In his mind's eye, he could see it...

_A world of twilight, a miniature fairytale castle in the distance, and a figure. Fear poured from it as it ran through the darkened garden. In the sky a skeletal-winged creature soared, a bird of prey_. _Circling ever lower, taunting_.

_And the girl...Toya's skull felt like was it was splitting, gazing into the darkened room, a slim form of a haggard young woman filling his vision. Her lank raven tresses spilled over her face, her thin fingers trailed down her cheeks, her image flickered for a moment, pale hair smothering the dark_.

_Overshadowed...she's_...

_"Devour." said the girl hatefully in Keiko's voice. "Getsu-"_

"Toya!" Takara called. The images faded from his mind, Toya found himself gripping the hilt of the large blade tightly. Somewhere a whippoorwill cried. He stared around the familiar landscape wrapped in the embrace of night, his expression silently twisting in sorrow.

"She...I can't.."

Takara gripped him by the shoulders, attempting to shake him slightly. "Toya! Calm down and please tell me what you saw!"

He looked down finally into her pleading blue eyes, knowing then that he could never speak of what he had seen. Kage agreed, 'little chit wouldn't believe it o' the Kouseitan'i. But, then...I suppose such viciousness must remain and be expected from one of the four imprisoned vessels of matter.'

_Hush you_. Toya thought at his sword, to Takara, he forced a smile to ease her worry. "I'm fine. I was only a little surprised is all. From what Kage tells me, _this _is Getsu-ten's original form, modeled in similarity to the Engetsu and Zangetsu blades. The three of them encompass the three phases of the moon and this blade..." he gazed down at it. "Is second in power only to the White Princess, Shirahime."

Takara looked upon him with a newfound respect, "wow. That's so neat that your Zanpaku-to knows all that." she made a face. "Mine barely knows the answer to two plus two equals four."

Toya chuckled quietly, "right. Kage's a snoop though. Every time he touches another sword, he picks through its memory and gleans information that way."

"Well, I'm sort of glad for that. If not, we wouldn't be here.." Takara trailed off, laying her small hand on his wrist, "we wouldn't be able to do this. Toya...let's go now. I'm _ready_."

...

They hadn't come back.

Kei was aware of it, even as she went about brushing her teeth and performing her usual toilette before turning in. She had donned a pair of soft peach-colored capris and a T-shirt, her glance darting to the window as she crossed the sitting room to the bedroom.

She still missed the talking fire, especially then as the bird's sardonic bite would've been enough to quell the unease stirring in her soul. Sliding into bed, lying beneath the covers, Kei tried to relax...

_I trust her..I trust them both_.

She sighed, snuggling down.

_Neither would do something so foolish as to._..

The half-formed suspicion remained unspoken except for in her thoughts...and in her dreams.

...Soul Society...

The great echoing chamber was empty.

Toya listened intently for any sound above that of their own breathing. Getsu-ten's blade had cut through the layers of the worlds, the rough outline of a doorway forming. He had wrapped an arm around Takara's waist, utilizing the shadows as cover as they went through. He hadn't a clue the type of place they would be entering...he had heard stories of course but nothing had quite prepared him for the massive structure they entered.

He counted to five then slowly exhaled, rustling the top of Takara's hair.

"Clear." Toya murmured, gently releasing her. Takara lifted her head then gazed around, her eyes widening. "I can't believe we're really inside." She gazed up at the circular rows of empty seats, something in her expression darkening, but when she turned back to him, it had vanished.

"You're amazing, Toya."

"Thanks." A flush had come onto his cheeks, he was thankful the darkness hid it. The compliment was rare. Unnecessarily, he cleared his throat, sheathing his sword. "Shall we start looking?"

Takara nodded, "there's something I want to check out behind the council members' chairs. How about we rendezvous in twenty back at the pillar?"

Toya glanced curiously at her, but she gave nothing away. He shrugged after a minute, "fine. Just be careful."

"Will do." she murmured as his retreating form disappeared through a door opposite them. Takara listened for their echo, hearing nothing; he was so silent. She wished she was, as she approached the center of the floor, where the accused once stood.

A brief flicker of emotion tainted the atmosphere.

Takara dropped down to a crouch, her eyes closing, her palm pressing to the cold tiles.

_Where_...

Haretosora aided her in filtering out the strong emotional residue left by so many; she was only looking for one. Sweat beaded on Takara's brow but she didn't dare wipe it away. She was close-close-

A sepia image flooded her head.

_Faceless council members pointed in judgment to the accused, a slight, sobbing girl in bloodstained robes_.

_"I'm innocent!" her shriek echoed from the past, _in reality silence reigned over the chamber_._

_"Oni. Oni. Oni. Oni." _Demon_._

_The girl clawed at her streaming dark hair, "stop it!" Crackling sounds snapped in the air like kindling catching yet nothing touched the hard condemnation of the Central 46_. Takara watched the girl throw her head back and scream endlessly at the ceiling; a single collar overwritten in spells glowed aberrantly from around her throat.

Takara's eyes fluttered.

"The Gyaku Shimon." she had seen it.

...

If Toya hadn't understood Takara's reasons to a certain extent, he'd have said their mission was for all intensive purposes, impossible to complete. He stepped from the main chamber into a huge tower like room, at the peaked top, an apex allowed a shaft of weak light inward. He gazed about at the smaller buildings, desperately trying to recall what part of the Council chambers he was in.

The answer came in Kage's voice.

_'Seijoto Kyorin. These are the quarters for the council members, filthy diseased lot they were.'_

_Hey. Have some respect for those who have passed_. Toya thought back, realizing it was going to be anything but easy.

_'You said it, Toya-ko.'_ Kage agreed with his thought, ignoring the previous jibe, solemnly.

His sword's nonchalance wasn't helpful to say the least. Do _you know where they might've kept this...thing, Takara's looking for?_ He decided to ask.

_'None. Whatsoever.'_

_Well, thanks for the help then_.

Kage protested, _'what are you talking about? I didn't help you at all!'_

Toya decided to go back; they were looking for the archives and that wouldn't in the quarters of the council members. _Maybe Takara had found something in the main chamber_...

_'Are you listening to me!'_ Kage snapped, flailing his fists.

_Not now, Kage_. Toya thought back, reentering the large chamber. He swept the room with his eyes, stretching his senses to the outer confines to make sure. _No one_. Toya released a breath he hadn't known he had been holding, then began to look for Takara.

"Taka...Taka..oh." he called then cut off, catching sight of her turning figure. Takara spun about and leapt off gracefully from the highest ring of the council members' seats. She landed beside him, straightening, her fingers deftly stroking the keys on the wrist-pad computer.

"There's a rudimentary security system in place." she murmured softly in response to his questioning look. Toya's gaze quickly darted around to the shadowy corners of the vast hall. "So, they've gotten smarter, eh?"

Her lips quirked a smile, "smarter, maybe. It's still bypassable from this mobile terminal, and the program coding seems fairly simple."

Toya nodded vaguely, his knowledge of computer logistics wasn't great, he had a difficult time following most of Takara and the programmer from First Division, Mai's conversations on advanced upgrades to the network running from Tsukikage. "I see...but wasn't it-"

"Recording. Yes." She looked faintly troubled, "it switched over from the old tape seconds before we arrived. The new one is the one I have to reconfigure with footage from the already taped section. This shouldn't...take long."

The clicking of the keys resounded quietly in the air for a few minutes, Toya allowed his tension to drain away, knowing full well that either of them were good with sensing approaching reiatsu. _Not as well as Kyou though_. He thought of the awkward, shy male side of the Retsu twins. Kyou's abilities even surpassed those of the Elements, _he could manipulate reiatsu_...

"Done." Takara said perfunctorily a minute later, with a satisfied glance she pressed the ENTER key, if anyone in the Research and development division had bothered pulling up the separate security mainframe installed in Central 46, they'd have seen a flicker and two figures in black body suits and face masks vanish, the feed changing to one from two hours before.

"You're amazing." Toya said, watching as she folded the cover on the Qwerty keyboard strapped to her wrist.

"Thanks," she murmured, looking suddenly business-like around. "Well, we won't find anything here, I assume it's either been moved to another place within Seireitei, although everything points to that being unlikely since the preliminary reports I had faxed over to Third's office, all were indicative of the Gyaku Shimon being studied on _here."_

"Why here?" Toya pointed out casually as they fell in side by side, walking across the great echoing hall to another door he had barely noticed set into the shadows.

"My guess is that it's because it has something to do with corporal punishment, so the most logical place for it to be was kept by the high tribunal council of Central 46."

"To be used only on special prisoners." A chill crept up his spine as he realized the import of what he had said. _How had he been so sure..? _

Takara nodded somberly, as if she wasn't surprised. "Yes."

Toya reached the door first, sliding the panel open and gesturing, "after you."

Takara smiled faintly behind the face-covering, ducking in to come out into another vast chamber lined with a huge spiraling staircase.

"This..." she stared around. Haretosora answered in her mind_, 'this heads to the outer areas. Avoid it as much as possible.'_

"We have to go back," Takara turned to him urgently, "this only leads to the surface. The main archive must be deeper in-"

"It's not." Toya said surprised, "there's only the council members quarters where I went."

"But..." she faltered, her heart suddenly plummeting. _Don't tell me...this was_...

Toya seemed to be listening to something, after a moment he looked at her puzzled.

"Kage said there is no chamber seventy-five, it's some kind of puzzle actually."

She eyed him doubtfully, "a puzzle? That seems kind of farfetched to me."

"I know, I know. But, that's what he said, something to do with numerical value and..." _there were four elements- no five_. _Five lifetimes_.. he recalled something he'd overheard Kagami telling Kanzaki about their origins. Ether was the last element, unstable, its base could either bind the other four together or destroy them irrevocably.

_Five elements._

_Five reincarnations._

_Five Divisions_.

In the end it all came down to _five_.

"Takara..." Toya allowed a small smile to form on his lips, he had lowered his face mask to talk better. "I think I know where it is."

...

The apartment was sparsely furnished. A bed roll and short table with a dried inkwell were all that remained. Toya swept the chamber marked for council member five with a slightly disappointed grimace.

"It's gotta be here."

Takara peered under his arm, "not much to be a high-ranking official, eh? I think our rooms are much nicer."

"In Seireitei, lack is a symbol of an orderly mind. No doubt this belonged to one of the more rigid officials with little care for his fellow man."

"Probably." Takara squeezed by him in the doorway, crossing the room to open and peer into the confines of the small lean-to closet. "Nothing, either." She slid it shut, turning around to face him, "what now?"

Toya could sense her disappointment, quickly he tried to think of anything else they might've forgotten. "Well, I guess we keep looking through the other forty-five council members quarters, see if we get lucky." Something else occurred to him, "hey...and the reset you did on the security system, how long do we have?"

Takara blinked, lifting the screen of her terminal to check the timer. After a minute's silence, she looked up, visibly paler. "forty-five minutes."

A minute each... "That's not nearly enough!" he exclaimed as Takara began moving toward him, snapping shut the cover of the computer. "No, it isn't. But, I think you had it wrong." Takara gazed at him levelly, "water was executed on Sokyoku hill, the Gyaku-Shimon burned in the divine Phoenix's flames, earth was also executed but had no memory of the other three. Wind...stayed alone imprisoned in the white tower and fire..." her heart ached in sympathy for the young woman facing her fate alone that day.

"Fire killed herself rather than allow the Shinigami to sentence her. It was her final act of defiance to Shigekuni Yamamoto. So, the only remaining ones would be Fire and Wind, I'm willing to bet Fire's will be in the quarters of the first council member."

...

Ukitake moved silently through the underground passage. He was restless, an edge existed to his thoughts as he pondered the ethics of the world he knew. In his Division, the cheerfulness of his subordinates jarred with his morose thoughts which was why he had chosen solace in the archives.

Why, truthfully when he could've gone any number of different places, was something he couldn't quite figure out himself. Something seemed to be guiding his steps, something-

Voices, in hushed tones.

Ukitake hesitated, his senses telling him that was no one was there yet his auditory sense detected the presence of two or more trespassers. The only others whom had access to the archive, was Twelfth Company's Taichou and Fukutaichou, but Ukitake knew instinctively that it was not the scientist and his daughter.

"-what was it used for?"

He held his breath, using shunpo to flatten against the first chamber's outer wall. Easing forward, he felt a tremor from his sealed Zanpaku-to at his waist. Barely pausing to wonder at the stirring of Sogyo-no-Kotowari; Ukitake withdrew his sword, stepping boldly into the light, the turned backs of a taller male with a loose ponytail catching his long dark locks and a petite female with blonde hair. They both wore Shinobi-like garments yet carried double swords.

In fact...

"Stay where you are." Ukitake began in a low even voice. A ripple passed the pair, slowly they turned around, blue and dark brown eyes widening. "This is a restricted area...who are you?"

"Who-" the blonde eyes went from the white haori to the sword in his hand. A note of awe laced her tone. "Sogyo-no-Kotowari."

"Ukitake-taichou!" The man exclaimed, his features were narrow, svelte almost, a fringe of dark bangs swept his cheekbones at their longest length. His looks were unusual as were the blonde's. Ukitake knew with a certainty that he had never seen them before- or at least that they weren't any members of Soul Society.

"You're...you can't be..."

They exchanged worried looks.

"Juppongatana officers...in Seireitei!"

Seconds after his exclamation had shattered the still air, the blonde charged forward, vanishing in a brief burst of shunpo, the whistle of a blade was drawn; Ukitake half spun about to counter the blow...which never came.

The girl wielded the slender silver blade, the edge barely touching Sogyo-no-Kotowari's tang; the man hadn't moved, simply watching in a kind of stunned horror. Ukitake wondered why.

"Obutsu..." The girl murmured.

"Taka-" the man started in warning, his voice rising in a frenzied pitch.

"Tsuki." She finished, light exploded from the blade.

_Moon dust_.

...

Kage felt the horror coursing through the Shinigami's old body. The psychic connection between Zanpaku-to and wielder was strong, he had known a slightly different pain from Toya. One of guilt. Sogyo and Kotowari clung to each other as the created sword's foreign power seeped in like a poisonous miasma into their beach.

"Kage!" They cried, turning to him with two pairs of frightened blue eyes and twin eboshi caps knocking together. "What should we do?"

He wanted to run, he didn't want to face the heart of Jushiro's torture.

But...the longer he looked at the water Zanpaku-to's childish fright and knew he couldn't leave them alone. Falling to his knees, he drew them close, hoping the impact wouldn't be too severe on himself and Toya.

"We must ..face it."

Sogyo and Kotowari huddled against his shoulders.

They knew where Jushiro's strongest guilt lay.

The moon dust obscured the light of the sun.

Gekkouha's attack was complete.

...

Jushiro awoke with the strangest sensation stirring in his gut.

He had the feeling he had lived this before.

-There was a commotion outside. Ever wary, he arose, taking up his sword. On the engawa, two Shinigami officers restrained a passive young woman, her long dark hair trailed wisps from an untidy bun, her face was undeniably unremarkable. The only feature that caught young Jushiro's attention were her eyes.

One was a beautiful violet, the other the color of flame.

The Shinigami upon seeing him, broke into hurried explanation, they had caught her sneaking around the First Division; the young woman calmly replied, never raising her voice _that she wished to speak to Shigekuni, was he here?_

Jushiro nodded to her captors, they stepped back with questioning looks. He couldn't explain why even then, he believed her.

"He is here, but perhaps you would rest a bit? You seem to have traveled a great distance."

Her crimson kimono had golden flowers faded to a gilt softness around the shoulders, her obi was of Chrysanthemum and belted tightly around her narrow waist. Trustingly, she obliged, following without a harsh word to the ones whom had treated her unjustly.

"May I have your name?" she murmured, as they walked back up the long engawa. Jushiro had every intention of escorting her politely to the gates but found his direction turning and instead he took her to a lounge area for the First division officers.

"Ukitake Jushiro." He said, finding it hard not to blush when those lovely eyes were turned to him. She nodded vaguely, "that's a suitable name for the wielder of the twins, Sogyo and Kotowari."

He came to an abrupt stop, staring openly at her. "You...how...?"

She gazed back at him unconcernedly. "Ah, I see your confusion. It is of a simple matter. I can see them..." she gestured gently to the sword he had slipped through his sash, at the glide of her hand, a shimmering haze took the form of the small white-haired twins, each clad in similar robes and with matching conical eboshi hats atop their heads.

"Greetings, Kouseitan'i of the South." They spoke in unison, gazing up at the smiling woman in adoration.

"Konnichiwa, yourselves." she said, looking to him, "may I?"

He nodded mutely.

She drew them to her, bending slightly to countenance the difference in height. "I am so glad to be here, you cannot comprehend the fullness in my heart to know I've come home after my wanderings."

His Zanpaku-to's words rang throughout his consciousness.

_Kouseitan'i. Element. South_.

"You are..." to have manifested the spirit of a Zanpaku-to into the material plain...not even Yamamoto could've accomplished such a feat. "The element of fire."

"Yes." her eyes mesmerized him. "I am Keiki. But, _Murasaki_ shall suffice on this plain."

"Mura..saki." A thousand emotions filled his head and heart, Jushiro felt faint. He liked her name. Vague conception lingered. He was...falling and couldn't seem to stop it. "A-Alright, Murasaki...um would you please step inside here." He didn't want to alert Yamamoto to her presence so soon.

She let go of the twins, they reluctantly melted back into his sword's stationary form.

He slid the door open and let her advance first, passing by so closely that her scent wafted over him.

_Like burnt things, soap and dying flowers_.

He had never known anything like it before.

...Mindscape..

The twins whimpered, sobbing softly into Kage's lapels. The mimicker felt their anguish permeating the mental guard he had thrown up; he had not known this-

Ukitake had once cherished a heart for the kind and gentle Fire element.

_This_...was like exposing someone's secret core, their innermost feelings laid bare.

Knowing as he did, the conclusion of the story, Kage shut his eyes against the driving wind and tried to shut out the sobbing of the man's grief from _his_ psyche.

Within Jushiro's mindscape, a storm brewed.

...

Evening had come; Murasaki still waited with patience, declining the food and drink pressed upon her.

Jushiro wondered what sort of preparations his superior needed to make before receiving her. The message had been sent four hours back with a reply containing an affirmative and a delay.

He was embarrassed deeply by the lack of accommodation and apologized profusely to the serene woman.

Murasaki accepted it all with a slight smile.

The message came at nine.

Jushiro was to escort her to Yamamoto's private quarters. The torches were lit lining the pathway, the flames bending and dipping as Murasaki passed, ahead of him. The building was low, the engawa narrow. Two stone steps lead up, Murasaki stood on the second one while he announced them.

"Yamamoto-san, we've arrived."

Silence. His skin prickled, his nerves were taut. _Was something wrong with the Taichou?_  
He was about to call again when the shoji door slid back soundlessly. The moment seemed suspended in time.

Yamamoto and Murasaki facing each other.

The sword flashing in the air.

Then, time was moving, much too fast.

Murasaki fell back, a sparkle of red beneath the torchlight. Yamamoto stared at her with a crazed expression of twisted rage, "you-"

Jushiro, startled could only watch in stunned horror as his superior and teacher, long-considered father figure, slashed, cut and rained curses down on the woman. Never had he seen such malevolent hate directed toward another as Yamamoto glared upon Murasaki with, hate it seemed for her every breath, for her very existence his superior seemed to loath with a soul-aching intensity.

"To Hell, abominable creature!" Yamamoto roared, falling upon Murasaki, her left shoulder gleamed red, she had fallen and lay on the grass wet with summer dew. Her more than strange eyes were fixated upon Yamamoto with piercing sadness.

"She is not dead..."

Jushiro caught the sentence before it was tossed in the violence of the blow, not understanding the enigmatic words, before a shrill, horrendous shriek of metal screaming drove his hands to his ears, desperate to keep out the frightful noise.

Murasaki still breathed, lips trembling as she gazed upon the translucent bleeding form of the great cat standing over her, bearing the strike from Yamamoto's rage.

"Oni..." her hands went up as if to encircle the majestic feline. "Oni-hime." her expression dissolved into waves of grief. The feline's form wavered, distorting into a long blade with an ornate cat head guard. Jushiro couldn't see Yamamoto's expression as the Zanpaku-to broke along with the Elemental's wail into the night.

"Why did you sacrifice yourself for me!"

...Daireishokairō...

"Why did you do that?" Toya raged at her, his expression furious. Takara stood her ground, sheathing Gekkouha, "he was going to expose us!" she fired back, "all Shinigami are our enemies! Don't you get that?"

She was a little surprised at his anger, they had rarely exchanged words before in their previous tenure as superior and subordinate. But, now in a way, their positions were reversed. Takara was his subordinate, a position she didn't appreciate much at that moment.

"Ukitake-Taichou is one of the-" Toya made a visible effort to calm himself down.

"A Shinigami, one of the few who protested Kuchiki Rukia's innocence at her execution! _So, what_?"

"Takara...that man was unlikely to have-"

"What? He was going to let us waltz out of here because he was so nice and so good?" she sneered, sliding Gekkouha's improvised strap over her shoulder. She caught Toya's exasperated look from the corner of her eye.

"And don't give me that Holier-than-thou look!" Takara snapped, her blue eyes blazing. "The Shinigami are plotting something against us and yet you're always trying to defend them!" her tone lowered as he opened his mouth to protest. "That makes me wonder if you're still like _them_.. stay here if you want." She threw one last withering glance over her shoulder as she stalked to the door, squeezing past Ukitake's crumpled form. "I'll find the artifact myself!"

Toya watched her go, his beseeching gesture falling. "I really blew it this time, didn't I, Kage?" he murmured softly, his gaze on Ukitake. From everything he had heard of Thirteenth's Taichou, the man didn't deserve to have the devastation of _Moon dust_ used on him, be their enemy or not.

Sighing to himself, Toya went and knelt down, pulling the man by the underarms up, and into a more comfortable position. Through his gloves, Ukitake's skin felt clammy, cold. A duct above, filtered air to regulate the temperatures for the more delicate objects. Toya shuddered to imagine the spike studded wrist and leg binds he and Takara had been looking at, required a cooler climate for the ancient rawhide leather.

"She is right in a way, old man." He grunted softly, staring down at the man's distress-laden expression. "You and the rest have a lot to pay for. Perhaps experiencing remorse..." he remembered Kagami's explanation for the Gekkouha's primary attack. _Where guilt lies most deepest_. "Is the first step to acknowledgement of guilt, then what lies after that..."

What lay after that...?

_Atonement_.

He glanced around at the rest of the contents in the room. It was mostly a repository for documents; while he didn't relish the thought of Takara wandering around on her own in enemy territory, Toya decided to give her some more time to cool off, she _had_ been plenty mad and in the same breath he was sure she wouldn't attack him...

But, one never knew.

He pushed back his longer bangs from his eyes.

Being the recipient of Haretosora's _star burst_, wasn't something he was particularly keen on.

He decided he'd stay in the documents a little while longer, see if there was anything else of interest in the old laws.

...

22:00

The digital timer remained unwavering.

"Damn." Takara's soft voice echoed along the high-ceilinged corridor, the plain walls narrow and winding. She had gone three turns from Toya, checking each room behind the plain fusume doors, discovering they were the same as before.

Documents in glass cases, small drawers below each station held a few artifacts, but not the one she seeked.

_Where was it?_

As frustrating as it was, Takara knew standing in the dimly lit hallway to try and gather her wits together was hardly productive. Kagami always said, motion helped him think. _Constant moving_- she started walking back up the hallway, counting in her mind.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Another bend.

It was amazing and paranoid at the same time to think that all this was beneath the streets of Seireitei's eastern edge. Takara wondered what the ancient Shinigami had been so desperate to hide.

Ten and Eleven.

Twelve.

It was the last room on that level.

Takara peered around, hearing nothing for a moment save the rapid hammering of her own heart, extending her hand, she slowly drew back the thin door panel. The room she looked into was much the same as the rest, plain wooden floor dulled by immense age, plain walls of a white color and a single station, the top warped ancient glass.

She was barely aware of passing through the door, her steps, of triggering the silent alarm system linked directly into Mayuri Kurotsuchi's lab, since the suspicious scientist didn't trust anyone but himself and his daughter with the artifact's true whereabouts.

Takara didn't see anything but the legend inscribed into the base.

Thirteen there were, Thirteen there are, to guard forevermore against cinder, tremble, gust and wrath.

She memorized the words, turning them over and over in her mind. The hands she laid upon the ancient glass top, shifted aside the lid. It was a picture on a papyrus-like material. The background was light brown with age, the edges frayed yet the colors were vivid on the two figures depicted.

She could easily recognize Water, sand-colored locks, vivid flecks of blue like the ocean and the robes~ layers of multi-patterned fabrics and grey like the sky during storm, armor. A breastplate, greaves and a long curving staff, the bottom end disappearing behind the other figure.

Takara then switched her gaze accordingly to the man. Realizing only then that it was not Wind as she'd previously assumed; he wore earthen colors, dark browns, russet reds like the clay of the desert, his hair was long, tendrils lifting caught in the artist's breeze. His face was half-turned yet from Takara could see of it, he was handsome, very much so. The figure was half-turned, she dared to reach out and delicately ease the papyrus sheet, curious to where his gaze went.

It was...past Water. She ran her finger past the frayed edges. Part of it had been cut away. She could only assume it must've depicted the rest of the elementals. _So, who was he looking at-? _ She was desperately curious. _He was earth_, she was sure of it! _But, who did his gaze turn to and why_...

Kagami had barely acknowledged the existence of the final Elemental. She recalled Kanzaki numerous times in the past questioning him about it.

_"Was that who they searched for?"_

_"Why did Keiko get so hostile when asked- wasn't Earth one of them?"_

And so on.

Takara gazed down at the drawing, wishing she could take it and ask the singular question forming in her mind. Was he-

A sudden sting lanced across her back. She jolted, her hand flying to Haretosora.

"Intruder." Said a calm inflectionless female voice from behind her. Blood droplets flecked the air; Takara spun about, Haretosora's blade gashing the display as she brought it forward in an arc ready to meet the enemy.

"Sashi-"

The woman's face was blank, devoid of any emotion. Her hair was dark, a fringe overhung her eyes giving her a melancholy look the rest of her hair was gathered in a thick braid hanging off to the side. But the peculiarities of her dress nor person wasn't what captured Takara's attention, no, it was the gilded plaque-like armband high on the slender right arm she had extended, her hand was razor thin coated with a white-grey powder.

The woman was a Lieutenant.

_Shit_. Takara sensed the tensing in her body, diving to the side as the Shinigami lunged forward, intent on slicing her. It was poison. Takara evaded several more swipes, dancing about the room, unable to gain enough space to counter with her own attack. The woman came at her relentlessly, never an expression changing the melancholia.

Takara began to wonder if the woman wasn't an automaton. Or a doll programmed for a singular purpose of destruction. Her Zanpaku-to cut away darkness, but, she deflected the attack, feeling the sting spreading across her back in thin spidery waves. A tingling numbness followed. What was it- some sort of nerve paralysis? Takara didn't know much about types of poison, that was more Kagami's forte with chemistry.

She wondered vaguely if she was going to die. At that thought, Haretosora's reedy child-like voice piped up from Takara's subconscious. "Coward! Every single being in existence possesses a thread of dark emotion for something or someone! Find it!"

Sparks flew as their blades crossed.

The Fukutaichou had drawn a slender wakizashi from out of nowhere and now was wielding it with deadly accuracy. Takara found herself backing up under such an assault, her gaze swiveling desperately from side to side; she was running out of space to dodge.

_'But-' _She could see nothing. Not the darkness swirling around the tama. Not even the spirit of the ghost cutter for her to disarm by severing temporarily, the emotion that drove the blade. Nothing-! Her eyes squinted hard in concentration, willing her senses to find a shred of emotion in the woman.

_Everyone_- _has-it. A dark emotion in their souls_.

The Fukutaichou was gaining. Takara flipped bodily down, swiping her ankles hard, the woman stumbled, changing the area of her strike to a single downward plunge. Takara aimed Haretosora, determination steadying her grip; she was the Lieutenant of the Third Division, an officer of the Juppongatana, she would not be taken down by a Soul Society dog!

"Sursum Corda.." Haretosora murmured the Latin axiom for the Third Division, the one all officers swore upon when taking office. _Take courage_, Takara thought, thrusting her blade inelegantly into the woman's chest. _Lift up your heart_.

"Ginsei-to." She said, the tang melted into liquid silver seconds before ghosting through the Fukutaichou's heart.

-TBC

AN: *am in a hurry* fast posting here... *seriously*.

Anyway, thanks for reading! :)

No flames!

Reviews always loved ^-^


	78. Relentless Enemy

_Chance and choice break his heart_...

* * *

ShiKai CH.71: Relentless enemy

In Kurotsuchi Nemu's life there hadn't been a moment of kindness from the one she called Master and Father. Takara saw it all in a vivid, searing flash, the images flooding her mind. In a single second she had seen and felt all, in an instantaneous moment of synchronization, she had felt Nemu's overwhelming loyalty to Mayuri and...as the Ginsei pierced the barriers around the girl's heart, pain intertwined with deep love.

Takara wrenched away from the torment, her soul crawling with the painful emotions. Far off a distant clang as the Ginsei dissolved, Haretosora clattered to the floor along with Nemu's sword. The visions faded into nothing and the plain three walls of the room came into focus, at the door Toya stood silhouetted, his face a mask of horror.

"Takara!" He started forward as she slumped, catching herself by her palms braced to the floor. Her head hung, she breathed heavily. Dimly she was aware of the fallen Fukutaichou, unconscious save for the trail of tears staining the corners of her eyes.

"I'm..."

Toya had side-stepped Nemu, reaching Takara even as she looked up at him, her mind clearing, her heart lightening. "I'm alright."

His shoulders heaved, his hands wrapped under her arms, tugging with a gentleness that belied his concern. "Are you sure?" he helped her get to her feet. Takara glanced about, seeing the unconscious girl and the swords strewn about. Slight chaos in the dents in the walls and the gash to the floor. Slowly she looked back to him, "yeah. I'm-"

A sudden seize to her lungs made her knees buckle in a spasm of pain.

Toya caught her, "Takara! What is it? What's wrong?"

She couldn't speak, her throat was constricting on simple noises. "Poi-" her hands flew to her throat, pulling at the high-necked collar. _Poison!_ her mind cried, a heavy fog dampening her senses. Toya paled, he had seen the gash across her back, the skin an angry red. "Hold on! Keep it together, Taka!" he fumbled to unsheathe the sword over his shoulder. Takara raised blearing eyes with effort to see the ghostly blue tang slicing the air as he brought it down across her back.

Warmth flooded her system, obliterating the fog as the sword's power coursed through her. From a great distance away, it seemed, she heard Toya's voice again.

"Taka...Taka?"

Her eyelids fluttered open. "It was poison. That woman..." their gazes slid down to the unconscious Fukutaichou. "She attacked me with some kind of poison."

Toya stepped back. "Who is she?"

Takara walked over and picked up her fallen sword, "Nemu Kurotsuchi, daughter of Twelfth Company Taichou, Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Apparently he's some kind of genius," she slipped Haretosora back into the scabbard. "He created Nemu as some kind of guinea pig slash daughter. It's a really twisted relationship."

She felt a prick of annoyance when she noticed Toya was admiring the Fukutaichou's mile-long legs. _Men!_ She cleared her throat loudly, "anyway, it seems that somewhere in here is a touch-trigger energy sensor. It rang in Mayuri's lab and he sent Nemu rather than come himself to check. I'm fairly certain she's the only Shinigami we can expect. Mayuri was too busy working on his new science project to care whether or not his Fukutaichou disappears for a long period of time."

"Hm." Toya finally looked away, his expression serious, "find anything of interest?"

"In fact, yes." she went over to the display case, he joined her moments later. Together they both gazed down at the ancient portrait. Toya sounded more confused than ever, "who are they? Do you-" he caught her exasperation. Frowning now, "you know. How?"

Takara rolled her eyes; _sometimes he could be so dense_. "Well, it's only obvious!" she stepped back and pointed to the inscription carved into the base of the display. "Cinder, fire. Tremble, earth. Gust, the wind. And wrath, the storm-tossed ocean."

Toya read the words silently, then looked from them to the papyrus. "Hey, but how come there's only two depicted? There are four elements, aren't-"

"It was destroyed..." she traced the air above the torn edge, "or cut apart for one reason or another."

"Alright. But, then..."

She sent him a look filled with meaning.

Toya sighed and got closer, squinting at the intricate portrait. "The first one is definitely a woman, her face is pretty. You know to have been painted, it's really quite exquisite. I've never seen anything like it."

Takara's gaze lowered, "I know. Everything rendered to the tiniest detail, it's almost seems as though human hands couldn't have created it."

"Maybe they didn't." Toya murmured shortly.

She looked at him surprised, but Toya had continued his study punctuated by quiet comments.

"Yeah..I can definitely tell now, the woman is water's incarnate." he whistled softly, "wow, such detail! Even the Dragon scales on her breastplate are defined with sharp brushstrokes." Takara had seen it all, impatience burned in her for no reason at all.

"What do you think of the man?"

Toya accordingly switched his glance over to the second figure. "I at first thought it was wind." he said, a frown curving his mouth. "But, I can see now that it's not."

"That's what I thought too." Takara admitted, watching the curious play of emotions flicker on his face. Slight anger, subtle fear, and despise. The last emotion surprised Takara whom had never known the man to harbor ill-will toward others.

"You know it's irrational." Toya spoke suddenly, a faintly self-mocking smile forming. "I've never seen this- this guy before," his gloved finger hovered above the painting of earth. "But for some reason, in some strange way, I'm deathly afraid of him and yet at the same time I hate his guts."

She knew her emotions showed on her face. "It's the Earth Elemental, isn't it?"

Toya gazed down at the papyrus, "yes. I'm almost positive it is."

"Who..."

"Who do you think he's looking at?" Toya finished for her. He shrugged slightly, "your guess is as good as mine."

Takara fidgeted with Haretosora's pommel. "Toya...do you think you could..."

He immediately became suspicious with her hesitance. "What? We can't take it, if that's what you-"

"No. Not that." she laid her hand on his arm, "but if you restore it using time magic, then..."

_A duplicate will be created in this world..the original from the past_.

...Memory...

Red came off onto his fingertips. The moon was high in the sky, shedding slanting light between the treetops and below the taut, grim face of the older man and the younger whom rubbed the blood between his finger pads.

"F-fresh." Jushiro spoke in a tremulous whisper. "Not far."

"Prepare yourself." Yamamoto said just as quietly, Ryujin-Jakka clattered in its sheathe, infected with its master's anticipation. Jushiro glanced back at the man and past to the far away torch lights interspersed throughout the Rukon forest. The scene from what seemed like an eternity before but was only a couple of hours distant was ingrained into his memory of Murasaki sobbing over the broken sword, Yamamoto's harsh words then the wild frightened look in her eyes like that of a hunted animal.

She had fled then, her speed greater than anything he had ever known existed. _Shin-Soku, curse the speed of a Demon_, his superior had pronounced coldly, sheathing his sword and calling for torches to be brought and a search party to be gathered.

_From there they had headed out_, into the Rukon forest.

Jushiro attempted to stifle the chattering of his teeth. The nervous shake in his hands preceded the clumsy drawing out of the Zanpaku-to from his sash. "Sir, if I m-may-"

"Silence!" Yamamoto barked, holding his hand up. For moments quiet reigned until Jushiro heard it as well, far up ahead, the grasses rustled, something stirred. His heart sank, "s-sir-!" he tried, but it was already too late. The old man wore a grim smile as he vanished from sight, crackling sounds bore evidence to the speed of his Shunpo and the eagerness in his step. Jushiro hastened to follow, slower, closer to the sounds of ringing blades and triumphant blood lust.

Past the leaves where Yamamoto had disappeared, there was a clearing surrounded by great oaks. Jushiro parted the branches and filled his gaze with the one-sided battle. Yamamoto slashed while Murasaki danced beneath the rage-fueled strikes, avoiding each narrowly and with growing cuts and slices to her clothes and face.

"Must you deny the truth continuously? Avert your eyes from it?" She questioned, absorbing the impact of Ryujin-Jakka against her shoulder. This seemed to enrage Yamamoto all the more, laying a merciless swath across her body.

Jushiro let out a cry that the two combatants barely heeded.

Murasaki fell, panting and bleeding heavily to the ground, her fair hair stained rust where it clung to her face. "You don't understand-" she gasped harshly, chest heaving-

He could hear every word. Crouched in the dirt and leaves, back against the rough bark of the tree, tears blurring the dark forest into shadow, he could hear everything.

"-She's alive! You_- Mara_ isn't-"

_The name_.

"Lie." Yamamoto hissed softly, the sound of a piercing blade whistled through the air then the final splash of gore then soul-shattering silence after another sound of a sword being sheathed.

"Is it over?" The young Taichou wondered aloud.

In the stillness of the night, Yamamoto answered gravely, "no. It is not."

Blackness absorbed the dark forest.

...Mindscape...

A whooshing sound like the flapping of hundreds of birds preceded the shuddering white belt lifting from the atmosphere. Kage felt the lessening of Gekkouha's power, his eyes opening to catch the last of the moon dust vanish into swirls of chalk-white mist that evaporated into nothing farther up along the stretch of sand.

"So, Ukitake's been tortured by the memory of watching Keiki's first incarnation die." Kage loosened his hold on the twins, the two little heads picking up and blinking simultaneously up at him.

"It wasn't Ju-kun's fault!" They protested, "he had no choice but to stand back! Yamamoto was his mentor and senior officer after all!"

"Stand back and let pure murder happen?"

"But-!"

Kage grinned unwillingly, teeth flashing. "My idiot wielder would stick his fool neck out even for a stranger despite my constant warnings not to do anything that could get me _broken_. Even though his foolishness isn't often."

"That's harsh."

"Like I said, he's occasionally stupid." The mimicker thought but didn't add. _Like using healing Kido to try and cut the effects of the moon dust, considering the idiot doesn't know if Ukitake's going_- something else occurred to him. "Wait a- hey, do either of you recognize that name Keiki said- _Mara_?"

Sogyo and Kotowari shook their heads. "We think Ju-kun had heard it only that once and never again, mimicker."

Kage mulled it over, "I believe you then. But, _I have_...and so has Toya-ko. In the more recent past- not _nine hundred years ago_."

_Mara...who is that and why would Keiki be so desperate to make Yamamoto understand that this Mara person was still alive? Who would know..._

Finally he came to a decision. "Maybe I should have a talk with Sazanami. She'll-"

"You're going to Sazanami's palace! We wanna go too!" The twins wailed in unison, lunging for the tail ends of Kage's suit jacket. Harangued on both sides, Kage spun in a complete circle, attempting to divest himself of the twin little boys.

"Gah! Lemme-"

The sound of distant waves crashing made him glance, look out far across the iron grey sea. The choppy waters met a sky of lead, thick black clouds moved across obscuring the sun once more.

"What the hell...what is..." Kage for once was rendered speechless. Incapable of anything but numb realization as a large white wave glided fast over the water, turning everything it touched into a mist-like viscera of voices and blurring images. _Is this what Kagami created? Hakuya had once been called a wicked sword, but this..._

He dropped to his knees and pulled the small water Zanpaku-to close to him.

"It'll be over...it'll all be over soon...just close your eyes."

The white wave drowned out his whisper.

It was unstoppable.

...Daireishokairō...

A fiber of the papyrus unraveled from the side of it hung suspended in the air, Toya focused his entire will on it, holding the sacred mudra the way he had been taught. Takara giving him space, stayed at the display, attempting to work the bottom apart.

Using a small dagger she had in her boot, she scratched at the seals, applying Hanki Sosai every so often in order to counter the various Kido spells binding the case together.

She bit the dagger between her teeth, placing her hands on either side of the lid. _Nothing_. She flinched at the electric sparks that flared snapping and crackling up at her touch. There was one last spell, Takara could see it hovering mirage-like over top and sides. Words in ancient characters that she could barely decipher.

_"The spell is at least nine hundred years old."_ Haretosora commented from inside Takara's mind. _"Maybe older. I don't think I've ever seen one like it."_

_'How so?'_ Takara thought back to her.

_"Well. The words are written in the cuneiform-like style of written Kuromadou. I recognize a few words myself, it seems to be a spell designed to only be opened by an accepted member of the Gotei 13."_

Takara's face darkened, her eyes narrowing. _'That explains why Mayuri Kurotsuchi and his daughter were able to gain access to it. Do you know of any way we could bypass it?'_

_"None. I mean it's laden with negativity, so that any attempts to break it open by force would result in a backlash of energy to the intruder. It's almost admirable in the ingenuity of the caster.."_

_'Do you know who cast it?'_

Haretosora hesitated for only a second, _"I believe you suspect who already and forget trying to dispel it, only the originator of the spell can break it that way."_

Takara had been considering Hanki Sosai but then reluctantly dropped her stance. _'Guess you're right.'_ She sighed, it was frustrating to be so close yet so far at the same time. Her glance slid to the bound Fukutaichou. Toya had agreed using time magic to erase their presences in the Daireishokairō, was the best option available to them. Takara briefly thought of Ukitake and wondered if forced coercion could gain access...he was an officer of...

Her gaze drifted back to the impenetrable seal.

She saw the darkness hovering around it, empowering it.

_Haretosora had said herself that it overflowed with negativity_.

So, why couldn't... Takara laid her hand atop her Zanpaku-to, stepping back, she made a slight circle about the base. _My sword cuts away all darkness_. She drew her blade, the plain tang reflected a shimmer of silvery light. If hate filled the spell-caster's mind...

"Gin..." she thrust down with all her might, "sei-to!"

Haretosora's tip collided with the barrier that had repulsed her wielder, the Clear Night's light however spilled forward, illuminating the miasmic-like darkness, destroying it as the blade's momentum increased.

"Sashikomu, Haretosora!" she could sense the barrier weakening. _Words were just words without the darkness to empower them, the spell would be unwritten_. Light flashes erupted all over the case, the inner seal disintegrating; Takara threw an arm over her face as the final flash exploded brilliant like a supernova.

When the light had faded, she saw the tip of her sword embedded in the display. It had cracked open.

"Must you leave more for me to reverse?" Toya muttered, still concentrating on the spreading weave of the minuscule threads being re-stitched in time.

Takara giggled, tugging Haretosora from the case, the blade came out with minimal effort. Already from the rents in the wood she could see a circular object lying on a cloth of flame-color. Almost hesitant now, she replaced Haretosora back in its sheathe, lowering her hands to the lid. The wood shifted aside without anything to encumber it.

The Kuromadou had been erased from existence; the heart of darkness that had woven the spell had been purified.

She only hoped the spell could be redone. They could leave no trace of their presences in the Daireishokairō without directly implicating a break-in by the Juppongatana. Takara lightly fisted her hands, squeezing her palms before opening them and reaching in to lift out the solitary object that rested within.

It was a plain circle.

Unmarked. Takara turned it over in her hands, imagining a young woman barely out of her teens in a torn, blood-streaked robe bound by such an innocuous object. _She had seen the symbols!_ Her brow furrowed. _Where were they?_

Something occurred to her.

_'Haretosora, can you speak to Kage for me?'_

_"Yeah, sure."_

_'Alright, ask him if he can imitate the current form of Getsu-ten. Tell him, I wish to test a theory of mine.'_

...

A short distance away in another part of the huge underground maze of the archives, the old Shinigami stirred. A blue haze still hovered in the air, remnants of Toya's half-hearted attempt at healing, what he did not realize nor had Takara, was the insidiousness of the wicked blade forged by the water element.

Even as Ukitake begun to drift from the edges of unconsciousness into consciousness, a white curl of mist snaked from a crack in Sogyo-no-Kotowari's scabbard. The same curl continued its downward path, creeping stealthily up and over his body.

A moment passed.

Jushiro's glassy brown eyes opened unfocused to the ceiling of the room

The moment _it_ had been waiting for had come.

The white mist split into two and poured into his eyes. Awareness was lost. The wheel turned back on his memory, the dark forest became a room lit by candlelight...

...

Unbeknownst to neither the Captain nor the Lieutenant, the scabbard slung across the man's back, pulsed, an imparting of power as its malevolence seeked to accomplish its aim.

Somewhere far away, it sensed Ukitake awakening.

Another pulse.

Stronger. More violent. Toya never noticed it as his concentration shattered, the binding seizing his sword and power.

Faraway, the sword's vector split apart and flooded the Shinigami's mind with the bitter finale of memory. Satisfied, the sword slept on.

Gekkouha's attack was complete.

...Memory…

The scratching of the quill had finally ended. Silence pressed against the trembling young Taichou's eardrums. _What was this?_ He questioned. _Where was the justice in this?_

The body lay on its side; hair hideous rust staining fair locks was splayed out.

"M-Mu-Murasaki..!" All at once Jushiro came to his senses, his body propelling forward from the cushion Yamamoto had bidded him wait upon in the corner. The powerful, imposing man had left to issue orders regarding the capture of the others. The possessed, fiery light hadn't left Shigekuni's eyes, rather intensified. The Thirteenth Squad Taichou began to doubt if sanity remained in the man's senseless hatred.

"Mura-"

The thin shoulder twitched. The head lolling, creased lids fluttered.

_Oh! Kami-sama!_ Jushiro's heart wrenched violently in his chest. _She was still alive-!_ On his hands and knees, he crawled to her side, his nerves taut for any little noise that heralded Yamamoto's return.

Slowly yet carefully, he slipped his fingers around her chin, tilting her toward him. One half of her face was coated with gore. Jushiro swallowed hard, fumbling with the tiny medical kit all Shinigami officers carried. "Hold on, Murasaki! I-I.." _What am I going to do?_ His eyes took in the gash across her torso, the splotches of fresher blood darkening the golden flowers patterned over her breast. _I can't. It's too much!_ The wounds were far too deep for the simple triage he could perform.

His hands fisted. _But, he still couldn't just sit there and do nothing-! __Murasaki was-Murasaki was a stranger to him_. This sobering realization made his shortened breath catch. It was cruel though- to ignore the wounded because no matter what his elder officer said-a man he both respected and admired...

Jushiro could not begin to believe for even a moment what Yamamoto had said was true. Wearied brown eyes closed. There was only one other route. Have Shunsui help him. But, what if-

It was safe to assume that orders had been distributed to every corridor of Seireitei. What if his dearest friend didn't view Murasaki the same way. What if-

Jushiro sat back on his heels, his expression a mask of piteous agony. His heart ached with compassion yet he could see no feasible way out. Soon, he was sure either a messenger or Yamamoto himself would come. "Murasaki..I-I don't know what-"

A soft pulse radiated from the scabbard at his hip. Jushiro glanced down, murmuring, "S-Sogyo no- Kotowari...?" Confusion clouded his countenance. _What were they saying~?_ The two little twin boys-the manifestation of his zanpakuto in human form, urged him to do it. _A mercy! Ju-kun! Mercy!_

"Put the blade to her-no!" Horrified he cried, "I cannot do that! I cannot justify this as a means to the end! No, Sogyo-"

Identically they placed fingers to their lips, meaning silence.

Jushiro froze when he sensed what they discerned from farther away.

"..moto." The ancient wielder of Ryujin-Jakka could be felt approaching.

.._our poor Master!_ His zanpakuto lamented, two pairs of hands clasping, small smooth brows furrowing_. Water is no more!_

"What?" Jushiro's voice was faint. "Not another..oh Kami-sama..no more, please!"

The candle flame sputtered. Sogyo-no Kotowari gazed at him in sorrow. _Ju-kun. _They said together_. No matter what you try there is nothing you can do for her_ _anymore_.

His head bowed, longer strands of white hair fell over his face. Deep inside he knew they spoke the truth. The edge of emptiness that hovered at the fringes of his consciousness, felt ever larger. Like something had been cut away.

A tie between himself and another was no more. _Water...Fire_...

Jushiro's hand slipped around the hilt, rising to a half-crouch.

It took only a moment.

"Forgive me..." he whispered as the blade pierced her heart.

Blood spattered his face.

"_Keiki_." Her body turned to ash.

The candle flame guttered and went out.

... Daireishokairō…

The papyrus was almost complete.

The edges had curled up, rolling into a perfect scroll being bound by what looked like hemp cord. Toya could feel the sweat sheen standing out on his forehead, the stiffness of his fingers held in the position.

_Almost-_

_-there-_

He felt the knotted black silk cord come undone from his shoulder, the scabbard lifted away by a determined-looking Takara. "Sorry," she apologized when his concentration wavered. "Kage said it was alright if a pretty girl borrowed him for a few minutes." She shrugged. "That's what he told Haretosora."

_Stupid sword_...Toya thought, but nodded to his Lieutenant.

"Thanks!" She jogged back to the smashed display. He kept glancing curiously above the papyrus, as she replaced Haretosora and held his Zanpaku-to out. Takara breathed in, proclaiming suddenly sharp, "Rise above the damned, Getsu-ten!"

Kage's blade lengthened, narrowing, the hilt became a royal purple with lilac diamonds, the crescent moon guard formed last, shimmering with an effervescent light.

_Ten seconds_. Toya knew it instantly as soon as the mimicry was complete. Takara flipped the blade point down, thrusting down one-handed.

"Mugetsu." _First Phase_.

He felt power drain from his connection to the sword, a rush of lightheadedness before darkness blossomed from the tip. Takara let out an incoherent cry, her hand was repulsed suddenly from Kage's hilt, sparks igniting in a semi-circle of words writing themselves in the air. It all happened so fast that Toya barely heard her small scream before something clamped down on his body fiercely, driving him to his knees.

"Wha-wha-AAAGGGHH!" His torso crumpled up, his insides felt like they were going through a wringer, squeezing and squeezing under immense pressure. Toya had never felt anything like it and never hoped to again. It was sheer agony and it- it-

"Getitoffgetitoff!"

The collar had wrapped into a serpentine form, wrapping tighter, around and around Kage's tang. Takara lunged for the red-bound hilt, shrieking faintly when her hand was shocked with a powerful electric current.

"I can't!" she wailed, looking frantically around, her hand fell to her sword, whipping it out with a sharp metallic clang, "Sashikomu, Haretosora!" she called desperately. Pale iridescent light flowed out like a ribbon yet was repulsed just as violently, dissipating to nothing against the full circle of the written spell.

_This isn't a heart's darkness_.

Kage's blade form was wavering, the metal bending in a wild attempt to free itself.

_What do I do- what am I supposed to do_-

In desperation, her hand flew to the white hilt over her shoulder. Gekkouha's long silver tang flipped forward in the air, twisting perfectly in her palm. Please-please-

Moments later, Takara had slashed through the trapped Zanpaku-to.

"I'm sorry."

Almost instantly the words written in the arcane tongue had scattered, breaking apart. Takara wasn't sure how as Kage's hilt hit the floor with a resounding thud. The piece remaining in the display flew apart as disseminate mist. Reforming on the wooden floor as the black and silver Combi-stick.

Toya groaned, getting to his feet. "Gods...what the hell...what was _that?"_

Takara gazed down at the remains of the Gyaku Shimon. "It reacted to the semblance of Keiko's power. With her abilities at such a level as to where no Shinigami would stand a chance in defeating her, an artifact such as this was required..." she bent low and gathered it up her hands.

Toya stared at the collar, groaning softly under his breath. "Gods...you don't mean-?"

"To constrain her enormous power." Takara finished, deathly calm on the outward surface, inside her emotions were a storm of sorrow and compassion. "And now they're recreating this abomination-" she suddenly spun toward him, pleading, desperate. "Toya! What are we going to do?"

"Taka-chan..."

"W-We can't just let them get away with this! It's repulsive and evil! And-"

"Taka-chan, please calm yourself." He went toward her and placed both hands on her shoulders, stilling her movements. "You said yourself that Kagami-san knew about this...I'm sure he as well as the others know exactly what Soul Society is going to keep under their sleeve, in case we decide to pull a fast one on them. Think about it." He gently squeezed her shoulders.

"Take away the three elementals from our ranks and we have only a force of two Captains that they know of, that cannot be taken down with a little toy like this. Crippling our strengths is what they're most inclined to do. Which is why it's so important that we keep our heads and work with what we have." He released her and stood back, pointing at the broken collar. "Look we now can guess that if the new thing what's-his-face is working on, it can be destroyed with at least the Gekkouha. An ordinary Zanpaku-to could not break it. But, armed with the knowledge of what we know, as long as one of us stays alive, we can release the elementals if-_"_

"If what?"

Takara spun around, whipping Haretosora out with a snarl. "You! Dammit! Gekkouha must not have-"

Ukitake stood in the doorway, grey-faced yet with alertness to his stance. Toya shifted uneasily, feeling a renewed surge of guilt. During his tenure in the Kido Corps, he had seen the man only twice and remembered nothing but a pleasant if not sad smile and the note later on penned and sent from the very same Thirteenth Division at Ilena's death.

"I do not ask that you trust me." Ukitake began, gazing levelly, unafraid at the sword Takara threatened with. "I believe there is nothing I could prove or show that would earn me that right in your hearts. I am correct in assuming at least that you two are both Juppongatana officers? Please answer me this much."

Takara's grip wavered, Toya could see the confusion blossom in her eyes the longer she studied Ukitake. Moments later it struck him as to what she was attempting to perceive. _Of course! She's looking for threads of deceit, anything of darkness that belies his words_.

In time, she nodded slightly. "Yes, there is some truth to what you think. We are Juppongatana officers as we well know that any break-in is considered high treason by any officer of any organization save for Seireitei, unless it is of authorized personnel or an officer of the Gotei 13. As it is," she smirked, tilting Haretosora at an angle. "What are _you_ going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Turn us in like a dutiful Taichou?" She bandied back coldly, her expression twisting, "you may be what you are, but it's two against one. I doubt-"

"Pardon my interruption, but your face..." Ukitake gazed at Toya now. A slight crease forming on his aged brow, "I feel as though I know you, young man. Particularly one with a high level of skill in Kido."

Toya barely managed not to flush when Takara sent him an angry look.

Ukitake shook his white head slightly, smiling slightly, "ah do not worry. Old age must be catching up to me."

"Why's that?" Takara had a fistful of Toya's collar and her fist was upraised.

"Because I can't recall at all the young woman whom always attends with Kagami-san!" Ukitake laughed at himself.

The Captain and Lieutenant both shared looks. Takara eventually let go of Toya, taking up her sword again. "Listen, I'm not saying I or he," she glowered Toya's way, "trusts you. Or should. But, we-" she cut off, freezing momentarily as her senses caught onto the energy signature of someone entering through the doors of the main building aboveground.

A beat later, Toya did as well. Stiffening as he felt the reiatsu of another belonging to the Taichou-class. Ukitake surveyed their frozen expressions, concern increasing; he himself hadn't felt anything. "Are you two okay? What's going on?"

Toya couldn't place the reiatsu. "Who-"

Fear sparking in her blue eyes, Takara whispered softly, "It's..."

-TBC

AN: I kept changing the last sentence lol. First it was Takara speaking then Toya and Takara again for the cliffhanger then they argued about it and Takara insisted on doing the cliffhanger.

:)

No flames.

Reviews loved :)


	79. Choices of conflict

_What is most valuable? What is worth defending?_

ShiKai CH.72: Choices of Conflict

_"Byakuya Kuchiki_."

_**"The wielder of Senbonzakura." **_Kage said directly into the stream of Toya's consciousness. Paling, the Captain of Third looked from Takara to Ukitake whom watched them both curiously.

"We've got to get out-" Toya began frantically.

"What are _you_ going to do?" Takara cut him off, calmly focusing her gaze solely on the older Shinigami. _You have a choice_, her eyes said. _You can betray us and follow the tenets of everything you've been taught, or you can choose another way_...

For moments neither of them moved. A mental battle raged behind the placid brown-eyed gaze of the Taichou and the serene blue of Takara, one that Toya a mere spectator watched with increasing helplessness. How had everything gone so wrong? They had meant to be in and out of the Daireishokairō with the information they needed and to avoid detection by the Seireitei forces. Now everything had degenerated to this...

_A mock battle of wrong and right_...as he watched a slip of emotion play out on Ukitake's face, _what was right and what was wrong anymore in this world?_

After an eternity it seemed, yet was only a few minutes in reality, he finally spoke. "Come with me." He turned, his haori coat billowing out behind him. "Leave everything where it is, I'll make up an excuse."

Takara glanced back at Toya whom hastily caught her meaning. Forming the hand gestures quickly, the space shifted around them so that when Ukitake turned around to speak to them again, Takara and Toya stood in the middle of the untouched room.

"Lead on." She said brightly to break the momentary bafflement that crossed the man's sickly countenance. Continuing in a mild tone of surprise as he took them down the same corridor, he said, "are all officers as full of surprises as you two?" Then he chuckled a little, "you don't have to answer that."

Takara nervously sensed the space diminishing between them and the Taichou of Sixth. "What's your plan?"

Ukitake sobered immediately, "well, I suspect you may not find this to your liking. However, you are both dressed as Omnitsu..."

...

"Byakuya! What brings you down here?" Ukitake called jovially to the stern-faced man descending down the secret inner staircase. "Ukitake-sensei." The Taichou of sixth acknowledged with vague warmth that turned to coldness as he turned his attention to Takara and Toya.

Moments before the last curve in the corridor that had kept them out of sight, they had reaffixed the close-fitting masks over the lower half of their faces and fixed the tight hoods as per Ukitake's instructions.

Now, Takara could see thinly veiled suspicion in the way the man's hard slate eyes passed from her to Toya, then to the other who had been leading them.

"What is _this?"_ Kuchiki asked, "To what purpose do the Omnitsu secret forces have in this sacred place?"

Takara failed in imagining the Taichou as a young boy once the way Keiko had once described him as. Now he was just a frigid hard ass, one that she could sense Toya's fear of. He had barely raised his head since entering into Kuchiki's presence and the longer she stared openly at the Noble, the more she realized, Toya's Kido Corps training had instilled inferiority in him.

Ukitake spoke quickly, "ah well! You see these two were on their way to deliver a message specifically to Kurotsuchi-Fukutaichou, there was a bit of a misunderstanding unfortunately and it seems the message was meant for Kurotsuchi-Taichou whom they couldn't find - you know how he's always somewhere and somehow they got lost and..." Ukitake trailed off, beaming at the younger man. "And now I'm simply going to take them to the entrance and send them off to go and look for him up at Twelfth Division."

His mission accomplished in annoying the Noble worked enough so that as he guided Takara and Toya around the man, Kuchiki said nothing, only rubbed a hand at his temples. They went back through the narrow aperture hidden in the quarters of the First Council member without further incident.

Ukitake closed it behind him, Takara standing back, watched the doors slide together forming a seal with the character for Thirteen on it. Her gaze lingered on it and her thoughts on the Sixth company Taichou whom she could sense moving deeper below ground. Where was he going? As curious as she was, she couldn't wait to leave Seireitei and get back to Tsukikage. A subtle unease pressured her to do so as soon as possible. _This was not home anymore_.

"That went better than expected." Ukitake said cheerfully, moving past them to the Shoji doors of the small apartment. "What do you mean?" It was the first time Toya had spoken since leaving the archives room. "Skepticism was oozing off of him like a frog."

Takara's giggle was muffled. Ukitake breezily waved a hand, "no, no, that's just Kuchiki-Taichou for you. He's really a good sort deep down." The man's unfailing optimism however misplaced, Takara found strangely refreshing. For a moment as her gaze rested warmly on his shoulders, she recalled what she had done. Her conscience bothered her yet the words wouldn't come.

"I-"

_"Apologize when all's said and done later."_ Haretosora counseled. _"You're still in Seireitei."_

"Hmm?"

Embarrassed, Takara looked away, "nothing." After another turn in the corridor with the doors that lead to the outside coming into sight, her tone changed. "Do you think Kuchiki-Taichou might find our swords?"

"I'll go and retrieve them now if it worries you so."

Turning a slight shade of pink beneath the face-mask, Takara was glad for the fact that neither man could see her face. "N-no that's alright. But, you promise...to be within the fringes of Ugendo within the hour?"

"Yes."

At the doors, she glanced back and nodded slightly. Toya beside her, sweated with unease. His gaze taking in the blue sky and city that spread out in many white-walled blocks. Ukitake smiled reassuringly at them, then the doors closed.

_This was...Seireitei_.

Their eyes met, the Captain and Lieutenant from the fourth world looked together toward the city and set off.

...Las Noches…

The swizzle stick clinked against the sides of the glass beaker. His back was turned to the other, the talk seemed meaningless to the scientist as the liquid in the beaker burbled in some agreement. Little few of the other Arrancar he had patience for, even one with semi-intelligence such as Ulquiorra. The Cuatro lived and breathed for their master, while Szayel had no such compulsion to idolize the man; he _only_ respected Aizen to a certain degree.

"...yes, yes. Create a simulated training room- I heard the first time, you know." Smiling humorlessly, Szayel moved away from the countertop burner to a cabinet off to the left, burying his head behind the door and rummaging noisily around for the glass mold. Behind, he heard the shuffle of Ulquiorra's footsteps; the Cuatro's silence didn't perturb him as much as the pause and absolute quiet that followed the slight tink of the bubbles erupting from the boiling surface.

Szayel finally found the long slender mold made of fragile glass. It was made to resemble exactly an unsheathed sword. "As I was-" Szayel rose and turned around, catching his comrade staring at the glass beaker and the vivid blue liquid bubbling away.

No one had ever seen much expression on the Cuatro's face yet now it was filled with some undefined, unexplainable _emotion_. Szayel for a moment hesitated on rousing the dreamer- for that was how his brilliant mind classified Ulquiorra immediately as. _As someone lost in a daydream_...

"Ulquiorra, are you alright?"

The green-eyed Arrancar removed his gaze quickly from the bubbling blue liquid, apathetic in the cold look he sent to the scientist. Szayel unconsciously backed up half a step, muttering, "never mind."

"I'll take my leave." Ulquiorra said curtly, sliding pale white hands into the pockets of the flowing hakama. "Aizen-sama expects results within the end of the day." With that, he left, vanishing through the laboratory door. Szayel gazed at the door swinging shut and wondered.

_Why had the servile Arrancar been so transfixed by the deep blue hue of the liquid compound?_

...

Blue.

Deep in the recesses of his consciousness, it haunted phantom-like.

An elusive image.

A memory of sound.

Of laughter and blue, blue eyes.

...Mindscape…

The Palace of Soryu, God of the sea was just visible from a pool of water cradled by the sand left by the storm on Sogyo-no-Kotowari's beach. Kage knelt at the edge and dipped his fingertips in the cool reflective surface. The miniature castle resembled less a Yamashiro of ancient Japan then more of a Chinese Imperial Court. The twins gazed down at the image then back to Kage.

"Kage, how are we going to get there? Soryu-sama hasn't invited us!"

"Meh," he straightened, flicking his fingers out. "Leave it to moi. Flow, Sazanami!" The droplets flew from his fingertips, rippling into a pale shimmery sword made entirely out of water. _Sazanami...Ripples, the only water sword capable of withstanding the searing heat of the black Phoenix_, he thought briefly, gazing at the impressive blade.

Sensing the twins curious, waiting gazes on him; Kage shook his head slightly then cut upward then across and down again at the atmosphere, each slice glowing with light to form a rudimentary doorway. "Hold on tightly," he instructed with chagrin as they latched onto the tail ends of his coat, one on each side. Even more annoyed at the extra, uninvited company, Kage couldn't quite bring himself to toss them off back into their world when he melted into a mist of darkness and jumped through into the lake upon which Soryu's palace sat.

To the passing Goldfish dressed in Heian era Court clothes, the tremendous splash and immediate shriek of happy giggles from the twin boys sent them scurrying behind the statuesque form of Sazanami, resplendent in layered robes of ocean blue. Spray brushed her face and wind tangled the strands of her flowing light blue mane. Raising a hand to her mouth, she looked swiftly aggrieved. "This is such a bad time for visitors," she murmured to herself then catching sight of Kage bobbing in the water, Sogyo and Kotowari swimming circles around him- sighed, motioning to the Goldfish servants. "Fetch them from the water. I see a Fire Zanpaku-to cannot swim any more than cat is fond of the water."

Kage chuckled, a stream of bubbles blowing from his mouth, knowing the hint of observation was inherently true. As the goldfish plunged into the water, fearfully circling him and propping up his arms and legs in a rudimentary stretcher to glide forward to the shallower edge of the spacious engawa where Sazanami waited; he couldn't resist adding to her train of thought. "A Fire Zanpaku-to I maybe, ma'am. Yet I do not despise the water as the spirits of Wind in particular, Byakko-sama himself does." Once he was finished, he splashed away at the Goldfish servants and swam to the edge of the engawa and pulled himself out.

Standing on the deck beside her, he muttered, "pardon me." And shot straight down into a black puddle of shadow then straight up again, grinning this time. "Toya-ko hates when I do that." Extending an arm out, he displayed his no-longer dripping sleeves. "Can't have a chap showing bad manners in front of a lady and dripping puddles all over her beautiful cedar wood home, now can I?"

Sazanami smiled unwillingly before daintily covering her mouth with her sleeve. The heads of Sogyo and Kotowari popped up soon at the edge of the deck, beaming quite happily at their superior Zanpaku-to spirit.

"Sazanami-san!" they cried and scrambled out, clinging to the blue silk of her robes. "We haven't seen you in so long!" She patted the two small heads of white, glancing up when one of the Goldfish servants approached carrying the identical Eboshi hats. "Thank you," she nodded then sent one nervous glance to the far doorway across on the next wing. The doors were massive and bore large gilt detail in the curving form in the Japanese characters for Sea matching the one on her blade form. Kage looked as well, sensing a great well of power brimming beyond the doors. _Soryu...the great Dragon seemed to be fuming about something. Which wasn't surprising, everything made him angry these days_…

Sazanami looked away, meeting his curious gaze. "Come, I will speak to you elsewhere." Then lead them down the veranda away from Soryu's throne-like domain. A pair of interconnecting corridors deeper inside the palace and they entered into a room made of the same light wood as the rest of the palace, massive light blue cushions were tossed around and it was upon one of these, that Sazanami sat, the twins on Tatami mats around her.

"Please take a seat."

He dragged one of the cushions forward, perching on it and beginning with a slight grimace, recalled Jushiro's memory. It still left a bitter taste in his mouth. "I wouldn't have barged in here like this, been so uncouth as to impose on your hospitality except for having a very good reason."

She waited patiently.

"You are…one of the oldest Water Zanpaku-to- uh not to say you're actually old looking or anything-I mean you look great!" Kage fumbled for a moment while Sazanami simply smiled. "It is quite alright. You needn't apologize."

"Oh...eheheh. Well." He scratched a little awkwardly at a spot on his misty cheek. "Anyway! What I wanted to know mostly...is, who is _Mara?_"

Sazanami hesitated on speaking, her smile fading. "You... _must understand_; I was very young at the time. There were things Soryu-sama whom was actually present at the time, told me. There was much joy in Tsukikage castle...much happiness before the blight of darkness descended."

Kage nodded impatiently_. He knew this all. The schism that split the Heavens and worlds almost apart was whispered of with great fear, but was what hardly every spoken of save for veiled hints, was the cause_. "Yes, yes! I know that! All the Heavens trembled beneath his step- and all that jazz. But why-why did Yamamoto hate the Elementals so much?"

Sazanami truly looked pained for a moment. A shadow crossed her beautiful features, one that seemed to evoke distress in her very being. "This one you speak of- Mara, Mara _is_ the Thirteenth Shinteichou, a member of the race known as Vast Lord or Vasto Lordes in the present tongue. A long, long time ago, Keiki created them as the first guards for the Kings of life and death."

Kage had fallen into stunned silence.

"The souls of the thirteen were nature spirits. Each embodied characteristics of the original base compound from whence they sprung from. Mara was born of a sea nymph from ancient days when such creatures existed in the worlds' oceans. Anjeru the Sixth, was from a proud rose vine...Ashura the tenth from a diviner's flame, I know very little more about them save for the fact that it was Reio-dono whom desired guardians of death-"

"Oh, God.." Kage momentarily forgot himself, sounding quite ill as he said for her. "_The Shinigami_."

Sazanami clasped her hands tightly on her lap, "yes." On the floor curled up at the fringes of her gown, the twins slept, oblivious to the two adult spirits. "Shigekuni Yamamoto was the first Shinigami as we all know...he was among the Shinteichou before the fall. It was then sometime before the Earth Elemental's insanity, that Mara and Shigekuni fell in love."

_Love_. Kage marveled at it. _Such a glorified emotion that had caused such downfalls and sorrow throughout time. Why do humans fall in love..?_ He changed his thought process remembering Tensa Zangetsu. Asking aloud, "why does an ugly emotion such as love exist at all?"

"Love can be beautiful." Sazanami said softly, looking down at her hands with a sad look in her eyes. "I've heard that the love between the God-Captain and the Death God was great. It was a wonderful reciprocated love. It is one thing, Kage-Bunshin, to love one and another to receive the same in return. Many are cherished yet few ever know that same kind of precious devotion."

"I know what you mean." He grinned mirthlessly.

A little surprised, one fine eyebrow crept up. "_Are_ you in love, mimicker?"

Kage wondered how the conversation had ever turned onto his personal _existence_. He was glad now for the shadowy countenance he could affect for a tint of a blush was creeping on. "Oh, no Sazanami-san, you give far too much credence in my naturally good-looks which you have never seen! But, please, continue on with Yamamoto and this Mara-girl."

"Well..." Sazanami hesitated, "they were in love. Nothing parted them save for circumstance...you see, Kage. On that terrible day they both fought against the Earth Elemental to protect King and their world, in the end, Mara saved her beloved by casting a Black magic spell giving him some of her life force and when..." it became difficult for her to go on.

"...when Keiki lead the Earth Elemental down to the cave in Assiah, Mara followed." Sazanami covered her mouth with a slim hand, her eyes welling with tears. "This final piece is all conjecture; no one truly knows what is in the mind of that man. But...it is said that when he awoke, Keiki had returned..._alone_."

"So, he believed…" Kage started, his shade form graying with sudden pallor; everything fell into place.

...Seireitei…

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Takara hissed from a lower branch. Toya shifted his grip, lowering the face-mask to speak more clearly, "no, I'm not. I don't even think I've been to that part of Seireitei, since we mostly went out on missions or stayed hidden away in the barracks." _Especially myself_, he thought mournfully glimpsing her annoyance.

"That's not to say, I-" he began hurriedly, afraid she'd grab a handful of acorns and pelt him with them. "Shut up!" Takara hissed instead, bringing a finger up to her face-mask. Toya quickly followed her gaze down and glimpsed a large figure in black robes and white haori coat over. Soundlessly they watched in amazement as the huge Taichou passed beneath their tree. Toya mouthing silently_. Ears! What the_ -

When the apparition had disappeared, Takara swiveled dangerously fast in the tree and leapt up to join him on the same branch. Toya clung to the rough bark of the trunk as the branch shook with the extra weight. "Did you see that?" she demanded in a low hiss, "that Taichou's a fox!"

"A fox..." he thought of the furry face he had glimpsed through the leaves. "I thought it was a bear of some kind." But, Takara didn't seem to be listening, frowning to herself she shrugged, "Haretosora finally woke up from her nap." An eyeroll. "She says that was Saijin Komamura, the Taichou of Seventh Division and his Zanpaku-to is Tenken, apparently another Fire Zanpaku-to."

"Great, see your sword does know stuff."

Takara still wasn't listening, tapping the side of her cap; she rolled her eyes skyward again. "I do not! Only Kagam-" hastily Toya lunged over and clapped a hand over her mouth. Irritated, Takara glared, he met her gaze squarely then they both looked down. The same Taichou had returned and was walking with another man wearing- improbable but true, sunglasses.

"Shall I, Iba Tetsuzaemon accompany you, Taichou?" The latter asked in a gravely serious tone of voice. Takara immediately froze, her facial muscles working underneath his palm. Toya grimaced, attempting to keep his balance on one leg and still smother the giggles threatening to burst out. He wondered what she found so funny.

"Ay, no, Tetsuzaemon. I will pay my respects to Ukitake-Taichou alone." The fox Shinigami said in a deep rumbling voice. The Fukutaichou bowed swiftly, pounding his chest in heartfelt emotion. "Then I will keep down the fort, sir."

Komamura nodded and plodded on his way- perhaps ignoring thought Toya, the worshipful litany recited behind his back by Iba. Once Iba himself had vanished down the long paved corridor nestled between two lines of thick old trees, Toya breathed a sigh of relief and released the red-faced Lieutenant. "What's a matter with you?" He hissed as she snickered behind her hand.

"Did you see how Iba acted?" she was shaking with helpless giggles. Toya came close to face-palming, shaking his head slightly. _Women. One never knew what went on through their heads_.

_**'Indeed not.'**_ Kage spoke up suddenly. Watching the motes of sunlight dance through the leaves, Toya gauged the time as early afternoon and three in the morning Assiah hours. _Where'd you hide yourself at, hmm? And you know I hate that name-_

_**'On the contraire- that's French by the way.'**_

_I knew that_. Toya grumbled in his head. Takara had ceased her mirth and was scanning their surroundings, her lips moving silently. Focusing back to his Zanpaku-to, Toya caught a brief glimpse of an ornately carved railing in light creamy wood, immediately suspicious, he muttered, _where in the Hell are you? That's not the- _Tower.

_**'Oh! Nowhere in particular- oh, shoo Sogyo, I'm busy! Or are you Kotowari-blast. I cannot tell them apart!'**_

_Uh huh. Now quit bothering me_-

_**'Toya-ko-kun, did it never occur to thou, that thou could simply track Tenken's reiatsu or Saijin's and find Ugendo that way?'**_

Flushing suddenly, Toya almost knocked his head against the tree trunk. He hadn't thought of it at all. Kage preened, _**'see? I have excellent ideas all the time.'**_

That, his wielder ignored. Turning excitedly to Takara he shared Kage's suggestion and soon they were tracing Komamura's route right to the entrance to the forest-like grounds. From, there they skirted the main office and barracks, hearing the sounds of excited chatter from the Squad members and the gruff voice of Saijin inquiring as to Ukitake's whereabouts. Toya and Takara exchanged nervous glances, Haretosora's faithlessness in the Shinigami was disconcerting yet Kage seemed to find nothing odd in the man's previous manner.

'_**Stuff of nonsense.' **_ He said, dismissing Toya's fears.

Soon enough the pair had reached the outermost edges of Ugendo in silence, Toya only remarking once that it was very lovely though it didn't compare at all in Takara's eyes to the sunken gardens behind Tsukikage. _Nothing was as beautiful as their castle and the world of Assiah_, she affirmed as much with a pout to her lips and her growing irritation as she settled with him up in a thick shady tree to await the Taichou of Thirteenth.

...

A deep breath was necessary, foolish though his rational mind chided, to pick up the other sword. The white scabbard was long and elegant, the gold filigree flowers were of the finest workmanship even squinting he glimpsed the name _Omaeda_, a family of jewelers which SoiFong's Fukutaichou was a member of. Jushiro could then surmise that Nanatsu Kagami must've purchased the five gold flowers from the shop over a hundred years before. The blade itself was by no means ordinary nor malformed. The glimpse he'd seen of it had been a silvery tang gliding through the air. _Kagami himself was an incredibly talented man_, Jushiro thought sadly, careful in the way he carried the two swords out and keeping his senses primed for anyone's approach.

Far away, he could sense Byakuya in one of the archive rooms. While the act itself wasn't wholly unusual, some part of Jushiro was curious as to what the younger man was looking for among the ancient records. He hesitated a few minutes, wondering if he should go and inquire then finally decided to leave the boy to it. Byakuya was a responsible young man...whom would never break Soul Society laws the way he himself was doing.

Smiling faintly to himself as he went, Jushiro reflected that it wasn't the first time and most certainly not the last either; _this time he was assisting friends of Murasaki_. _He just hoped those two young people had found their way to Ugendo_.

...

"There he is!" hissed Takara. Eyes closed against the sun's brightness, Toya jolted slightly from the sound of her voice, his reflexes barely keeping him from falling out of the tree outright. Grabbing onto the trunk, he shifted the branches cautiously until he glimpsed Ukitake's furtive figure poking around a tree on the opposite side.

"Oh for God sakes.." she muttered, flipping out of their tree before Toya could stop her. Sighing to himself at the lack of caution his Lieutenant maintained, he followed her as she flash-stepped across the grounds, startling Ukitake.

"My goodness! You startled me, young lady!"

Unrepentant, Takara held her hand out for the swords. Toya scowled at her rudeness, "have some respect!"

Ukitake laughed, "no worries. I'm not offended in the least. Young people are so busy nowadays, just like Ichigo-kun, always racing off to the latest thing!" he handed over the two swords. Takara deflated some, exchanging a curious look with Toya. "Ichigo Kurosaki? Do you know him well?"

Again a slight laugh and a small bit of sadness. "I'm sure not as well as any of his friends or your Captain Yamamoto can claim. No, I really have only had dealings with Ichigo-kun through the near execution of one of the Shinigami assigned to my Division. Kuchiki Rukia?" he trailed off slightly unsure if they knew her.

Takara cleared her throat, "we're acquainted. But, not personally."

"Ah, I see. Anyway, it surprised me truly when I first caught sight of Ichigo-kun during one of his attempted rescues outside the Senzaikyu, of how much he resembled my former Fukutaichou." Ukitake said conversationally. Toya whom was keeping an eye out since no one else was, for any errant Squad members, started and looked at Ukitake questioningly.

"Kurosaki looked like a deceased Shinigami?"

Ukitake shrugged mildly, "closely."

Takara fidgeted, "do you have a picture of your Fukutaichou that you could show us?"

"Yes, in my office." He looked a little surprised, "my Fukutaichou's name was Shiba Kaien. We can go take a -"

"Ukitake-san!" A voice boomed out over the grounds startling several birds from the nearby treetops away. "Your Squad members and I have been looking for you!"

Takara froze like a deer caught in the headlights; Toya watched the oncoming figure of the large Taichou, Saijin Komamura approach and grasped at her arm quickly. "Ukitake-san, perhaps we will meet again." He bowed swiftly, pushing Takara to do the same, as his Kido Corps training kicked in. Within moments he had melted them both into a pool of shadow just as Komamura was heard questioning, "Ritei-Tai? Has something happened?"

...unknown…

"Toya?"

The world was turned upside down.

A reddish stormy sky and black clouds roiled above, the ground itself was a mixture of dark ash and sand, gritty beneath her feet. Takara had never seen such a place neither sleeping nor waking.

"Sorry," Toya offered by way of apology, calm-sounding though the portion of his face that Takara could see, was redder than usual. "Kage warned me never to do this is front of anyone..." he trailed off embarrassed.

"Toya," she gently pushed apart the circle of his arms, stepping away to turn around and take everything in. Her blue eyes widened at what lay behind them, at the small monolith in obsidian stone that rose up in a single pinnacle to the accusing sky. "Toya..." she murmured, as he lowered the facemask and slipped the hood off, shaking his long hair out to frame his face.

"Where...where are we?" Haretosora was silent in her mind.

Toya gathered his long hair between his hands, fastening it with a spare bit of black ribbon, the fringe like usual hung in his eyes. "This is...the realm of the Fire Zanpaku-to. Shurei is the name of this land."

"So, are we unconscious somewhere?"

He shook his head slightly, his eyes pleading with her to understand. "No. We are fully conscious and present in this dimension, I assure you."

"Then, how-"

He cut her off. "Let me tell you something I've never told anyone else save for.." _Ilena_. Pain flashed through his eyes. He forced himself to shake it off and continue, turning slightly to gesture toward the tower rising behind them. "I've only told one other person about how I met Kage for the first time." Pausing for a moment as a faraway howl ripped through the air, he indicated a shadowy area at the base of the tower.

"Perhaps it would be best if we were to take shelter?"

Takara nodded faintly, chilled though she refused to show it, by the unearthly baying. She kept close to Toya as he walked the short distance to the base of the black tower, where he passed his hands over the deceptively smooth surface, withdrawing a thin skeleton key.

"Generally," he explained conversationally, "I simply appear inside if Kage's home. This means he's still away probably causing grief to some poor unlucky soul."

_"I'm sure he is."_ Haretosora muttered inside Takara's mind. The Lieutenant suppressed a giggle, knowing how low of an opinion her Zanpaku-to had toward the mimicker. Within the space of a few clicks, an invisible doorway had appeared, swinging open at Toya's touch.

"This is my mindscape. Welcome to black tower." He said, letting her pass through first. Takara felt an invisible pull vibrate at her arms and legs then as soon as she passed the threshold and stood in the dimly lit room, it faded.

_"We've truly entered Toya's mindscape."_ Haretosora filled in. _"That was the barrier you felt between the Shurei level and this dimension." _

Her eyes barely becoming accustomed to the muted light of the obsidian tower, glimpsed on the three main walls, oak shelves glimmering with a rosy patina with narrow spines of what appeared to be books lining every inch of their interiors. Toya chagrined with the lack of lighting, uttered a hurried, "excuse me." And crossed the room, switching on every available lamp hidden in the corners until the room was flooded with light.

"Sorry, 'bout that. Kage likes the dark for obvious reasons that's why he keeps it so bloody gloomy in here all the time." Toya said, dusting his hands and glancing around the cluttered floor with another flush of red tinting his cheeks. "Damn him..." he bent over swiftly and gathered an armload of books piled up haphazardly on the floor. "I keep telling him if he's going to be poking around my stuff-"

She discreetly peeked at the nearest title, deciding to read it aloud. "Kido for beginners? That's a Soul Society text book." He had turned to replace the books on the shelf, turning slightly to apologize again when it came out sharply, "don't touch that!"

Takara though startled, didn't immediately withdraw from a slender volume that bore the title: _Arcadia 1888_. "Why?" she watched him sweat visibly. "Is it something you're afraid of the world knowing?"

Momentarily stunned at how well her intuition divined the true reason, Toya unable to hold her gaze anymore, looked down at the flagstone flooring, mumbling to himself. "Everyone has a side that they don't want anyone else to know exists." While she absorbed his words, her expression changing to one of pity, Toya's eyes closed briefly unable to take it. _You most of all...I don't want you to know of the coward I've been_.

A gentle touch as a small hand folded over his caused his eyes to open. Takara had approached, covering his larger hand with hers, she slowly intertwined fingers with him, gazing earnestly up into his face. "I won't ask...because I'm not naive enough to think that I could understand how you felt then." She shook her head, "no one can. No one but you...a body can't judge another, only you can judge yourself."

"Taka-chan..." he felt the slightest frisson between them. A tingle in the slight skin contact between hands. By instinct that he had thought long deadened, he began lowering his face closer to hers. By happenstance, Takara had her chin tilted up, her blue eyes searching his. "There's nothing..." she breathed, "that could ever make me change how I feel toward you. Nothing in your past..it's the same as with Gin. Gin has things in his past that I don't know about and I don't care."

At the mention of the man's name, Toya bolted upright suddenly, stumbling back and upsetting several stacks of books. Attempting to put distance between them, he tripped over the leg of a hidden butterfly chair and fell. In a heap on the floor, he hung his head in embarrassment while Takara fussed over him.

"No, really I'm alright." he answered to her inquiries, waving her away and firmly putting thoughts of _the other_ kind out of his head. Takara backed off, still bright-eyed with an innocent expression on her face. "Are you sure?" she persisted timidly. The man spun on his heel, a random book in hand which he promptly shoved back anywhere on the middle shelf on the wall just so he could avoid her gaze for a minute or so longer. _Idiot. Any guy could fall for the trap of those baby blue eyes!_ Clenching one fist lightly, he thanked whomever deities were out there, that Kage had not been snooping through his head moments before.

_He'd never have heard the end of it_.

Forcing his tone to remain natural, he turned back to face her, gesturing around the room, "take a seat."

Oblivious to the real reason he had moved away from her, Takara looked about hesitantly. "Okay..." in the immediate area, she discerned several chairs of recent make, similar to the one Toya had caught his Tabi boot on. These were laden to the sagging point with more of the same heavy leather-bound tomes. A few more caught her eye as she walked past them to the corner where the iron winding staircase was set deep into the wall. The steps were unusually wide, perforated to see below as was the style for most library staircases. On the second step, she sat, leaning her elbows on the tops of her knees as Toya puttered about, muttering to himself continuously putting away books.

She let a few minutes silence lapse before deciding to question him further. "So, what's the story? You said before that there was only one other person whom knew how you had first met your Zanpaku-to."

His motions had stopped.

Takara gazed at him fixedly from the corner. "What's the deal then?"

"I..." he ran his long fingers along the spines of the books. "I have this ability to jump through dimensions. Part of Kage-Bunshin's power is to evaporate through the material, becoming an immaterial form. It's like I can climb up to the next level and simply evaporate into a mist of blackness and pass through back to you."

She nodded slightly in understanding. During the battle over a hundred years before, Toya's entrance and unusual abilities had assisted a part of the main force of the scattered Shinigami against the rampaging Hollows. She would never forget how he had pulled Kyou Retsu from a mass of the creatures, only seconds from the boy being torn apart by them.

"...This goes beyond that. You're the only one besides Ile-" he stopped, he couldn't bring himself to say her name. Awkwardly then, Toya fidgeted with the book in his hands. "You're the first one I've told in the Juppongatana about this power..."

Takara could see he was deeply troubled, carefully, she went on, "so, it's something you were born with? Or maybe something that developed after you died as a human?" she struggled to understand.

"I guess that's possible. Kage likened it to the Shin-Soku of the Fire Elemental. Keiko can move so fast that she pierces through the dimensional walls, at a speed supposedly outmatching Shihoin Yoruichi whom was legendary in my time for her Shunpo."

"But, it's not speed, is it?"

He set the book down, gazing down at the palms of his hands. "No, it's a conscious thing I have to keep myself from doing. Like I can barely control it. You saw for yourself that I never released my Zanpaku-to."

She nodded again slightly, unsure of the point he was trying to make. "Yeah but where did it come from? Kage's ability to become immaterial as well as anything you touch, is explainable, but to pass through dimensions goes beyond anything I know of."

Toya paced away from the shelf, his countenance deeply troubled. "There is one thing..."

"What?" she caught the strange note in his voice.

"I know this sounds even weirder, but I have this memory of being an adult in the time before I was in Soul Society and something..." he frowned as he searched his reminiscences. "Like a distant battlefield."

Takara shrugged slightly, "well maybe you were and you died in battle and then were taken to Soul Society."

Toya stopped pacing, turning around to face her fully. "That's just it though...I was a child when I was placed in the Rukon district."

-TBC

AN: *getting ready to pass out* Thanks for reading

No flames!

Reviews loved :)


	80. We're no Angels

_Don't act like an angel/ You're fallen again _

ShiKai CH.72: We're no angels

_The binds hurt. So did the ones around her ankles. Beneath her bare feet, the floor was cold. Two guards pulled her along, faceless the world around her was monochromatic washed out colors blurring into a corridor and a doorway._

_She didn't want to go through it._

_The chains clanked noisily as her heels scraped and she was dragged through with minimal effort. Inside, the chamber was vast, shrouded in darkness. The guards took her to a spot in the middle of the floor where her appearance commanded attention. Her head finally lifted, ahead were rows upon rows of seated figures._

_The Central 46. Alive. _

_She remembered her and Toya's brief passage through the high court. Then, she had felt disdain, now only fright. She was alone now and had been brought before them to be judged._

_"Shimizu Takara," boomed a deep voice from somewhere to the middle of the centermost row. Her eyes struggled to see the face of the judge yet failed. "You have been brought before this high court to stand trial-"_

_"For what!" She called out hoarsely. Her voice cracked with fear. She couldn't even sense Haretosora around her anymore. The council member went on as if he hadn't ever been interrupted._

_"-As Kouseitan'i of Fire for committing treasonous acts toward King and Country."_

_Her stomach dropped. No...no...I'm-_

_The Council members wavered into dark haze. The world around her distorted suddenly into a blood-soaked road. The ground was littered with charred bodies and in the center of the carnage, a figure soaked by the rain rocked, singing the same refrain in a strange tongue under her breath._

_"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, in your stomach and out your mouth." _

_In the distance the trial continued._

_"-you are to be executed tomorrow-"_

_Before she could even cry out, the world changed again and it was daylight. The brilliant sun blinded her and silhouetted the huge frame in the same grayish shadow. There were people all around, wearing black robes, many faces she did not know._

_This is-_

_Sokyoku Hill. As the realization made her heart plummet, her lungs constrict with fear, the vision split. It was the same image of falling rain and the girl with her head bowed. Droplets ran in rivulets through her red-stained hair, slowly, ever so slowly-_

_The same guards dragged Takara forward._

_-a face of malicious delight lifted, a smile curved full red lips. _

_It was her own face_.

She screamed, bolting upright in bed, her hand outstretched toward-

_Toward whom? _

As her fist curled and fell to the blankets wrapped around her waist, Takara remembered a face in the fringes of the crowd. One of a man whom was being restrained as she was.

_"Meurtrier!" _

Her own voice replayed in her mind. "I said that..but what does it all mean?"

...Early morning...

"Seireitei was broken into?"

"Y-yes." Takara cleared her throat, a flush of color threatening to rise to her cheeks. The breakfast table had grown silent; she met Toya's eye unwittingly.

He had paled as well.

"Were we contacted by Urahara?" Kei wore her hair down, rippling in a thick reddish-colored wave around her shoulders, two clips held her bangs back, her look was calculating.

Takara winced inwardly. She despised lying to a superior officer, any superior officer yet it was more so worse for she idolized the Fourth Company Captain. Forcing herself to stand straighter and look Kei in the eye, she answered clearly. "No. It was in a report sent to all Shinigami Divisions, stricter security was called for."

"I see." Kei's eyes narrowed but her suspicious look lessened. "I wonder who it was...who would be foolish enough to attempt a break-in after the last time with the Ryoka."

Again, Takara had the uncomfortable feeling _she knew_ as the mismatched eyes passed over each face in turn. Kagami's glass clinked as he set it down, "you speak of course, of Kurosaki and his band?"

"Yes." A look passed between them. Kazeatari noticed, her obsidian eyes rolling upward as she braced both elbows on the table. "I don't see what the big deal is. The Shinigami have always seemed lax, careless to me. Why two break-ins would get in their hair, is beyond me."

"It's because of their arrogance." Kei replied, making a face at the Wind wielder's lack of manners. She set about smoothing jam over her English muffin, taking care not to spill a bead on the table. "They believe they are superior in every way, untouchable. Therefore if someone destroys their sand castle, they get all up in arms."

"Makes sense," Kagami agreed, brushing crumbs from her latest muffin gesture from his napkin. "In a childish sort of way."

Kei flicked more crumbs when he wasn't looking, "did the report say if anything went missing?" Again the look. Takara faltered a moment, clearing her throat, "uh..no. At least not in the preliminary report we were able to get a hold of. I imagine a more thorough report was given to Division one." She thought of the time space continuum Toya had defied to replicate the scroll.

"There isn't a way to get a hold of that one?"

"No, I'm sorry it's fairly impossible. The security around First's mainframe is much harder to tamper with and not leave watermarks from our system. If we could..." she allowed her gaze to travel up the table from Kazeatari to Kagami across, then Kei and to Toya. Kanzaki was at the head, looking confused already. "Implant the bug, then we'd have unlimited access to their files, as their systems would be overwritten with our program."

"Changing registry keys, you mean." Kei was familiar with the pattern of Malware infiltration. "Simply rewriting a few outer files is unnoticeable for the most part, but a massive attack on their system could really make them go on the edge." She nodded to Takara, her plate forgotten, "how long would an entire system alteration take, were the bug to be implanted?"

"Wait-hold on a minute. You're not seriously thinking of..." Kanzaki interrupted. Kei visibly fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Hypothetically speaking. I meant no harm of course."

He looked increasingly doubtful, "_of course_."

Takara was grateful for the momentary distraction offered by the repartee. "Well...give or take a few minutes." Everyone glanced to her. "And if I would work really fast," she giggled a little, "I could get it done in five minutes tops."

"That fast?" Kanzaki muttered in amazement.

Kei tipped her orange juice glass to her in salute, "I'd expect nothing less from the best damn programmer this side of Assiah."

Takara accepted the warm praise with an embarrassed smile; cutlery clattered. The meal was resumed again. She hesitated, fiddling nervously with fingers, her hands folded at the small of her back, "there is one other thing I would like to ask."

Surprised Kei shrugged, "go on."

Toya met Takara's eyes, secretly pleading with her not to say another word.

She continued anyway. "I wondered if perhaps there was another whom could provide assistance, our forces are small after all. So I thought we could begin searching for him."

"Who?" Kei appeared intrigued, propping her chin in her hand.

"The earth Element."

Silence fell. The change was palpable, the charge was in the air. _Tension_. Apprehension flooded the room. Kei set her glass down with a sharp resonating thud. Kagami closed his eyes as if praying for patience, even Kazeatari had grown sullen, staring down into her reflection in the glass.

"Can you even fathom the extent of what you ask?" Kei murmured finally, her expression taut with dark fury. Takara hastily backtracked, "I'm sorry! I didn't-"

"Mean what you said, or did not simply understand?"

Takara trembled under the frost in her tone. It felt like she was only the one in the room, the only one whom Fire fixated on with piercing intent. She felt the core of hatred burning, lancing through to her absolute being. "I'm sorry." she squeaked, her throat tightening as though a vise were around it. The sound of Toya's chair scraping back registered dimly in her consciousness.

"Captain! I must-" _Alarm_.

"Do you not see the folly of what you would have unleashed upon us?" On her lips was a faint sneer, just a slight curve and cruelty in her eyes. "Listen well, Takara. Imagine this what you feel-" Kei's focus was unrelenting even for a moment even as silver flashed from Toya's hand and the Combi-stick was extended to rest inches from her face.

Her blue eyes leaked tears.

"Magnified a thousand times. Unyielding, crushing force bearing down on your soul."

Toya's breathing was uneven, harsh to Takara's hearing sensitive to even the slightest, softest sounds. "I'm sorry," he murmured, his eyes focused on no one but Kei. She went on in a softer tone, ignoring the blatant threat.

"I fear none of us could withstand such an assault."

"You would...assault an officer of same rank?" Kagami demanded harshly, infuriated. "Amakusa!"

"I'm sorry, Captain." To whom he apologized to, was never known.

...Mindscape of the Black Tower...

_"..Reasoning with it, is worthless."_

Kage held his head in his gloved hands. Seated at the base of the winding stairs, the darkness lacked the comfort he so desperately needed. Piled all around, stacks of ancient books provided him with none of what he seeked.

_How could he defend against something that had destroyed so many- none of them stood a chance_. Shutting his eyes, he groaned quietly in his throat. _Was this how they felt? The Thirteen Shinteichou on the eve of battle?_ He wondered if they knew they were facing annihilation.

He felt his power drawn on suddenly. A surge traveling up down his arms and legs as recognition came. As the static form was attached to the sword, so was Kage's consciousness inevitably linked to that of his wielder.

His head lifted, brow quirking in concentration. In everything that had happened since leaving Haineko's place, then with being waylaid by the earth-shaker, then the conference in Shirahime's palace then to the first of the domains of the Zanpaku-to spirits to speak with Sogyo and Kotowari...Kage shuddered still to recollect Jushiro's memory. Then after what Sazanami had told him-

He'd had very little mental contact with Toya in all that time. The ill-advised excursion undertaken by his wielder and the little blonde wielder of the star sword had barely made a flicker in the relative surroundings of the mimicker; Kage didn't like to recall the living nightmare he'd been thrust into along with the twins.

Being there in form barely providing support to cut open the portal to Soul Society; he had retreated to a nominal degree, choosing instead to visit the mindscape of Jushiro Ukitake's sword; leaving only his power for Toya to use. Now as he focused on the intention driving the blade, he recoiled sharply, hissing immediately into his wielder's mind.

_'Just what the hell do you think you're doing?'_

It took supreme effort not to materialize and slap his wielder a couple times which was what he wanted to do. Even Kage knew the foolishness of challenging the Fire element in any setting. He heard her words through his connection to Toya, felt her gaze pivot back to them and her hand lift, palm connecting to the tip of the Zanpaku-to.

Toya went skidding back. Kei rose calmly, vanishing from the table to appear as a slight pressure and biting kiss as she slid her index finger sharply across his throat. "See how defenseless you are?"

"That's enough!" Kagami pounded his fist on the table, rising when neither combatant heeded him.

His combi-stick became a shooting spear of light.

Kei flung her wrist out, countering it. "Shinso's flaw is the same as all projectile-type." Kage felt the graze of her skin, the reishii flowing in heat waves from her every pore. The sword bounced off it simply tearing from Toya's hand to skitter across the dining room floor with a loud clangor.

Toya made a desperate dive for it, never hearing her rapid phantom-like step, a perfect imitation of Kanzaki's after-image technique. Her fingers closed about the hilt of the sword, flipping it up with a perfectly executed hit to the tang. The tip flew up pointed at his throat.

"Imagine, Toya. What it would be like facing an enemy with a complete and utter lack of remorse. A being whom nothing in the world has value yet who desires everything with a lust that surpasses even a Hollow's hunger." Kei's gaze was steady, unflinching on his face. Kage felt Toya's realization sinking in. It had been an estimation, a test of their skills. While Toya could barely understand the edge Kei hinted at, Kage understood fully. Their sword could never pierce the level that the Elementals stood upon, he much doubted then that anyone ever could.

Kei tipped the sword up and away, twisting it elegantly in her hand to present it to him. "Imagine an unstoppable being.."

The tension slowly drained from the room. Kagami's hand slid from Sazanami's hilt.

"Who will not hesitate to kill you the _first time_." Kei turned away, her hand falling to her side, something in her eyes telling him she was looking into the past, at some distant memory. "That is what you would be facing were _he_ to rise up again."

...

_The Earth Elemental_.

Takara restlessly paced about her room. Every turn, her eyes would go to the pale ivory papyrus lying on the bed. The colors were vivid and bright as when it had been first painted, of that she was certain. Toya's reversal of time on the original piece had restored it to the period before it had been split apart. Gazing at it now, Takara simply didn't understand it.

_What had gone so wrong?_

_What had driven the four spirits into the world from the utopian-like paradise of Tsukikage during the King's reign, what was the cause for atonement?_

She silently made a gesture of frustration to the empty room.

They were all questions she dared not ask, yet the answers she desperately wanted to know.

Another troubling aspect of everything seemed to tie in somehow to the fall-from-grace; Takara stopped pacing, saying aloud, "why...if Yamamoto loved a Vasto Lordes once, why did he seek to destroy that which he had promised to protect?"

Nothing made sense.

She resumed pacing.

All questions without answers.

She had the innate sense that the day they would be answered, wasn't long in coming; she hated to think of the consequences that same day would bring upon all of them.

...

Kei walked up the third floor hallway. She was restless, slightly ill at ease. After a few more bites of breakfast, she had cleared her dishes, and announced she was going to get some work done down at Fourth's office. Once there, surrounded by status sheets about Arklay and the training progress of the newly formed Sixth Division officers, already there were two others, Konpaku from the eastern coast whom had chosen to take up the mantle of Soul Reaper.

They were still a few years away from becoming full-fledged officers; but even she could see the potential of the young man simply by reading Rizu Sakurai's report. The boy was showing signs of proficiency in Kido, performing basic Path of Destruction spells only a week after being shown how to channel his energy. The girl seemed to have a talent for Ho-Ho. Not out of the ordinary, but Kei thought eventually she could make a good fourth seat officer.

Zoe had sent a message under Kei's directive, to Hisrio up at First Division. She had advised that he leave the officers in Kanzaki's command and spend some time training the new Generation of Soul Reapers.

He of course sent a scathing message back, one that Zoe received at her terminal and sighed over. Kei had been grimacing over weather reports for the summer in Arcadia...a sticky note stuck to the corner gave the Wind wielder's rather obnoxious opinion.

_"Cool it down, Keiko. Just 'cause you're hot and bothered doesn't mean the rest of us have to suffer!" _

She found it wasn't amusing.

"I'm going to check on something with Takara. I'll be back in a while."

Zoe always understood. "Alright." A mock salute in American style. "I'll hold down the fort while you're gone."

Kei had smiled. That brought her to the hallway outside the rooms of Third's officers. Every Division had a small section cordoned off for officers third to Captain within the office building. Yet all maintained quarters up at the castle. These were the ones she traversed now, ticking off names to the doors as she passed.

Takara's was second to the last from the end of the hallway. The last door belonged to a small sitting room with breathtaking views of Assiah's eastern edge. Kei recalled that Toya's room was back the opposite way, up another long flight of stairs in the western tower.

_He had wanted solitude, back when he was just a ragged stranger with haunted eyes whom had stolen onto the battlefield_.

She stopped before the second door. "Takara?" she raised her fist and rapped twice. The sound echoed hollowly, at that time of day, most if not all officers would be attending to their duties below and on the grounds. Kei knew though that Takara had excused herself from the table and had gone up to her room in a mild state.

Which was why she had wanted to apologize.

Kei rapped a third time, she could sense energy on the other side and assumed it was the Lieutenant's. _It was strange how the girl didn't answer_... Her hand fell to the knob, "Takara? I'm-" she twisted it and leaned in the narrow aperture. "-coming in...Takara?"

Her eyes swept the sunlit interior, squinting as was becoming habit when the bright light became too intense. The slants fell across the dull wood floor, a small throw rug in the center displayed pale pinks and blues in a delicate flower pattern. Across the room beneath the row of bay windows, low bookshelves two rows deep held computer manuals and other small frilly things the absent girl was fond of.

Smiling faintly, Kei turned toward the bed, a coverlet of a bright blue galaxy sprinkled with tiny yellow stars was neatly made. The pillows were plumped, the pale yellow sheets below were neatly folded back a few inches. Her gaze finally lowered to the single spot of pale color against the darker blue.

She started back.

A tremor passed through her, born of shock, recognition and..._fear_.

_That was_-

...

"Thank you...for trying to defend me." Takara said, hands folded, looking quite contrite. Toya sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing at his temples then at his face.

"You're my Lieutenant. How could I as your Captain, not protect my adjutant?"

"But, I spoke out of turn!" Takara insisted, her pale blue eyes widening, pleading for him to understand. "It was of my own fault. The blame should lie solely in myself, not on Keiko."

He looked away, "Keiko. Keiki. In the end it all comes down to her." he sighed, his hands falling limply to his lap. "Taka, do you...believe Keiko is the most powerful in the worlds?"

"Of course!" She replied, sounding slightly insulted that he would even question it.

Toya sighed deeper, "I wonder..."

Takara's brow furrowed, "what?"

"Does Keiki consider herself the most powerful Kouseitan'i or is there another whom shares the same unattainable level?"

...

"Everything alright, Captain Nanatsu?"

Kagami shielded his eyes with his hand, glancing up from the ditch to see the lithe figure in grey standing above, peering down curiously.

"Oh, hi Zoe." he made a slight grimace, "nothing seriously wrong. Just a water main break from the pipes leading to Kimiko's garden."

Her eyebrow raised at the shovel he had. "Why not have the Konpaku work on it?"

Blue eyes rolled, disgruntlement evident in his tone, "because. Last evening, Kimiko came and demanded under threat of feeding me to a giant mutant Venus Flytrap or something, that I needed to fix it myself."

Zoe chuckled daintily behind her hand, shifting the stapled together papers. "Oh, I see. Can you tell me where the Lieutenant is? I have some reports to deliver, Captain Yamamoto already signed them."

He pointed off toward the castle, "she muttered something about gathering together a test kit to check the mineral levels."

"Okay, thanks." Zoe turned around, calling over her shoulder, "I'll just leave them on your desk. If that's alright with you?"

Kagami bent over, disappearing behind the edge of wet mud. "Yeah, that's fine." his voice came faintly. Zoe started toward back toward the Second Division office in the distance. Kagami straightened again, calling, "hey! Have you seen Amakusa and Takara? I meant to ask them about the results they had gotten."

Zoe paused, "no. I can't say I have. Weren't they at breakfast?"

"They were. Just that I forgot." he made a face again, "Toya had borrowed two of my swords. Said they were going to test Gekkouha out-"

"Wasn't that the sword involved in the incident with Kyou-kun?" Zoe interjected, then apologized, "sorry. Please go on."

He was willing to bet there wasn't a politer Soul Reaper in existence. He smiled faintly, "yes the very same. I told Toya there might be consequences in him wielding Gekkouha a second time, but they were persistent so I let them take the Shichisei as well."

"You care for Lieutenant Shimizu a lot, don't you?"

"Which one?" he complained, "there's two!"

They both shared a laugh.

Kagami sobered first, "I do though. For Takara, I was once given a burden by a friend whom had tried to have me executed, then later on, made me promise on the same bonds of friendship to take care of her. Reluctant though I was at the time to accept, I looked at the small frightened blue-eyed girl and realized she shouldn't be the one to pay for Gin's sins."

"What did Captain Yamamoto say?"

"Kei? Nothing much, I could tell she disagreed." Kagami chuckled, "the good thing about Kei is that she isn't very vocal about what she _disagrees_ upon. She shows it more through actions when sometimes that can become more of a problem than simple verbalization."

"True." Zoe nodded solemnly.

He shrugged, "but, we brought Takara along anyway. I've always known there was going to be a time when and if Gin didn't get himself imprisoned in the Hornet's nest, Takara would eventually leave us. I suppose part of me wished Gin wouldn't have survived this long as awful as that sounds."

"Gin Ichimaru is considered the enemy by the Shinigami, correct?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"Then, Lieutenant Shimizu would never have peace during the remainder of her life. They would be hunted down were the side of Hueco Mundo to lose the war." Zoe stated, her tone softening, "but, you know _this_."

"Of course." He smirked, yet Zoe knew the mockery was turned upon himself. "I know I cannot stop her, it is her choice. If Gin is her choice, then I must step aside and let her do what she wants. In a way that's what it means to love someone." He dusted his hands off, a fine layer of drying silt clung to his long delicately shaped artist's hands.

Zoe gazed at him, "how do you mean?"

Kagami looked at her steadily, "if you truly do love them, then you will let them go and if it's meant to be they will come back to you."

...Living world...

The feeling was annoying, being so undefined. He awoke with it, the sense niggling at him that something- somewhere, wasn't quite right. He battled with it, all the while choosing jeans with holes in the knees and a small chain looped through the belt, the shirt was black with a faded saying about attitude. But something-

Ichigo ran his hands through his hair distractedly, the morning sun slanted through the window, falling across the room in warm, rosy slats. What if...the notion seemed vaguely absurd even to his preoccupied state. _What if something had happened to Kei from the time of their parting the night before to now?_

He went through it several times in his mind, each time becoming more and more convinced that the feeling involved _her_. "Kei.." in two steps he had swiftly picked up his cell and punched in the very familiar number, he had it learned by memory now. As it rang, he wandered about his room, glowering at the sixth ring.

"C'mon! Pick up already!" Ichigo growled under his breath, gripping the phone hard in his hand. He heard a brief crackle then the line went to a message box.

"Please leave a message after the tone." Instructed a mechanized version of Shimizu Takara's voice. The beep sounded, he took it from his ear and jabbed the Call button. Almost immediately he redialed another number, one he despised using as he had seen it on a notepad at the Shoten once. It was Kagami's personal terminal.

He assumed the Water wielder had given it to Urahara in case of an emergency. He was glad he made note of it now as the line was picked up after three rings.

"Hello?"

If he had ever admitted it to himself, he was slightly jealous of the man's smooth as glass voice. Nothing if ever seemed to ruffle the man, Kagami was always the same, polished, cool exterior like a reflective surface. A surge of covetousness asserted itself; he didn't like how close the man was to her..._how Kagami got to be around her every single day_.

"Kagami?" The name felt like acid that he had to swallow. "How is everything over there? How's Kei?" his stubborn, traitorous heart skipped a beat, heavy with some emotion at speaking her name.

"How'd you get this number?" Kagami returned, sounding suspicious. "Dammit...did Kisuke give it to you?"

At the subtle note of anger; Ichigo took immediate offense. "No, he didn't. What's it to you even if he did?"

Exasperation was exhaled as a sigh. Kagami's smooth, even tone that he was so envious of, only fueled the anger burning in his chest. "Look, kid. You're taking everything the wrong way. I'm only asking how you got the number, why are you calling and what do you mean...how's Kei? I just saw her at breakfast two hours ago."

Ichigo released the knot of tension building in his shoulders. "I only wanted to know how she was. And if you say she's fine, then I believe you." Another idea occurred to him. A habitual scowl appeared. "Hey, put her on the phone, will ya."

"By what right do you demand anything of me?"

"Just shut up and do it!" he yelled.

"It's that attitude that I dislike intensely, Kurosaki."

"Well! No one asked you about what you like or dislike about me! Frankly, I don't give a damn!"

Kagami's voice was cool, scathing on the other end of the line, "no, no one did. And you're right in a way. It shouldn't matter how I feel about you, Kurosaki. It should be just the fact alone that you love her so much that should bring happiness to me. However, I find that your obsession seems to inspire the opposite in my mind. I cannot countenance you harming her, nor haunting her steps-"

"I-I'm not _obsessed!" _ The word itself seemed foreign. Alienable to everything he stood for. Kagami had hinted at feelings that bordered on more than society accepted. Yet, the more Ichigo forced himself to think about, the angrier he became. "You just can't stand the thought of us together!" He spluttered, articulation the farthest thing in mind as he struggled to express his building rage.

"Now, haven't we sung this song together before?" Kagami sounded bored, unimpressed. Ichigo took the cell phone from his ear, staring at it as if he had never truly seen it before. In his mind worked a thousand different scenarios, each sickening him beyond belief.

"You throw your sarcasm at me. With every breath you ridicule me and I know...oh yes, I know that every thought in your mind is of tearing us apart!"

Silence followed his shout. Momentarily surprised, he raised the phone back to his ear, listening to the slight static and soft breathing of the Elemental whom he had demeaned with an all too human emotion as jealousy. Ichigo felt a whole lot better than he had in a long time.

_It was the truth_.

He was certain of it.

A few more minutes passed, then Kagami laughed softly.

"Poor kid...you're as crazy as a loon. You really think the rest of the world is mad while you are the only sane one." A click sounded and the line hung up. Dumbfounded, he listened to the beep of the disconnected line, his gaze unseeing tilted to the floor.

_She's mine_. His mind thought it like a sly whisper.

"She's mine." His lips formed it.

The phone fell from his numb fingers.

He laughed, a malicious possessed light burning in his eyes.

The door closed softly.

...

Karin crept downstairs.

From the stove, Yuzu heard her twin's step on the stairs and glanced up expectantly. Their father had gone out to buy a fresh pack of Cigarettes. He had taken up smoking again _ever since_...

"Where's Ichi-nii?"

Karin's pale, narrow face seemed even more drawn than usual. The dark-haired girl seemed to shrink into herself as if facing something she would rather not. Like an emotion. Like a memory that lingered at the fringes of her consciousness.

Yuzu waited.

_Sweet, kind Yuzu_...Karin had spread her palms flat on the table, staring at the thin, narrow digits and saw them tremble. Her head raised, tilting up, her tone was normal. Bored even.

"He's coming. His lazy ass will be on the stairs anytime soon."

"Oh, good." Yuzu smiled tremulously, turning back to stir the morning rice. "I was beginning to worry. Ichi-nii sometimes doesn't even touch the food I take him in the evening."

Karin grunted, continuing to stare at the hands of hers, that trembled.

Shook as her voice wouldn't.

_Unable to forget as her mind couldn't._

_His face-his laugh and the voice...that seemed to emanate from deep inside of him_.

Yuzu murmured something about their father; Karin made a noncommittal noise, not knowing what to do anymore. Unsure if there was anything she could anymore. _No_... her small fists tightened. The clink of bowls followed as Yuzu began serving the rice.

_There was one thing_.

_**Pretend**_, that was the only thing they could do.

...Tsukikage castle...

It looked as it had centuries ago. In her mind's eye, she saw it new, she saw the edges of the finely woven fibers a pale golden, the colors as vivid as they were now. She saw also a grassy bank, trees mere saplings and the cut stone of a proud castle rising in the distance. The castle of Tsukikage as it once was.

The memory brought a sharp pang to her heart.

Kei shut her eyes, inhaling sharply. Takara's room smelled of cedar and linens. Just beneath it, she could sense the residuals of Haretosora's power, a sharp purity permeating the surroundings. She breathed in twice, exhaling then to cleanse her lungs. After another moment, she opened her eyes and walked up to the bed, bending slightly as she gathered up the scroll in her hands.

The material was soft to the touch, the weave tight. Everything, she saw, everything was as it was when Kotoko had created it. _Which meant_... she traced one finger gently against the delicately painted surface, looking for what no one else would know had been sealed inside the painting.

Her nails came across the raised filament.

Her eyesight blurred as she raised it up to her eyes,

_Hairs_.

...

The question that persisted most in her mind was one of curiosity. How had Takara gained a hold of the ancient scroll? Let alone that, how had it remained so perfect, so untouched by the centuries? Confusion abounded in her mind as she removed it from the Lieutenant's room, the scroll folded in one fist. On the stairs she ran into Kazeatari whom had been about to deliver a document from Rizu to Toya.

"Kaze.." Kei called as the wind wielder had started to walk on. Kazeatari paused and turned back, "what?"

"C'mere, a sec."

...

"Where...did you get _this?"_ Kazeatari's even tone was displaced with subtle apprehension. In truth, Kei knew the sight of the article disturbed her more than she would ever admit. _Him_. She could barely bring herself to look at _it_. At its image.

"Takara had it." Kei answered promptly, shaking her head at Kazeatari's sharp look. "I don't know how she got a hold of it."

"Have you asked her?"

"No." A sly glance. "I didn't think she would give me a straight answer were I to confront her about it."

"Are you insinuating Takara would lie?" Kazeatari sat perched at the edge of Kei's bed, her arms crossed in flowing sleeves of a greenish-blue short kimono, her dancers' pants were in plain black. Kei sitting across from her, gazed down at the scroll laid out between them, her mind was on the absent Lieutenant. "I understand it is difficult to believe Takara would be deceitful, in particular regards to us. I have no doubt she believes her intentions are for the best possible motive."

"Like what?"

Kei bit her lip, "I'm not sure exactly. But, I have my suspicions."

"Oh?" Kazeatari raised an eyebrow, "care to share then?"

"Not yet. I'd rather not have Kagami in this for now. I recall his Kido is excellent, a pity most certainly." A narrow look filled with disdain, "Your own skills are passable yet you never chose to excel."

"What are you getting at?" Kazeatari had recognized an insult to her face and now tapped her long manicured nails against the folded fan beneath her chin.

"Nothing in particular. I only ask for a powerful Kyomon barrier to be placed on the southern ramparts, I myself will perform the main Kido spell."

Kazeatari still looked slightly suspicious, "what kind of spell?"

Kei smirked slightly, hopping off the bed in a flurry of movement, her obi tied in a large violet ribbon trailed behind her, "you'll see. Go to your rooms and dress in human clothes. Also let Rizu know to tell everyone you are not to be disturbed...a severe migraine. I will do the same."

Kazeatari gazed upon her some amazement, "just _what_ are you planning?"

Kei paused in the next room, her profile half-turned toward Kazeatari, "I'm not sure yet." Her tone was softer, her gaze unseeing. "Maybe it's a question without an answer. Or perhaps...I am simply afraid of what resolution will bring."

...

Half an hour later, they met on the southern ramparts. The crenellated wall looked out over the clearest point, the distant canyons of Fire thorn and the flat plain just beyond the greylands. Kei had returned in dark jeans and a frail light grey tunic with quarter-length trailing sleeves. On her small feet black antique-style boots and Getsu-ten was strapped to her back.

Kazeatari had chosen black slacks and a silk dusty pink halter blouse. Her dark hair was upswept in a thick chignon, her fan in her hand as she snapped it out briskly, faintly excited. Her dark eyes glittered. "A Kyomon..think I can manage that. But, really, Keiko. What are we going to do? What is it you have in mind?"

She didn't answer right away as she crouched down, drawing a circle and sigils around it with a chalk stick. Kazeatari viewed it upside down, her eyes narrowing as she sought in her memory for the scrap of old knowledge.

It came to her when Kei had finished.

"That's-"

Kei glanced up, the hairs she had cut from the scroll resting in the center of the circle. "Yes. A tracking spell. Place the Kyomon now, dear."

Kazeatari looked even more dubious yet made the proper motions, a glassy sphere forming over them.

Kei stood when it was complete, forming her own hand gestures. "Bakudo...58, Kakushitsuijaku!" The Kido spell flared to life in the spherical enclosure, brilliant curls of bright light snaked around the dark hairs, encompassing them then spiraling up to pinpoint in a direction behind Assiah. Kei followed the arcing path with her senses as did Kazeatari. They had little trouble discerning its eventual end.

"That's..." Kei murmured, her eyes narrowing.

Kazeatari dispelled the Kyomon as the binding spell faded away. "The vicinity of Karakura town, give or take a fifty-five mile radius."

Kei winced almost imperceptibly, turning a voiceless question onto her fellow elemental. _But, that means-_

"He's human again."

...

Takara felt better after talking with Toya. He had agreed that should the need ever arise to reveal the scroll to the Elementals, they would corroborate the story and tell of everything that had happened in the Daireishokairō. The one thing she had fought him over, was his insistence that he take the blame in that event.

It had been her plan, she should've been the one to bear punishment if it was deemed so. Toya had shook his head at each remonstrance. He was her superior officer, he should be the one to pay the penalty.

On and on it went; Toya's voice never rising, patience in his manner as he calmly explained to her as if she was a wayward child, his reasons. In time she had nodded unhappily, forced to see only one thing.

_Toya wanted to protect her_.

"I have to go now. I-I'll be up at the office soon enough...I'm sorry for bothering you." Takara had murmured, looking askance away from his look of understanding that drove something painful into her heart. Haretosora had in the past, mentioned briefly of the woman Toya had once loved and lost because of his interference.

"You're a good man." She said as she turned toward the door.

He looked at her surprised from the bed.

"Never change, Toya. No matter that power you have, no matter how the world around you changes. Never lose sight of who you are."

...The world of the living, Karakura town...

Twenty-five miles of city. The heart of it had been given to Kazeatari to search, the portal Kei had opened above the town, resealed with a slight scent of burnt ozone. Human beings couldn't see them unless they were psychic as many residents of the town were. Kazeatari touched the shell pendant beneath her blouse, it was technology developed in early days to allow them access to the living world without their reiatsu levels being detected by Soul Society's radars.

Keiko wore one as well even though she had chosen the outlying areas as opposed to the town. Kazeatari in hindsight, supposed she didn't blame her; hovering over the milling crowds and rush of traffic. There was always a chance of being spotted by one of the Shinigami or by Kurosaki- that alone was the reason Kazeatari suspected Kei's careful deflection of searching the Karakura township herself.

"Wouldn't you rather search the town yourself?"

A sly look, "no. Why would I?"

The wind wielder sighed, _sometimes Fire was simply childish, aggravatingly so_. Kazeatari glanced about then scanned over the scrap of parchment onto which a hasty map of Karakura had been drawn. The spell had pinpointed to the east, seeming to travel around a certain stretch... Kazeatari unsnapped her fan and flicked it over her face, using Shindou to traverse the downtown section.

She wasn't sure whom would find him first.

...

The trees were thicker on the eastern side of the town. Kei raced through the avenues, her focus never wavering. One foot over the other, her steps were silent as transient as a leaf fluttering through the trail. One was buffeted by the sharpness of the Shin-Soku yet no human eye caught it.

Kei was unseen for the most part. A knowledge she relished, shimmering like a grey ghost in the afternoon shadows. Farther away she could sense the tendrils left by the Kakushitsuijaku and if she concentrated hard enough-

Kei veered sharply off to the left, flipping her body down and skating across reishii she solidified beneath her palms and heels. The massive arm crashed through the undergrowth seconds later, snatching at where she had been.

She breathed heavily watching thick white fingers open and claw the air. Taking another moment longer, she sprung upward and forward from her crouch, sprinting up the length of the thickly muscular appendage until the huge dog-like mask of bone loomed ahead from the clearing with the rest of the monstrous body.

Kei reached for Getsu-ten, her sights on splitting the skull in two when a loud, frantic cry emitted from the meaty fist clenched low to the ground. Her gaze dropped, she saw the soul of a human child with pigtails wailing in its fist.

"Dammit..." Kei hissed, her eyes narrowing in anger. She despised interfering...making a split second decision, she flipped off the upper arm and drew Getsu-ten in two sharp motions. Silver flashed and the Hollow howled in violent pain. Red raged in the air, splashing the ground in heavy splotches. Kei danced through it, slashing Getsu-ten sideways again, cleaving through muscles and tendons. The child screamed even louder, leaving her ears ringing.

"Shut up!" she spat, countering the blind blow aimed for her on the ground. A great crater rocked the earth where she had been standing. Kei crossed her arms, charging in below the next strike. Silently she moved, weaving her sword in a deadly wheeling dance. Getsu-ten glittered red, bloody mist rained upon the ground, Kei kept moving to avoid it, finally performing a spin kick to send the carved up appendage flying into the air. The spirit sobbed uncontrollably, screaming finally in terror as the Hollow's massive fingers were cut into shreds by Rokuren.

Kei's expression twisted into something vicious as she ducked beneath and caught the spirit heavily into her arms. Pivoting about, she brought Getsu-ten in a curving arc forward. The dog Hollow screeched unintelligibly, its body bearing deep bloody gashes, wounded badly, it still flailed about, the gleam of a Cero forming.

She stared at the light, her lips curling back in a sneer, "die already." Her fingers extended, blackness formed from her palm. "Hado 90...Kurohitsugi."

The black coffin swallowed up the clearing.

...

Kazeatari had sensed the Hollow probably even before Kei had. With the abruptness of movement from the Fire element's unique signature, Kazeatari had paused on the railing of a rooftop, some dizzying six stories up, to observe the melee.

Keiko was good, Kazeatari had to admit. Such sharp movements and swordplay were all befitting Squad Captain four. Kazeatari had barely noticed the child spirit's faint energy, she did then, as far away Keiko had veered to the ground. "You're going to save it?" she wondered aloud, crossing her arms loosely over her chest. A slight breeze caressed her face, lifting loose tendrils of mocha-colored hair.

"Why?"

Each strike of the wheeling sword dance she felt cut the air. Each graceful step of Keiko's solitary dance sent imperceptible waves of power into the atmosphere. Kazeatari frowned, unable to fathom the other element.

"Why would you interfere?"

A slight tint to the sky heralded the far off casting of Kurohitsugi. Kazeatari finally turned away, it would only be a matter of moments before Soul Society registered the unknown energy. She didn't want to be around when Hitsugaya and the other Shinigami came out in full force to investigate.

...

"Shut up, kid." Kei snarled, the spirit clamping arms around her neck. She hovered for a moment, assessing the remains of the Hollow, pierced into thousands of pieces. The entire clearing was a mass of gore and flesh fragments. Carefully, she darted to a small space beneath the branches of a tree, landing in the small circumference of green grassy ground.

She dropped her bundle, derision in her eyes. "I said shut up!" she snapped. The child stopped sobbing pathetically at such a harsh command. Huge gulps were taken in and large eyes peered fearfully from a bone-thin face.

Kei found herself despising her prior actions, regretting a change of heart that no matter how brief had been inspired from Ichigo. Her lips curled back over her teeth, her eyes flashed, angrily she shoved Getsu-ten's shikai back into the sheathe, the glow of light sealing away.

"Listen, kid. I didn't do it 'cause I wanted to. So, next time, run away, hide from the masked-things, alright?" Kei stooped at eye level, glaring. The child sniffled some, then blinked at her in an innocent, curious manner.

She sucked her teeth, "right." Then straightened, beginning to stride away when the reedy thin voice called back to her.

"Are you an angel?"

She stopped.

"Momma used to say angels would protect us in our times of need."

She turned a little.

"The child gazed at her openly, inquisitively, "so, are you an angel Momma sent?"

Wind gusted along her back and lifted her hair, Kei gazed back as steadily, "I'm no angel. My name is Kei, child." She smiled faintly then vanished in a rapid burst of Shin-Soku.

...

She was close..she could feel it. The grains of power left by the Kido had wound around the town, the trail thickening the farther Kaze went. There was an anticipation in her soul, a stirring of her power as Byakko shared the equal mix of anxiety and resolution. Kazeatari knew that she and Kei bore the same feelings.

The same pain.

They and Kagami. Yet to know...that, the road to rebirth had happened long ago for them, for _him_, she believed it was a shorter period. Every nerve in her body thrilled, tautening like a spring of coiled power. The wind kicked up in her excitement, swirling leaves and bits of paper down the stretch of roadway. Kazeatari unable to stand it, leapt down and raced down the sidewalk, a mere ripple in the air to the naked eye.

_Close_-

Voices.

Something disturbed her concentration, broke onto the surface of memory.

Abruptly she pulled off, vanishing into the narrow darkness between two buildings. The sun was midway in the sky, stretching long, warm fingers across the asphalt.

Steps.

Kazeatari waited, hidden from all, her arms hung at her sides, one hand curled around the hard bamboo frame of the fan. Then as she waited in breathless suspense, something, something gentle touched the back of her hand.

The scream froze in her throat, like jagged shards, her obsidian eyes widened in horrific loathing greater than anything she had ever known.

Genbu's child-like form raised a tiny chubby finger to malodorous, rotting lips.

"Hush."

Gravity pinioned her down in silence.

Then, she knew.

_Everything_.

...

The sun was setting, far off in the distance, Kei could feel the Shinigami that comprised Hitsugaya's advance relief team, converging on the forest. Karakura was emptied of Shinigami. Striding up the deserted street, she quickened her step, sensing Ichigo's reiatsu near Kuchiki's. _All the merry little band_, she thought coldly, reaching the narrow fissure between the buildings.

"Kaze!" Kei leaned in, her annoyance growing. "Kaze, what're you-"

The wind wielder crouched, knees bent, pressed to the sides of the next building's wall. Her head was tilted back, a look of numbness bleeding all expression from her face.

"...are you alright?" Kei squeezed in, wriggling past the brick wall to stand and look down at the wind element. At her question, Kazeatari's dark obsidian eyes seemed to dilate then suddenly widen, life flooding back into them.

"Kei..ki?"

A strange look came over Kei's face. "Y-yeah? Did something-"

A soft whump sounded as the wind wielder grasped her around the waist, burying her head against her middle. Kei was taken aback as the dark head bowed, Kazeatari's soft breaths rustled the fabric of her blouse.

"Hey..is everything alright, Kaze?" awkwardly she patted the woman's shoulder, seeing the silk stained beneath her palm. _Clay-?_ She gently relinquished the woman's hold; Kazeatari stiffened and shook her head in absolute refusal as Kei began. "What happened? Why are you-"

"Don't ask, Keiko."

She stared at her uncomprehendingly. "Why? What are you-" _trying to hide_.

Kazeatari shook her head even harder, her features hardening. "No. There are some things even _you_ cannot atone for."

...

_Who did this?_

Hitsugaya knew every single one of Kurosaki's immediate friends and his relief team had sensed the massive energy unleashed in the southeastern outskirts of Karakura. In the borders of forest, they converged in spirit form, leaving the Gigais behind.

"Taichou..." Matsumoto murmured, her eyes widening as she took in the destruction. The Hollow had been a massive one from the size of the spirit pressure recorded by the Research and Development Division, the other whom had destroyed it, had for the most part gone under the radar.

The longer Hitsugaya looked around, the more he glimpsed strikes rent into the bloodied ground. _Like from a sword_...

"What's going on, Toshiro?" Kurosaki's voice cut through his suspicions. Turquoise eyes looked up and met amber, Kuchiki followed closely behind him as well as the three humans. Ishida glanced about and caught sight of the sword marks, eyes widening behind the glasses.

Hitsugaya chose to ignore the lack of honorific for the time being, "I'm sure as Kuchiki and yourself know, a large Hollow was reported in this area twenty minutes ago. Before any of us could be deployed out to dispatch the Hollow, a sudden fluctuation was recorded near it. We believe it was a high-level Kido spell executed by an unknown personage. We-"

"There's a child!" Yumichika's falsetto voice rang out. Everyone turned. Ikkaku could be heard speaking roughly to the small bundle curled up against the far tree. Hitsugaya's eye twitched, "oh for the love of-"

"How cute!" Inoue cried, hurrying ahead of the rest of them to drop down beside the small dark-haired girl. Ikkaku sucked his teeth addressed Hitsugaya, "can't get a word out of it."

He was inclined to roll his eyes, "perhaps it was simply your manner of asking?"

Kurosaki snickered and Ikkaku glowered heavily at him.

"-My name's Hitomi." The child shyly answered to Orihime's gentle questioning. The orange-haired girl beamed, "that's a pretty name! Now, Hitomi-chan, can you tell us what happened here?"

The little girl shook her head, "promised. Can't break a promise to the pretty lady."

Silence fell; Orihime tilted her head at a slight angle, "oh, I see. That's very important not breaking someone's trust! You're a very honorable girl, Hitomi-chan!"

Hitsugaya's glance slanted away to the crisscrossing cuts lacerating the earth. _Kendo_. _Someone whom had great Kendo skills, a master of the blade_. He noticed Kurosaki's gaze on the same thing. The same suspicion flickered through both their minds.

"You guys get on back to Urahara's. See if he's got any ideas on what happened here." Kurosaki said slowly, his gaze drifting back to the little girl ghost, he jerked a thumb down, "I'll take care of this one."

Inoue patted the child's head gently and smiled one last time as Kurosaki approached. Hitsugaya was momentarily displaced by the commanding air the Shinigami sub had affected. He- a Taichou had just been dismissed by a teenager in the guise of death! The strange thing was...everyone seemed to just _obey_.

Ikkaku and Yumichika had given vague nods were sauntering off to return back to their stationary post at Karakura's park, Kuchiki was looking back at Kurosaki, an undecipherable expression on her face. In time she nodded and motioned to Orihime, "let's go, 'hime-chan." Matsumoto looked after them then joined them. Ishida briefly caught Hitsugaya's eye then dipped his head twice in silent _no_.

The Tensai didn't understand.

Everyone slowly drained away until it was only he, Kurosaki and the child left amidst the disintegrating pieces of Hollow.

"Kurosaki, do you even know how to-"

"Perform Konso?" Kurosaki finished without looking back. A slight sigh, "yeah. It was one of the first things Rukia beat into my skull back in the day."

Hitsugaya hesitated, he wasn't sure why. "I see. Guess I'll..go now. If I don't, Matsumoto will sneak off to harass some poor human salesclerk."

Kurosaki made no reply.

He didn't move as long as Toshiro had him in sight.

It was only when the Tensai's reiatsu faded, when silence and shadow descended onto the clearing did Ichigo move, dropping down to one knee, eye level to the spirit. "Now, Hitomi, don't be afraid. I'm going to send you to a better place. One where there's no monsters and-"

"Are there other angels there too?"

He hesitated for only a second, fighting hard to keep his excitement from showing. "Yeah, there is."

Light flooded the child's face; a slight feeling of guilt clouded his conscience. Ichigo slowly stood, reaching for Zangetsu's hilt. "This ain't gonna hurt a bit." He hefted the hilt point downward, letting it descend gently until it was inches above the child's forehead. Something else came to him.

"Hitomi, I know some of the other.." the word seemed incongruous. "_Angels_. Can you tell me who saved you so I can thank her when I see her?"

The child gazed at him with a frankness he found slightly disturbing.

As the mark of light glowed on the child's forehead, expanding as she became a mass of spirit particles, Hitomi murmured, "Kei. She said her name was Kei. I just know she was an angel.."

The hell butterfly flew off into the gathering twilight.

Zangetsu stabbed the ground violently.

...Tsukikage castle...

"No..I'm afraid to say that we picked up nothing." Kagami stood a little apart from Takara. Toya hovered in the background, watching the door. On the large screen, Hitsugaya's youthful face creased with doubt, "are you sure about that?"

"Of course. Picking up anonymous Kido casters isn't our job." He allowed a slight frown to color his patient expression. On the other side, Matsumoto flanked Hitsugaya and Urahara stood nearest the controls on the makeshift panel.

"I see. Pardon any offense I may have given."

"None taken." He smiled wryly, "What I was going to say is that maybe with the sheer enormity of the spell, that it was Kuro-"

A door banged off in the distance. Kisuke turned slightly, at the sound of hurried footsteps in the hallway. Briefly Tessai's voice was heard, raised in objection.

"Mr. Kurosaki-!"

The door behind the Shinigami flew open.

Kagami surveyed him coolly, never losing his smile. "Speak of the devil. Hello, Kurosaki."

Tension sparked between the two men whom were worlds apart.

"Kagami." Ichigo spat.

...

She couldn't get a single thing out of the woman. Not what she had seen or witnessed during the half hour prior to Kei going and finding her slumped in the fissure between the buildings. Kazeatari kept pace, Kei glanced occasionally from the corner of her eye, knowing something had disturbed the wind wielder greatly.

_But, what? _

Given the wind wielder's disposition, it was difficult to think of anything that could bother her to that much degree. She was fairly unshakeable. Kei knew that and yet... two mismatched eyes looked to the far off astral line, the barrier between the worlds.

...

"Where's Kei?"

"Haven't you asked that enough in one day?" Kagami watched the boy redden and darkly scowl. Takara sent him a covert glance, for the time being, he chose fixate his attention on the human in the guise of death.

"Gripped by a single being-"

"I told you," Kurosaki roughly interjected. "I'm not like that!"

"Really? Then, explain to me why she dominates your every other thought? Explain to me why you're gripped by having to know every single hour her exact location?" Kagami pronounced evenly, ignoring the looks Hitsugaya sent the human, the scrutiny Kisuke turned upon his pupil. Only the Fukutaichou, Matsumoto, remained strangely silent, _thoughtful_ he might've said.

"It's just I-"

"Just _what_, Kurosaki?" From behind to the side, Takara shifted uneasily. The blonde Lieutenant had been witness to violent fights in the past from the Rukon district where she had lived before Gin had taken her in. Given Kurosaki's volatile temperament, Kagami supposed he didn't blame her; even though a war of words was hardly productive at this stage in the game.

Kurosaki opened and closed his mouth several times.

Kagami raised his hand, halting anything further the boy might come up. "Please, just leave the room, Kurosaki-_kun_. The grown-ups have much further to discuss."

The boy spluttered a good many times before pointing crudely at the screen, "you're calling me a child! What about her!" Hitsugaya shot him a cold look in remonstrance, "Kurosaki!"

Takara looked around then went forward by Kagami's side. "Who me?"

The water wielder rubbed at his temples where a slight headache was forming, "watch your mouth, boy. Takara is over a hundred and forty years old."

The girl flushed and hid her head modestly.

He continued, "She's got at least several decades on Kuchiki. Think...before you seek to compare yourself to anyone but another human." His eyes remained fixed on Kurosaki's anger-filled face. "To us the Eramentar, you are but an ephemeral shadow, one of many throughout the centuries. Do not think you are anymore than _that_."

Kurosaki was rendered speechless, enough so that Kisuke could quietly motion Tessai in and have the large burly man escort Kurosaki out. Kagami turned his attention then to Hitsugaya, smiling faintly, "I believe we were interrupted-"

"You." Kurosaki's hiss was barely audible. In the doorway, Tessai gripped the smaller boy's arm, tugging fiercely. "Mr. Kurosaki-! Come along now!"

Kagami gazed calmly back at the boy whose amber eyes glowed golden but not with the aberrance of a Hollow.

"You'll know hell before this is over."

...

Hitsugaya hastened to apologize. Pale, from the absent Kurosaki's threat, the Tensai profusely rejected any notion that the Shinigami sub was connected to or any part of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

It was amusing to Kagami, who accepted every apology with aplomb. Careful to skirt from the edge of mockery by gently breaking into Hitsugaya's monologue with a slight wave. "Think nothing of it. I understand in part that Kurosaki's youth as much to do with how he treats his superiors. I've heard in past months as well, that Seireitei had very many problems concerning Kurosaki and his lack of obeying directive."

Hitsugaya immediately sobered, turquoise eyes grew heavy. "Yes. You've heard correctly. It is true that Kurosaki's insubordination has often driven a rift between rank and file."

Kagami allowed a frown to play on his lips. "Will that become a problem during the war?"

Relief lightened the shadow on the Taichou's face. Kagami read the emotion easily. Offense was the least thing Seireitei wanted to give with war imminent. "No, that will not be a problem. I can hardly..." here, Hitsugaya crossed his arms over his narrow chest and looked slightly away from Kagami's direct gaze.

"What?"

"-Expect it of _her_. In fact, I wouldn't believe it of someone so self-possessed. But, forgive my error if I am wrong in asking the same of your Yamamoto Keiko?"

Kagami took a few moments in answering, keeping his expression smooth. Takara looked to him as did Hitsugaya. "No, you are not remiss in asking. You see there is only one course I must take in laying aside your fears. I request only that your Fukutaichou and Kisuke leave the room momentarily." He turned to Takara whom was hovering with a curious look on her face.

"Taka-chan. Please, if you will?"

She pouted slightly, "but-"

"_Now_." Kagami ordered with a slight rise to his tone. Takara frowned and went to wait beside the door. In the other world, Hitsugaya calmly ordered the same of Matsumoto whom sauntered out haughtily and Kisuke whom smiled and shrugged.

"I'll leave you two gentlemen to it then."

After a few minutes, the quiet snap of the door had faded and so had the footsteps of tenth's Fukutaichou and the shopkeeper. Kagami leaned forward, mindful of Takara still. "You needn't worry so, Hitsugaya-san. Not when there is..."

...

They stepped down onto the southern balcony in unison. Kei pursed her lips, observing Kazeatari's stony expression. "Won't you at least tell me- hey, wa-" Kazeatari had simply turned on her heel and gone through the French doors leading into the sitting room adjoining Keiko's bedroom.

She followed closely at her heels. "What is it? Why won't you tell me anything!"

The wind wielder evaded her questions, crossing the length of the room in two swift strides. At the door Kazeatari turned slightly, expressionless. "One day we are going to die because of your mistake."

Kei stared at her in shock.

The door slammed shut with a finality. The sound jolted her and she flew to it, pulling it open to the empty hallway. "Kaze..?" The scent of wind was fading. _Shindou_, Kei thought, stepping out and closing the door behind her. No answer came, not that she had expected one. Glancing about still, she started forward, her mind in confusion for the wind wielder's last enigmatic sentence.

_My mistake?_

There were many for which Kei already drew atonement for and conceded as her fault. No being was without flaw or fault, she would've admitted that easily to anyone. Yet to take responsibility for one's actions, one's sins was an acknowledgement of the wrong done. She reached the end of the hall, climbing the sunken stairs to step out onto the level surface of the main hall.

Late afternoon had lulled the castle into a quiet sense of normalcy. The flagstones were swept clean, the sconces refilled and the main overhead switched on for daytime use. Kei searched restlessly about with her senses, feeling Kazeatari brooding in the farthest point of Tsukikage's grounds. Toya was heading down to First Division with Rizu Sakurai and-

Her gaze turned to the main staircase.

Takara and Kagami were in the Control room. What are they doing...silently she used Shin-Soku to cross the distance. She paused on the landing, glancing around then stepping quickly to the door hidden in the panel below the continuing flight of stairs.

It was ajar slightly. She leaned against the wall nearest the crack and listened intently.

"-In fact, I wouldn't believe it of someone so self-possessed. But, forgive my error if I am wrong in asking the same of your Yamamoto Keiko?"

She recognized Hitsugaya's voice, tensing slightly at the mention of her own name. _What were they speaking of?_ For moments silence reigned, she could imagine Kagami close to the screen, Takara at his side. The wielder of water spoke finally. "No, you are not remiss in asking. You see there is only one course I must take in laying aside your fears. I request only that your Fukutaichou and Kisuke leave the room momentarily."

Kei visibly bristled at the thought of Matsumoto. She was beginning to despise the woman intensely.

"Taka-chan. Please, if you will?" Kagami added.

"But-" The girl hesitated.

He raised his voice, "_now_."

Kei sensed Takara's annoyance heavy in her reiatsu field as the Lieutenant crossed the room to stand beside the door. Urahara spoke with a slight lilt to his tone, "I'll leave you two gentlemen to it then."

Though she had never been fond of the man, she wondered at the easy acceptance in which he gave in to Kagami's demand. In time, silence issued forth from the room, then it was broken by Kagami's low voice.

"You needn't worry so, Hitsugaya-san." He began softly, so softly that Kei had to strain to hear it.

"Not when there is..."

Kei froze for a moment. Then, Takara moved as if she heard a sound, the door started to swing open. Kei broke out of her immobility, phasing over the railing to the main floor far below. Hidden in the shadows, she pressed against the undercarriage of the staircase, listening to the brief creak of the door closing after a moment or two.

Kei waited another few seconds before phasing to the seventh step up, casually letting the sound of her footsteps thud and resound against the stone. The doorway loomed ahead, she knew Kagami had sensed her as well this time, without the guard over her energy. Kei touched the shell pendant in the pocket of her slacks briefly and affixed a slight smile on her face.

She opened the door just as the signal to Urahara's shop was disconnected. Kagami was facing the screen, a slender figure with sand-blond hair in loose grey and black that became part of the darkness. Takara hovered near the console, taking remote access from the computer strapped to her wrist.

"When?" Kei asked, propping one fist on her hip.

He turned slightly, his eyes widening the tiniest fraction at her ensemble.

"When is the game going to advance?"

Takara looked up at the sound of her voice, but Kei kept her eyes locked firmly on Kagami's face. The water wielder snorted softly, "eager, I see. Do not worry, you will not be bored again. We are to be at the Urahara Shoten tomorrow morning, Hitsugaya-Taichou will escort us to the gates."

She smiled tiredly; Kazeatari's ambiguous words were the farthest thing from her mind at that moment. "Good. Everything will finally move to its eventual conclusion from now on."

-TBC

AN: Thanks for reading :)

No flames!

Reviews loved ^_^


	81. Mala Suenos

.._Are there any left who haven't kissed the enemy?_

* * *

ShiKai CH.74: Mala Suenos

"...I won't be going."

"Why not?" Kagami looked surprised, fading light slanted across the worn stone floor of the Throne room. Across the way, Takara stood on tiptoe to ignite the sconces filled with scented beeswax cones from long wooden matches. Kanzaki made a face, "if I recall correctly, if I set foot in Seireitei again I'll have an army of black-clad Ninjas on me within seconds." His eyes narrowed in scathing sarcasm. "So, will _you_."

"That's what Hitsugaya and Ukitake-Taichou were working on." Kagami explained with a note of irritation at the man's stubbornness. "Exoneration for our crimes. Don't forget you aren't the only former jailbird around here."

Kanzaki snorted loudly, "hardly. How could I forget we're both ex-criminals?"

"But, if you're going to get amnesty on paper, why not go with us?" Kei persisted from her usual perch near the window. She had changed back into her uniform before joining Kagami on the flight of stairs up to the highest level of Tsukikage for the emergency meeting he'd had Takara announce. Kei now wore her short hakama cut far up the thigh and a plain grey yukata tucked in. Black showed at the collar and sleeves while the Haori coat was trimmed to flow elegantly around her hips, she had chosen a crimson butterfly obi with streaming tails from the back for the Captains meeting.

Kanzaki looked unimpressed with her logic, "it's just I have this allergy toward Pardons." For effect, he sniffled. Kei stared at him, "really?"

He seemed to get even more annoyed with her question, "no, Keiko. It's just a figure of speech."

"I knew that." She was quick to retort.

"Both of you cut it out." Kazeatari tiredly called from across the room. She had gone over to assist Takara and now all the sconces were lit, wafting soft jasmine fragrance in the atmosphere. Kei smelled it and frowned, asking of Kazeatari. "How come it's not Lily?"

They had hardly spoken a word to one another since the incident earlier in the day.

Kazeatari glanced over her shoulder from dropping the long wooden match into the tray Takara held. "The last time a trip was taken to purchase supplies from Earth, you said not to buy any more wax cones. That we had enough. Now you're bitching 'cause we don't have anymore?"

"I'm not bitching."

"You are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too." Kaze said with a smugness that made Kei clench and shake her fists in a threatening manner once Wind's back was turned. "Just like a spoiled child."

"I am not!" Kei burst out. "I-"

"For God sakes, shut up both of you. You're acting like a couple of five-year olds." Kagami muttered. To Takara's amazement, both women immediately became silent, though glaring at every interval at each other. Kanzaki rolled his eyes at their silent warfare.  
"Great. Now that the kids are occupied, can the adults have a nice, normal discussion?"

Kagami raised an eyebrow, "you know I hate to point out the obvious, but how many Captains are supposed to be present?" Kanzaki's gaze shifted from Kei to Kazeatari then himself, it was in the midst of this mental counting that the door abruptly swung open.

"Sorry I was running late!" Toya exclaimed, his hair damp and flyaway in the hasty ponytail. His robes bore damp spots on the shoulders and breast, evidence of the shower that had been interrupted. Over one arm was draped the Haori coat of Third. Everyone grew instantly sheepish, not that he noticed.

"See what I mean?" Kagami hissed surreptitiously to Kanzaki.

The latter sent him a glower. "Now, that we're all- _ahem_ - here, let's begin the meeting, shall we?"

"I thought we already had, before when you had forgotten about Toya-ko."

"Gah! Keiko, shut up!"

...

Dinner was a quiet affair. Coq au Vin had been served along with warm buttered bread. The Captains hardly touched their food, Kazeatari least of all. Zoe whom sat across from Kei, beside the other five Lieutenants made a half-hearted attempt at conversation with Takara, her neighbor.

The effort fell flat and soon even she had lapsed into silence.

After another period of forced eating, bowls were picked up by waiting attendants hired for the night. Kanzaki cleared his throat several times noisily, each time hesitating until Kagami finally kicked him hard on the shin beneath the table.

Swallowing the yelp, Kanzaki stood up hurriedly and addressed the Soul Reapers. "As many of you know, our alliance between the Shinigami of Seireitei has made temporary passes for their kind. We- as a whole, however, as some of us bear criminal records haven't been sanctioned to enter into the Seireitei. Be that as it may, tomorrow morning six of us will travel down to the Living world and will be escorted to a meeting with ten of the Thirteen remaining Taichous."

Kagami nodded slightly when his third seat looked quickly to him from down the table.

Kanzaki turned to Kei, "please continue the announcements."

She felt everyone's eyes on her. Smiling faintly, she rose as Kanzaki took his seat again. "I, Captain of Fourth, hereby declare the appointment of Akashi Osore as Captain of the new Sixth Division as accepted and binding. Multi sunt vocati, pauci vero Electi, never forget." She said crisply. Then, gestured for him to rise. Akashi fumbled with his wine glass then quickly stood, flushing.

"Uh, thank you, C-Captain Yamamoto. I'm honored. And uh-I won't. " He bowed swiftly. Kei nodded slightly, "Latin. Many are called, few are chosen. That rings true for the Six Divisions of the Juppongatana. I call for a moment of silence on this night, this night one hundred and twelve years ago, the call to arms was finally ceased." Kei lifted her glass that had been filled by the silent attendants.

"On this night..."

One by one, each of the thirty-five officers silently lifted their wine glasses in unison.

Kei looked at the swirling red in the glass, "we, the exiled, the reviled, became the Juppongatana! Never forget where you came from! Never give up the right we won! The right to live!"

Cheers exploded.

She held her glass up high, her expression losing some of its fire, softening as her mind turned to a distant memory of a battlefield. The merriment faded.

"And never forget the lost."

Glasses chinked then were downed in solemnity.

All during this, Akashi remained standing, now he fumbled again, ready to fall back into his seat. Kei swallowed hastily, shaking her head. "Keep standing."

"Captain?" he questioned.

She set her glass down. "As Kanzaki has announced previously, an envoy must be gathered to be sent in our name, to bear our civilities toward the Seireitei side. I call instead, seven Soul Reaper officers to fill that duty." she looked at each face in turn. "Kagami Nanatsu, Captain of Second." That was a given.

Kagami shrugged, staring moodily down into his wine glass.

"Third Division Captain, Toya Amakusa, to receive the pardons of clemency as he was once sentenced to the Senzaikyu for murder."

Toya blinked then looked a little startled as well.

"Third Division Lieutenant, Takara Shimizu for her vast knowledge on computer systems." Kei continued. "I, myself and my third seat, Aki Shikouten to represent the diversity we strive for amongst our ranks." She smiled finally and glanced almost mischievously to the woman seated next to her.

"And last but not least, I request my partner in nefarious undertakings-" there were a few disguised chortles. Her smile widened. "Captain Kazeatari Namaiki. As this envoy will remove four of the six Captains, I authorize immediate executive power over the Captain-less Divisions to be held jointly by Captains Osore and Kanzaki until the period of our return."

"B-But-"

"Yes?"

"Why not just let the Lieutenants act in your stead?" Akashi formulated with difficulty. The thought of so much responsibility was daunting to say the least. Kei fixed him with a singular piercing look.

"We are about to enter a war in which enmity surrounds us. In the event that none us were to survive or are unable to authorize strategic movements in case of battle breaking out on the Assiah side, you would take command and advance Fifth's officers to protect the gates of the city." She smiled at him reassuringly, "think of it as a failsafe to put our minds at ease."

He nodded at her words, yet his brow still furrowed the longer he gazed at her. "I understand. Yet, Captain Yamamoto, you are one of the most powerful Soul Reapers, considered by all present as the strongest out of all of us. If even you fall, then what chance do we have, whom not even possess half your strength?"

Silence fell. Many of the officers observed her, waiting for her response. Kei kept her composure, smiling slightly. "I'm...touched that you would see me that way. But, you all must remember, that not even the strongest being in the world is without weakness and that weakness becomes the root of all defeat."

Kagami glanced up and met her gaze.

Kei broke it and favored everyone at the table. "I will not say, I won't fall to a knife behind the back or a keen blade sharper than my own. I cannot promise I will return to all of you, for that is a fool's promise, for no one knows what tomorrow will bring." She hesitated, "yet I promise instead that my thoughts and part of my spirit will always be with you to watch over you until the day the sky ends."

...

"Those words were well-chosen."

"Thank you."

The midnight hour was over. The overhead lights in the castle were dimmed, sconces replacing the main lighting. The effect was of a fairytale castle sleeping beneath a violet-fantasia sky.

"Did you ever actually consider the possibility of there being a Shinigami powerful enough to destroy you?" Kagami sounded genuinely curious; Kazeatari had left them some paces behind to head off toward the eastern wing of the castle.

"I think the answer to that is obvious." Kei replied, breaking off toward the southern end. "I've always born that in mind, unlike Kazeatari whom refuses to give any Shinigami that joy."

"So, you have thought about it." He wondered aloud. She was several feet away, the sconce in the corner threw vague shadow around her, like an aura of darkness that left only sharp outline to some aspects of her form. Kei was in an enigmatic mood, one that irritated him the most.

"Yes." She turned away with a slight smile, "there is only one however, whom I wish to take my life. Yet they're no Shinigami, so your question remains unanswerable."

He watched her go, his jaw working. Who... then a new thought occurred to him. "Kurosaki? Is it him who you wish to take your life?" he was sure she had heard him, pausing only momentarily beneath a light, long enough for him to catch the same tiny smile.

"I'll never tell." Then, she was gone.

...

Takara lay across the bed, her sandaled feet hung off the edge, kicking slightly. She folded her hands beneath her chin, studying the scroll laid out on her pillow. The four Elementals were lifeless, stilted, without voices to speak and answer the questions burning in her mind.

_What went so wrong-_

_Why do you refuse to speak of the Earth Element? _

"Why won't you tell me your past, Keiko?" she asked of the painted figure in flame-colored robes. A deep sigh lifted her breast and at the same moment, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her door. Quickly, she flew up, snatching the scroll and plunging it beneath her sheets then sitting bolt right up, nervous.

"Takara?" A soft thud accompanied the voice.

The girl shifted so that her body hid the smallish lump from view. "Come in, Captain. The door's unlocked." As she spoke, the knob twisted and the Elemental of Fire appeared.

"Ah, thanks. I wasn't sure if you had turned in for the night." Kei began conversationally, closing the door gently. "Remember we have to get up earlier than accustomed to for the trip."

"About that-" she hesitated.

"Yes?"

"N-Never mind." Takara stammered, twiddling her hands nervously. "I-I was just wondering about something, is all."

"Oh? What?"

Takara had always found Keiko's manner unassuming, without the haughty gait of Hisrio nor the conceit of Kimiko, whom were all former Nobles like the woman before her. That fact was appreciated and even admired as she spread her hands out, relaxing, feeling as though she could confide anything in the Elemental.

"Isn't it going to hurt... traveling to Seireitei, remembering everything that happened there?" Remembering how you were betrayed, she thought but didn't add. Kei held her gaze for a minute longer than looked away, saying softly.

"Not all memories are an evil."

She didn't understand, "so, you're saying it's easier to forgive then?"

Kei's expression hardened momentarily, "I did not say that. I merely mean in one place or another, there can be good and bad memories. Sad things ...and happy things." Her gaze alighted on something on the small table and she went and picked it up to Takara's surprise. Without any other gesture, Kei perched at the edge of the bed and began brushing Takara's loose hair.

For moments neither spoke, then at length as Kei gathered the strands of golden blonde in her hands, she said, "think of it this way. What does this remind you of?"

Takara felt the bristles of the brush comb through her hair, in her mind's eye, a scene from the past replayed. She closed her eyes, murmuring, "a dark forest, flickering firelight and..."

"And?" Kei prompted when the Lieutenant hesitated.

"You and Kazeatari."

"Yes...and what else?"

Takara was confused, her eyes opened to the room, the forest faded into memory. "N-Nothing. I-"

"You were frightened then." Kei replied, taking short, deft strokes with the brush, "Gin Ichimaru had left you with Kagami and us, we were strangers at the time. Yet it was I and Kazeatari whom were there to soothe your fears in that strange new world we had entered." She smiled even though the girl didn't see. "Coming back now? Those feelings you had...a warm memory interlaced with sadness and fear?"

Little by little, Takara slowly gained understanding. "I was... _terrified_. I remember being always afraid that the Hollows would come, that I would be left alone to die in the wilderness. But you-.." her voice threatened to break with the surge of emotion rising in her chest. "You and Kaze-san..you took me by the hand and..and made me feel.."

After a long moment, Kei smiled vaguely, letting the blonde strands flow through her fingers one last time. She replaced the brush back on the table, "there's no need to tell me everything. Now, let me tell you something as well. A long time ago, in a short period before any of this, was when I met Kazeatari."

Takara had silenced herself with any questions she might've started asking, a small glimpse of the past was what she had wanted and now she was getting it. The Elementals had rarely ever spoken of the time spent in Seireitei before and after Kagami's arrest, which was what made Keiko's recollections all that more interesting.

"We saw each other in a most auspicious way, she and I. It was passing one of the instructors on the bridge, I was going and she was coming. I remember," Kei chuckled quietly, "this tall, almost gangly woman with an apathetic look on her face as the instructor pointed out the various rules for sparring conduct. I stared at the time, not because of her unusual skin color being rare in Seireitei nor the ragged floral scarf she had chosen to augment the plain white sash, there was just something about her- something so familiar that when our eyes met, she said something rude and I for once didn't retort."

Takara giggled, "that sounds just like Kaze-san."

Kei shared her amusement, "it is indeed. Anyway I heard later on that one of the new students had been reprimanded severely for insulting a senior Noble-"

"So, then you knew it was her."

"I learned her name, but that was it. It wasn't until a month or two had passed that gossip spread like wildfire about one of the students defeating every opponent that stepped onto the ring during the sparring matches held to determine our skill level. I already had a reputation for supreme proficiency in Kendo so it was inevitable that we come face to face."

"You actually sparred with Kaze-san? In front of all those Shinigami?" Takara was startled, she half-turned to see Kei shake her head slightly. "No. I sent her a telepathic message saying to meet me in the Rukon forest..."

_"You actually came."_

_"Who are you...some kind of princess or something? Your name is whispered in the hallways with awe, like you're something more than a little girl."_

_"I don't think I like your tone." _

_"Well, I don't like your methods." Kazeatari scowled darkly, growling. "Stay the hell out of my head!"_

_"You heard me then." She paced forward, grass stalks bent beneath her sandals. The look was coy in her eyes. "I was taking a risk, one I don't usually like to take, in summoning you in such a way. I gather, you must have some inkling to what you truly are. Pray tell what is your name?" _

_"Namaiki Kazeatari." _

_"No." Kei murmured teasingly, "your true name?"_

_Kazeatari lifted her hand, a slim bamboo framed fan materializing in it. "Wind." she said, her eyes narrowed on the other. _

_"Ah...I thought so!" Kei said, the beginnings of excitement in her voice. "If you are who you claim then prove it!" _

_Metal screeched a sonorous alignment as two blades flashed silver in the mid afternoon sun and then they were gone. Racing as blurs forward, one sword flashed again then they had passed one another. A second later, half a blade flew through the air and landed in the grass, upright. _

_Kazeatari flicked her wrist, wind gusted sharply. Kei pivoted around and leapt up as the cutting wind sliced at the stalks of grass at her ankles. "Reppu-Geki," she murmured with a wistfulness in her tone as the rest of the sword broke apart in her hand, melting into ash._

_"Why didn't you-?" Kazeatari began, sounding momentarily confused._

_"Because," Kei tossed her arm out, a large blackbird that had been watching from a nearby tree suddenly took flight, landing on her outstretched arm. The bird was hideous, a skeletal winged creature with glowing bright blue flame eyes. It melded into the form of a long Tachi-like blade with a diamond tip on each end. Kei's slim fingers curled around the tapered guard, swinging it out like a spear, "one can never be too careful, after all __**we**__ are not very popular around here."_

_Kazeatari straightened her stance, "why me?"_

_Kei smiled sweetly, "because, you and he promised me once you would never leave me alone. "_

"I never knew that." Takara wondered aloud, "I didn't know you and Kaze-san actually had a real sparring match to authenticate your identities."

"Hmm, yes."

"So who actually won?"

"Neither. Kazeatari nor I could not best one another. When it came down to it neither of us would give into the other so we both cut each other's throats." Kei said reminiscently, looking into the past, oblivious to the blonde's horrified look. "I healed of course within a short space of unconsciousness while Kazeatari simply bled out. I can still remember waking up and dragging her body to Kagami's door. Boy, can I tell you I got a scolding. He was of course able to revive her with the Hokuto Shichisei."

"And that's a good memory?" Doubt was evident in her voice.

Kei nodded, "yes it is."

...

Morning came sooner than anyone expected.

In a bedroom on the southern side, Kei awoke, staring up at the canopy. The room was still shrouded in early darkness, in her mind's eye, she still wandered the ruined cityscape calling for the spirit of a shattered sword.

"Tensa...damn you." Kei sat up, the sheets fell to her waist, the heels of her hands dug into her eyes. "I'll never forgive you if you leave me."

There was of course no response. The Kouseitan'i of fire forced her hands to fall to her sides and to look at the Meissen clock, knowing they had only an hour to be at the Shoten. She got up decisively then, beginning her morning ablutions, dressing within twenty minutes of arising. She had chosen a crimson set of a short Yukata and a black under-robe that reached her hips. Over that, a pair of short red hakama that ended far above the knee. The black haori she chose from one of many pressed and folded in a chest inside the closet, was shortened as well to accompany her summertime uniform. Kei slipped the sleeveless haori on, fastening the two Mizuchi knots before finally lifting out a length of red fabric with an inset of black striping through the middle. This, she wrapped around her waist and fashioned into an obi.

The tails were tied bow style and trailed behind her with each movement. Lastly, she slipped on a pair of black socks to below the knee and a pair of Gladiator sandals. Getsu-ten went through the bow of the obi in the back and remained at a slight tilted angle. She gathered her hair and pinned two clips to hold her bangs back.

Kei observed the picture she made in the mirror.

A girl made paler by the vibrant crimson. Dark circles denoted the restless night she'd had. She scowled at herself, "you don't even remember what love is." Her hand rose, stroking the coldness of her cheek. "If I don't remember what love is, then why would I hurt so?"

The question was without an answer.

Kei finally turned away, a mask slipping into place.

A mask of pleasantness, one to hide the bitterness. She left her room, knowing time was dwindling away like the sands in an hourglass.

...

Kazeatari had little compunction for anything other than her own whims. Which was why upon arising and dressing in a green silk Cherry blossom kimono, she immediately took up the stack of work she had neglected to finish the day before. While she had little qualms about letting Osore take up the extra work on her behalf, some conscience remained.

Rizu had always preferred neatly written documents to hasty scribbles and notes that Kei left on Zoe's desk every so often. Rizu being one of the few Soul Reapers whom had Kazeatari's esteem therefore, made her speed through the paperwork as the clock's hands moved ever closer to the half o'clock hour.

When she had finished, Kazeatari looked upon everything with satisfaction then ran a comb through her straight mocha-colored hair and pulled it back into an intricate topknot. For pants, she chose a pair of long dark brown hakama and a sea green obi, figuring that not even Keiko would choose a traditional show of support with the grey and black ensemble.

For a finishing touch, she slipped Kazekiri's wakizashi form through her obi sideways, and snapped her fan open to display a matching green silk print. She studied herself in the small bathroom mirror, gazing at the hard plains of her face to the apathetic look in her obsidian eyes.

"Who are you kidding? You're doing this all for _her_."

...

Kagami was awakened slightly earlier than the others by a quiet knock at the door. Rousing himself into a state of semi-alertness, the water Kouseitan'i sat up, drawing the covers back. "Come in," he called, not bothering to scan the reiatsu field.

"Captain?" It was Toya. The younger man looked fresh in neatly pressed robes and neatly tied back hair. "Sorry for troubling you so early. I-"

"Do you still keep earlier hours?" Kagami interrupted.

Toya looked away a little sheepishly. "Force of habit, I'm afraid. I was used to getting up with the lower seats and attending to early duties around the castle before heading on down to the office. I guess it's still with me- what it's like to be a grunt."

"_Peon_, I think is the term you are looking for." Kagami corrected, watching the young man absorb the word then flush indelicately.

"I didn't mean the lower seats are mistreated!" Toya blurted out, "I-I just mean that-"

"Amakusa, please." Kagami rubbed at his temples feeling a headache beginning to form. He'd been having quite a few in the last few days, particularly when it concerned other officers whom had tendencies to be loud. "We are both of the same rank, it's alright for you to speak frankly to me. Above all, I despise mincing words, so please." He gestured to the foot of the bed, "from now on, speak your thoughts with me. Not what you think I might prefer to hear."

The younger man colored slightly but took the proffered seat gratefully. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate your candor with me."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Kagami pointed out thoughtfully, his blue eyes twinkling mischievously. Toya chuckled a little then quickly sobered, his gaze resting on his clasped hands upon his knee. "I was thinking, sir..."

"Yes?"

"Why.." Toya struggled, "I guess what I want to know mostly is, what need have I to go with you and Captain Namaiki and Captain Yamamoto to Seireitei?"

Kagami exhaled softly, blue eyes closing as he gathered his thoughts. "That, Toya, is something I fear only _she_ could answer. I'm not as well versed in the rules of the game, so that is why the decision for whom was to go was left up to her."

He felt some confusion. "Game, sir?"

If anything, Kagami's smile grew thinner. "The game of life or death. One false move and your life is forfeit. I am just a pawn..." he leaned back slightly, "a piece to be moved across the board at another's volition. My one consolation is, it isn't so easy to kill me as it is others."

"But- but, that's awful!" Toya was appalled, visibly pale beneath the lamplight. "To play with lives like that! Who would.." he broke off suddenly, some clarity rushing in. Kagami was watching his face carefully, a tiny smile perched on his lips.

"Yes. I see you get it now."

Toya nodded faintly, "her. It's her."

"Her game." Kagami agreed, spreading his hands out, "and we are her pawns." After a long moment of silence, the water wielder began again, "I see it's five minutes past seven. If you don't mind, I-"

"Sir, can I ask you something else?"

Kagami hesitated on sliding from the bed. Surprised, he glanced to the other's face as he finally stood. "Go on, I'm listening." He then padded barefoot across the room to the large Wardrobe near the window. The hinges squeaked as the door opened and Kagami vanished inside. Toya shifted uneasily on the bed, taking note of Sazanami's sealed state resting on a sword stand close at hand.

"Well, I know it's kind of strange for me to be asking this..but I was kind of curious about the..past." Toya didn't detect an immediate change in the reiatsu level surrounding the man, so he went cautiously on.

Hangers scraped the inner bar as robes were pushed aside.

"Would you have considered the...elemental of earth to be handsome?"

The sound stopped.

Toya stiffened, swallowing hard as the man reappeared, a grey garment draped over one arm. There was no change in Kagami's expression, only a wistful kind of thoughtfulness in his voice as he echoed, "handsome? I suppose so, in a way."

"What do you mean?"

"In human terms it is difficult to measure the breadth of all an elemental encompasses." Kagami leaned against the wall, staring off into space. "You see, Toya, I could say his power was beyond anything you could imagine. Without scope, almost without limit, it was..." he shook his tousled blond head. " Incredible."

A shiver passed through Toya's body, unaccountably, he could feel Kage stirring. Yet something else reacted to the other's words. "Astounding? So, stabbing people to bits is something wonderful?" It came out harsher than he had meant. The moment the sentence had left his lips, Toya suddenly wondered how he had known it, and with such surety that even Kagami sent him a covert glance.

"I did not mean the things he did with that power were anything to be proud of. I was merely referencing ability greater than what you yourself can comprehend."

Toya dipped his head in penance. "Forgive me. I spoke out of turn."

"What did I tell you before?" Kagami reminded with a hint of annoyance in his easy tone. The Third Company Captain flushed scarlet again.

"Y-Yes, sir! You were saying-?"

Kagami had smiled briefly at the change of conversation but now it faded into moroseness. A darkness clouded his expression. "About power, I recall. There are many things that need to be taken into account, reasons for being, a motivation behind every action. But..that isn't what you asked. You merely wanted my singular opinion, did you not?"

Again, Toya nodded, swallowing with difficulty, "yes, sir. I was wondering if you could give me some kind of description of the earth elemental from what you remember?"

Another long look. _Measured. Careful_. Kagami at last shrugged slightly. "Very well then. He was slighter than you by body, narrow features, eyes neither wide nor small, almond-shaped and a very beautiful golden brown. His skin was dusky with a slight bronze tint to it, his hair was as long as yours at one point, a deep earth color. I remember Keiki running her fingers through it, he would often sit between her legs facing her."

Toya's dark eyebrows crept toward his hairline This surprised him greatly. "Captain Yamamoto? And she would let him?"

Kagami was silent for a time. "You forget, this is not Kei we speak of, it is her thousands of years ago before the fall. Things were..._different_ back then. To see them together, one would've thought they were lovers..." he glanced to the clock, seeing the hands pointing at 7:30AM. A deep sigh welled up, echoing forth from his chest. One born of soul-aching weariness. "Not brother and sister."

Toya's eyes widened. _You mean...?_

...

"What took you so long?" Kei complained, waving her spoon in meaning. Kazeatari sipped at her coffee, observing the pallor of Toya's expression and the calmness of the other. She wondered if something had happened.

Kagami reached the dining table first, beaming congenially at those gathered. "A very good morning to all and Amakusa had a few questions about the appropriation of paperwork to another seated officer. I simply gave the duty of Third, over to my Lieutenant Kimiko. That is the reason for our tardiness."

Kei nodded slightly, taking another bite of the grapefruit half in the cup. "Oh, I get it." She said after she had swallowed and daintily wiped her mouth with a folded linen napkin. "You're going to temporarily transfer the office duties from Third Division to Second while we're gone."

The man smiled, going over to the buffet server against the western wall to pour himself a cup of tea. "Exactly." Toya followed, seemingly a little lost when Takara rose from the table and appeared at his elbow, bearing a cup of fresh coffee from the pot on the table.

"Here, I wasn't sure how you took your coffee. I mean, Keiko takes it black with just a little sugar and Kaze-san with heavy Amaretto creamer." She looked so serious for a moment that his spell of moodiness passed and he genuinely smiled down at her.

"Thanks...Taka-chan. I usually prefer mine black with a hint of cinnamon-sugar."

Kagami watched them covertly from the corner of his eye, while selecting a breakfast pastry from the silver tray at the end of the sideboard. A faint smile curved his mouth when he glimpsed their chatter.

"Why not just hand over the duties of Third to my Division?" Kei spoke up again once he had taken a seat. Kagami checked the watch on his wrist before answering her. "I thought of it, however, I knew already that Zoe would have her hands full in assisting Lieutenant Sakurai on Kazeatari's behalf."

"True." Kei assented, folding her small hands beneath her chin, leaning her elbows forward on the table. "Third Division is the only one of the six with both commanding officers slated to be absent from office."

"If you're so concerned about it, why ask Amakusa and Taka-chan to attend as envoys with us?" Kagami stirred his tea, gaze on the deep-golden hued liquid and the black flecks swirling around the bottom of the porcelain cup. "I would've thought, you'd have preferred leaving at least two Captains in charge in case anything goes awry and we're unable to return in time."

She gave him a measured look, "so, you're saying I was wrong in requesting Amakusa and Shimizu's presences for the meeting with Seireitei?"

"No." Kagami said carefully, "I do not think that."

By this time, Toya and Takara had rejoined the table and now both glanced from the Fourth Division Captain to Second, questioningly.

"I for one," Takara began earnestly, fixating her gaze on Kei's faint smile. "Am honored to have been chosen by Captain Yamamoto."

"Thank you, dear." Kei smiled at her warmly from over the cup of coffee, "your enthusiasm and power is much appreciated to guard our backs."

Takara looked momentarily confused, "what do you-?"

The fire element smiled mysteriously, "just talking, dear. Just talking."

Kagami didn't miss the cold calculating look that had flickered over her face like a shadow.

Neither had Toya.

...

"Godspeed." Zoe wished solemnly, her cultured voice soft with accent. Kei clasped her hands, squeezing them gently, responding in quiet French.

"*Au revoir, cher ami. Nous reverrons un un autre si le destin le veut."

(lit* Goodbye, dear friend. We will see one another again if fate wills it.)

"*Oui. Si le destin est aimable. J'attendrai le jour où nous réunissons des épées encore." Zoe murmured as with one last smile, the Kouseitan'i of Fire let go and walked to join the others.

(lit* Yes. If fate is kind. I will wait for the day when we draw swords together again.)

"What are they saying? Pig Latin?" Kanzaki muttered earning him a boiling glare. Kagami beside him, received the fringes of it, frowning at the man as well.

"It's French, you frog."

The man did a double take to the other whom walked at his side. "Frog?"

"It's just an expression." Kagami said dismissively, looking ahead to the city gates where Rizu Sakurai stood with an expressionless Aki Shikouten. The sunset-haired Arrancar snapped to attention when Kei and Kazeatari reached them first.

"Captain Yamamoto, your orders, ma'am?"

Kei leveled her gaze on him, smiling faintly, "open a portal to the world of the living. Show them the power of the last of the twentieth Generation."

...

He knew he shouldn't have been so surprised at the ugly scowl sent his way. Kurosaki was one never to forgive an insult, even if the perceived insult was merely the truth. Hitsugaya seemed embarrassed by the Shinigami sub's open display of hostility, making every effort to exclude the human from the conversation.

"Good morning, I trust everyone is well-rested for the journey ahead?"

"Yes, thank you for asking." Kei said, smiling as she turned to the sub. "And how are you, Ichigo?"

Kagami moved away to confer with Hitsugaya across the room, recognizing the implicit meaning. Toya and Takara followed, leaving Kazeatari and Aki behind. But, even then, Kagami could see that at least to the boy's eyes just then, no one else existed, it was as if they were the only ones in the room.

"I'm okay, I guess."

Her glance had slanted off to the side where an opposite doorway was while he had been speaking but now she turned back to him, still smiling. "You guess? Shouldn't it be, I'm fine- or great, even?"

"Kei.._ki_." The boy murmured quietly, his gaze steady on her face.

"What is it?" she stepped closer only to have his arms enfold around her. The act drew even Toya's silent surprise, he exchanged looks with Takara, the blonde waggling her brows and surreptitiously touching her Zanpaku-to. Kagami knew then that they were both remembering a time not so long ago when Kurosaki had done something that was unforgiveable in their world.

Takara broke away from Toya's side abruptly after a few more moments of watching the human embrace the Elemental so tightly; bold as brass she went up to them, her blue eyes were intent on Kurosaki. "Pardon, but there are others present. Would that you relinquish, Captain Yamamoto as she is on duty and part of a diplomatic mission to Seireitei?" Takara asked crisply without a trace of fear as she laid a hand on Kei's upper arm.

"Taka-chan..." Kei murmured, blinking a little.

One could feel the temperature drop in the room.

Kagami watched them from the corner of his eye; Toya did as well, his expression creasing in concern for his Lieutenant. Kurosaki looked at her, piercingly, coldly, "who are you exactly? Shima Takazawa or something?"

She stood up straighter, staring him defiantly right in the eye. "Shimizu Takara, Lieutenant of Third Division. Now release Captain Yamamoto, _human_."

A ripple passed over Kurosaki's face.

Like a mask on a theatre stage, it was replaced within seconds leaving anyone to doubt whether or not anyone had truly seen it. Kurosaki stiffly released Kei, a scowl twisting his features. Takara smiled up at the elemental of Fire, gently tugging on her arm, "c'mon. Stand with us." And with that, lead her to join Toya again. The Captain of Third was visibly uneasy, his look questioning to Takara.

The blonde shrugged, glancing once over her shoulder to send a slight sneer to the human who stood alone.

Even with his Konjoukei, Kagami missed the eye of the serpent, ever watchful, fixating its gaze on the star sword, Haretosora.

_She would pay dearly for this_.

...

"Senbonzakura!" Kage called, cupping a gloved hand to his mouth. The world of the thousand cherry blossoms was vast, filled with trees continuously shedding delicate pink petals. It was a world of fine beauty, one that Kage with his shadows disliked.

"Senbon-"

"To whom do you hail from...trespasser?" The cultured male voice came from behind an obscuring cascade of blossoms. Kage stepped forward hurriedly, nearly slipping on the fallen petals covering the ground.

"Well, you see, I hail from- er..." he fumbled as the Samurai in ornate armor turned his fierce face mask in his direction. Kage motioned futilely, "From Shirahime! That little midget princess- I mean, Shirahime-san wishes me bid you greetings although why she couldn't come and tell her that-ack!" The mimicker fairly cried, jumping away from the pillar of rising petals. "Desist! Desist! I meant that as a joke! Of course you're a fine specimen of male Zanpaku-to spirit grace!"

For a moment nothing moved but the continuously falling blossoms then another sound broke the stillness. A soft musical chuckle muffled by the face mask echoed in the air. Dumbfounded, Kage lowered his hands, staring at the wind Zanpaku-to incredulously.

"Are you...laughing at me?"

Senbonzakura's gravity came back, the mirth faded. "Pardon, for it is the fact that you are a Fire spirit coming to the realm of the opposite element that has disturbed my solitude. In effect, I ask again, to whom do you belong, fire spirit?"

Kage gaped open mouthed at the other then finally snapped out of it. "Sorry, force of habit of forgetting formal introductions. I am Kage-Bunshin, Zanpaku-to of Juppongatana Third Division Taichou Amakusa Toya. I bid thee listen to me and assist in any way you can. There is one...whom seeks to destroy the worlds, I ask of you to please, " he dropped to one knee before the Samurai warrior. "Please! Protect the existence of the Fire Elemental!"

Senbonzakura exhaled softly, "you would ask this of me, knowing I have pledged my loyalty and self to the protection of my Mistress, the Elemental of Wind?"

Kage shriveled, "I get that! It is only because Keiki is the only being whom can stand up to him! So, please! I ask only that when the times comes, you stand with us against the Earth-shaker!"

...

While the tortoise slept, the hebi crept from their cave into the hellish light of Shurei. Like many other places connected to the Fire Element, it was a barren wasteland of ash and sulfuric fume. Glass littered the plain, crunching beneath the tiny sandals of the child.

He felt bad sneaking away thusly even with their powers so weak yet the hebi was sure he could take care of Kage-bunshin on such little strength alone.

The plateau of Shurei stretched ever farther. In the far distance, the pinnacle of the black tower rose high like the fabled tower of Babylon.

The hebi smiled.

_All towers must fall_.

...Karakura town...

Her senses were excellent. Yoruichi shrank from the glance of the Elemental, feeling a coldness descend into the pit of her stomach. The door was only open a slit, her reiatsu tightly suppressed yet the Soul Reaper had _felt_ her. Without a doubt.

Retreating down the inner hallway, Yoruichi stealthy crept in the pools of early morning shadow, a slight flinch rippling down her back when Kisuke spoke up quietly from an open doorway she was passing.

"Are you sure you don't want to see him?"

She stopped, appearing to carefully consider his words when it was all she had thought of since the night before. "What shall I say to him? Have I anything to speak of over a hundred years after the fact?"

"You haven't seen him," Kisuke persisted, stepping out into the hallway beside her. "He's different from how he was then."

She crossed her arms over her ample bosom, gazing away into the distance. "Is that a comfort or something I should find fault in? Nanatsu Kagami was once the head of my guards, a kind, resourceful man. I should think none of that's changed in the last hundred years."

"No. I doubt that as well."

Silence fell between them.

Yoruichi stood immobile, a dark Goddess in her own right yet frightened deeply inside- Kisuke knew, _of the man whom was only a few rooms away_.

"Can he be...such a monster?" Yoruichi finally broke the quiet, her yellow-green eyes lifting, searching her old friend's face. "This man I once knew?"

Kisuke had no answer for that, for truly only one could give it.

_The Elemental of Water_.

...

"We will travel in small groups." Kagami announced, turning to the rest of his company. Kei shrugged, "sounds fine. How will we be divided up?"

Hitsugaya spoke up, "Matsumoto, my Fukutaichou will attend with Captain Namaiki and Kagami-san and Shikouten-san."

Kei smiled a little, "and you?"

"I will-"

Kurosaki interrupted, "I'll go with Kei and her group."

Toya's dark eyebrows rose, his gaze went to the two women and finally to meet Hitsugaya's straightforward look. "I don't mean to speak ill of anyone, but wouldn't it be more fitting for an accepted member of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads to be in attendance with us?"

"I suppose so," Kagami said, looking to Hitsugaya as well. "You've said it yourself that Kurosaki isn't a part of Seireitei-"

"Now wait a damn minute! How dare you-" Flashing amber eyes spun to Toya almost accusingly. The Captain of Third felt the weight of the stare, standing his ground beside the women. He had the strangest notion of protecting them.

"Ichigo," Kei began smoothly, her expression softening, "you can come with us. But, Hitsugaya-Taichou must also attend with us as we are meant to split up, to enter a circuitous route to the secret meeting."

His glare lessened, he looked away, "..fine."

Toya wondered at the boy's maturity. Again, he and Takara exchanged looks. Just then, the sliding door opposite them slid open noisily, Kisuke Urahara appeared in his usual buoyant spirits.

"How goes everything, Hitsugaya-kun? Nanatsu-san?"

"Has Shihoin-san chosen not to show her.." Kei smirked in Urahara's direction. "_Courtesies_ to the Juppongatana officers?"

A moment passed, the implication sunk in slowly. Kei kept her expression neutral, friendly. Urahara measured her face and the depth of her stance before choosing to answer in the same imitative light tone. "No, I'm afraid Yoruichi had some important things to attend to. You may see her later on in Seireitei, if further actions might be taken concerning securing Karakura town from possible invasion."

She waited until he had turned away before speaking again. "Ah, I thought so.."

"Thought what, Yamamoto-san?" He replied pleasantly enough, drawing a warning look from Kagami to the girl as her smirk turned into a full smile.

"Nothing really. Only that I could sense Shihoin-san's reiatsu a little while ago just beyond that door," she pointed to the doorway he had entered through. "I wondered why she would choose to show such uncouthness-"

"Kei!" Kagami snapped.

She remained smiling, "perhaps it was my imagination then."

Urahara watched her narrowly from the corner of his eye. "Yes, maybe it was." Secretly he wondered at the level of her abilities; _for her to have sensed Yoruichi even with one of the secret techniques of the Onmitsu!_ "Follow me, the first group I'm sure has been divided up and will depart now."

...

The Shoji doors sealed shut over the backs of the Soul Reapers and the Fukutaichou. Takara felt her trepidation mounting, glancing to catch the same fleeting unease mirrored on Toya's face. Undoubtedly the same thoughts were passing through his mind of their botched mission into the Daireishokairō.

"Nervous?" Kei murmured softly as another portal was opened for them. Takara, surprised could only nod mutely, knowing Kurosaki was straining to hear their every word. "It's just been so long...I never knew anyone personally except for-" she hesitated on _Gin_, "one or two other officers. So, I suppose I never truly lived in Seireitei unlike you and Kagami-san and Kaze-san."

Kei squeezed her shoulder blade lightly. "That means you'll be able to make good memories, Taka-chan." The girl looked up and smiled, Kei continued, her own smile never wavering.

"Unlike our bad dreams."

...

Toya could feel the evil eye. _Oh! That evil eye!_ He thought to himself, getting the feeling that his back hairs were curling from Kurosaki's glare. Just ahead, Takara had linked arms with the Fire elemental, their heads barely apart in height.

He could see to the end of the tunnel already in the distance; he hoped Kurosaki would leave them soon...

...

It looked the same.

He hadn't expected it to be much different. But any sort of change would herald a shifting of rigid tenets. From the looks they garnered, ones that had Kazeatari tight-lipped though her power was taut ready to be fully released _on the swine_- as she hissed once to Byakko. With the Konjoukei, Kagami saw it and saw as well, the many spirits of the Zanpaku-to kneeling beside their itinerant masters.

Kneeling at the Master of Water and bowing to the Mistress of Wind.

Some were disappointed, he glimpsed the Fire spirits still bidding respect yet the saddened looks in their different sets of eyes all meant they shared the same feeling.

Their Mistress wasn't among the group.

"She'll be here soon." He murmured to a small flame-covered imp about the size of a small toddler that had come up to him. It ducked its head swiftly and ran off to hide behind the legs of a dissipated older man.

"Did you say something?" Matsumoto demanded from ahead of them.

"No."

"Not to you." Kazeatari added.

He would've face-palmed had it been more secluded quarters they were passing through, not a street on Seireitei's eastern side. In the next moment, Matsumoto had spun around, an angry look on her pretty face, "what did you say?" she snarled to Kazeatari.

The wind wielder snapped open her fan, whisking the air nonchalantly. "Nothing, I was merely speaking aloud to the little kitty over yonder, whom thinks she's a big cat."

"Kaze, please.." he held up a hand, meaning to draw her away from the circling Fukutaichou. They were starting to gather more attention, droves of black-robed Shinigami watching from the narrow street corners and business fronts as Kazeatari suddenly buffeted him back with a gust of wind.

"Sir!" Aki caught him, steadying him to his feet as he stared hopelessly at the two antagonistic women.

"We're on Seireitei's land. An envoy may engage in sparring match with a lower ranked officer, is that not true?" Kazeatari calmly asked, stepping into position. Matsumoto bent forward slightly, reaching for the sword stuck through her pink sash.

"It is."

Kazeatari smiled coldly before disappearing in a rapid vibrationary step. She bore down on Matsumoto's side, while the Fukutaichou was still scanning what was in front of her.

"Behind."

Sheathed, Kazekiri's scabbard cracked against fabric, flesh and bone. Matsumoto gasped wetly, her torso crumpling in on itself. Kazeatari angled her sweep downward and knocked the woman's legs out from under her. Kagami heard the whistle of the increasingly hard strikes, flinching, imagining the sort of pain rippling through the Fukutaichou's body.

On the ground, Matsumoto bit sharply down on her lip, lunging for the Zanpaku-to she had dropped, unsheathing it even as Kazeatari flipped Kazekiri's scabbard against the side of her throat. An inch of silver blade gleamed in the morning sun as threat.

"I call victory." Kazeatari said softly.

Matsumoto struggled weakly.

"Next time, recollect that there are others whom not even the sun can touch."

...

The guards crossed their swords after they had continued on over the bridge. The entire body of the group hesitated as Kei turned. Toya and Takara locked uneasy gazes. This was Seireitei's first test, it was beginning to seem as though they were failing it.

"What's going here?" Kei asked loudly. The guards paid her no heed, not giving quarter to Aki's stock still form. Under the blue sky and against the backdrop of the white buildings, even Takara had to admit the vivid auburn haired Arrancar seemed incongruous. Not belonging among the homelier Shinigami that dared bar his way.

"Captain?" He asked, addressing Kei. In Aki's voice there was no trace of malevolence, only curiosity. The blades of the Squad members shook and clattered against one another as they stood their ground. Something that made them seem even less intelligent in Takara's eyes as Aki didn't make a single threatening move.

"Answer me!" Kei barked, sending a frisson of fear to ripple across the backs of the Shinigami. Her stare was flat and hard. "What is the meaning of this?"

A moment of tension-filled silence, the older of the pair spoke finally. "Ma'am, with all due respect we cannot allow this creature to be admitted in Yamamoto-Soutaichou's presence. It is the very essence of the thing that is our gravest enemy and shall be put down-"

"And I will burn you to ash before your stroke could even fall." Kei said in a tight, rage-filled voice. Hitsugaya started forward, Toya stepped in front of him, gently easing Takara behind himself, making the motion clear. To get to the Captain of Fourth, Hitsugaya would be facing he and Takara. Kurosaki looked between them and prepared to draw his sword against the Taichou of Tenth, an act which drew slight admiration from Toya.

Sweating visibly, Hitsugaya released the hold he had maintained on the hilt of his sword, calling angrily. "Let him pass!"

"No!" One guard stepped around to face Kei's livid rage.

"I'm giving you an order!" Hitsugaya snapped, "do you dare-"

"Soi Fong-Taichou has given us a direct order. Against yours, hers is Law. This vermin shall not pass and shall be eradicated from the sight of this pure city!" The sound of multiple swords being drawn rang clearly in the cool morning air.

"Then, you shall die where you stand!" Kei declared, unsheathing Getsu-ten.

"No!" Aki said sharply. Then, as the combatants gazed upon him, he shook his auburn mane slightly. "I will withdraw back to Tsukikage to await your return, Captain."

"Aki..." Kei took one half step forward, various emotions flickering across her face.

"Give my best to Captains Nanatsu and Namaiki." He nodded to Toya, "Amakusa-san. Takara-san." He stepped back and trailed his hand across the air, slitting open a portal as he had done before. Kei stared after him with a hopeless expression.

Aki sent one last faintly sad smile before disappearing into the fourth world.

"I'm not worth it." The Arrancar said and left the world of the Shinigami.

"Aki..." Kei whispered, quiet emotion thickening her soft tone. Ichigo quickly stepped around the stunned forms of Hitsugaya, Toya and Takara to reach her. Drawing her swiftly into an embrace and as they continued on, she clung onto him, never letting go.

...

"The others have already been assembled."

Toya forced himself to respond as Kei hadn't said a word since the bridge. Inside the high-ceilinged corridors of Division one, he felt nervousness descend into the pit of his stomach. "So, I suppose my uh- Lieutenant will attend the separate meeting of your guys' Fukutaichous?"

"That is correct."

The gravity of the young boy astounded Toya even then; he felt as if he was junior there. _**'Well, you are, Toya-ko. You've barely been a Captain for a month and haven't goofed up yet.' **_Kage piped up.

Has it been only a month? He wondered silently in amazement, lending half his attention to Takara whom wore a cloud of nervousness. He felt a surge of affection for her yet instinctively knew a gesture other than a simple pat on the shoulder would be considered strange to the eyes of the small Taichou.

"See you soon." He called after her as they parted at connecting hallways. Takara managed a small smile before disappearing completely as they continued on. Hitsugaya lead the way, occasionally punctuating the walk with comments on the shift in rank after Aizen's defection. Toya pretended to listen, every so often pinpointing the location of Takara's reiatsu in the other part of the large building, making sure he could find it in case of any trouble.

"-I'm sorry. You were saying?" Toya murmured politely after a subtle prodding from Kage.

"Oh, we're here." Hitsugaya indicated two plain double doors. He shared a glance with Kurosaki, which the sub returned with a glare. A sigh lifted the small chest of the Taichou, without preamble, he pushed against one side and held it open. The room they were admitted to, was long with two rows of men and women dressed alike in black robes and white haoris facing each other and ahead at the end, stood a thick-set man with a long trailing beard whom leaned heavily upon a wooden staff.

Toya felt his old training creeping on for the urge to act humble before the assembled Taichous was overwhelming. Kei wordlessly left Kurosaki's side and lightly touched the back of his arm, meaning to move forward. He watched her walk through the line of Taichous, head held high, expressionless save for a faint smile that curved her lips at last upon reaching the old man.

"Oji-san." She bent slightly and pressed a light kiss on his forehead above his bushy brow. "*Yurushite kudasai, watashi orokashii."

(*Forgive me, I was foolish. )

Toya could barely believe the affection the woman showed. Hitsugaya walked past him to take up the empty spot between a grizzled man with a pink kimono draped over his shoulders and another with a painted face whom made Toya's skin crawl.

_**'What you think is true,' **_Kage said,_** 'that is Mayuri Kurotsuchi.'**_

_What a freak_. Toya thought back, hesitantly following Kei's route.

_**'Too true. His Zanpaku-to is Ashisogi-Jizo. Stay away from it until I can guess how to counteract it.'**_

_Will do_. As he reached the last two Taichous, he glimpsed Kagami's covert motion from the right side, up against the wall. On the left, Kazeatari slouched, vague amusement in Keiko's few words to the man whom had raised her.

_And killed her once_- Toya thought darkly, veering toward the Captain of Second. After a few minutes longer, Kei let go of the old man's hand and took her place beside Kazeatari. Yamamoto thudded the floor with his cane three times, silencing the Taichou with the pink kimono's conversation with an annoyed Hitsugaya.

"This meeting commences now."

Everyone's attention turned to him.

"As some of you are perhaps acquainted in the long past, three of the four now present are the Eramentar."

Toya felt like a fourth wheel as nine glances passed over them. Ukitake in particular smiled at Kei and then sent another happy smile to him, one that no matter how friendly made Toya want to evaporate into the floor in guilt. He forced a return smile and attempted to focus on Yamamoto's continued speech. In the back of his mind he prayed Takara was getting along better than him.

...

She found the room easy enough. Attempting to open it with one hand, and hold the mini- computer in the other, she squeaked when it slid open forcefully to reveal a tall, slightly muscular spiky-haired man. His dark eyes narrowed on her face, "this her, Matsumoto?"

Takara stared at the 69 tattoo on his face.

The honey blonde Fukutaichou leaned out momentarily, "yeah" And reached out and grabbed a hold of Takara's arm, all but dragging her in. Wide-eyed, she barely managed not to stumble as Matsumoto linked arms and lead her round the room to give introductions.

"First Division, Sasakibe Chojiro." A stern-faced man nodded, his hair was an iron whitish grey in a severe cut. His mustache made Takara want to giggle yet it was his saber-like sword that Haretosora commented on. _"Gonryomaru. Surprisingly not as powerful as I'd have assumed for Yamamoto's Fukutaichou."_

"Second Division, Omaeda Marechiyo." A large piggish-like man leered at her. Rice cracker crumbs dotted a royal purple scarf knotted tightly around his thick neck. Again, Haretosora remarked_, "squicky. Gegetsuburi is an earth-type. I think I've only seen him once before a long time ago."_

"Third Division, Kira Izuru. Kira-kun has taken over Taichou duties since..." Matsumoto hesitated; the pale blond man's watery smile dipped. Takara nodded slightly, "I understand." For a second, a faint image hovered fuzzily behind the Fukutaichou. As Takara focused on it, it faded out to the wall. "Wabisuke...he's definitely a strange one."

"Moving on." Matsumoto said cheerfully, "Fourth Division, Kotetsu Isane." The fair-haired woman with a boy's haircut and single braid hanging near her face bowed awkwardly to lessen the height difference between them. "P-Pleased to meet you, Shimizu-san!"

"Same." Takara managed gracefully as they moved to the next one, a petite girl with her brunette hair in a tidy bun. "Fifth Division, Hinamori Momo." The girl reminded Takara uncomfortably of a doe with her large brown eyes and quiet soft voice. "I hope you will be comfortable here, Shimizu-san."

"I'm sure I will be." Takara forced a smile. Matsumoto steered her to the gangly redhead that had once lodged at Tsukikage for a week with them. "Of course you know Renji-kun." The heavily tattooed Fukutaichou grinned at them both. Takara nodded again and barely stifled the giggle burbling up in her throat.

"Seventh Division, Iba Tetsuzaemon." The man still wore his sunglasses even inside. His grave manner hadn't been an act apparently. Takara attempted to match it as she was lead to the next Shinigami, a thin narrow-featured woman wearing glasses and had her hair in a severe tight bun. "Eighth Division, Ise Nanao."

"If I recollect there is no Division higher than five amongst you, is there?" Nanao questioned, barely a trace of acceptance in her cool tone. Takara lifted her chin, "yes that is true. The Juppongatana are ranked numbers one through five by order of strength."

"And how many is there of you?" Called the Shinigami whom had opened the door initially.

Takara sent him a piercing glare that would've made Kei proud. "Thirty-five. We are not so fortunate as you, Hisagi-san." She deduced he was from Ninth as he was right after Ise. Takara moved away from Matsumoto, naming as she went. "Matsumoto Rangiku of Tenth, Kusajishi Yachiru of Eleventh...Kurotsuchi Nemu of Twelfth." At the address the blank-faced woman glanced up; Takara stiffened expecting recognition yet there was none. Nemu looked down at the floor. As she had realized from their conversation with Ukitake, Thirteenth remained without a Fukutaichou.

She spun abruptly about, "Yet many of the thirty-five sans the Taichou and Fukutaichou class, have their worth on the battlefield despite being of seats considered powerless by your society."

"What're you saying?" Hisagi challenged. "That we're _weak?"_

"I meant no such thing," Takara responded courteously. "I only ask that you never pass an insult upon my comrades in place of your judgment for face-value rank."

Hisagi broke her stare after another moment, an unwilling grin ending his perpetual scowl. He walked over to where she stood defiantly in the middle of the room; Takara braced herself for some kind of attack but instead found the weight of Hisagi's hand pat her shoulder gruffly.

"Guess, you're alright then!"

She wobbled a little bit and looked around the room. The nine Shinigami Fukutaichou were all smiling at her.

_She had been accepted_.

...

The meeting was over. Finally she caught Byakuya's eye unwillingly. The Noble hesitated near the lower end of the room while another Shinigami- Sasakibe whom had left the meeting of the Fukutaichou early, explained the arrangements made at Ipponzakura for her usage.

"Ipponzakura?" Kagami commented on hearing it. He too had noticed Byakuya loitering and attempting to remain inconspicuous while doing so. "Isn't that-"

"Where I was raised." Kei murmured, "it's in the mountains to the west of here."

"That's rather far." Kazeatari said, studying her nails.

Kei was about retort something when someone approached from the corner of her eye.

"If you do not have an expectation of being suitably entertained, I can provide lodgings for Hisakata-san."

_What...none for us?_ Kagami thought, observing the Noble whom had smiled at no one and kept his firm slate-eyed gaze on Kei. _Wait...do I smell interest?_ In suspicion, he watched the aura around the man turn a subtle shade of incongruous light pink the exact color of sakura petals as Kei smiled slightly at him.

"Perfect. Thanks, Byakuya."

Kagami raised an eyebrow; Kurosaki glowered.

Kuchiki ignored it all. "I will inform my servants of your arrival then." And left with only a nod to her. Kei oblivious to it all, turned back to the others, catching their looks. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Nothing." Kagami held up a hand, only to fold it and rub tiredly at his temples. Ukitake came up to them next, "I..felt that before wasn't the right time to do this...but..."

"Why? What is it?" Kei watched as he withdrew from his sleeve a slim glimmering piece of silver with a splash of red. "That's..."

"I wanted to give this back to you. I remembered how fond you were of it, Murasaki." Something in the older man's tone set off alarm bells in the water wielder's mind.

"My hair pin." Kei breathed softly, looking from the ornament to his face, gently reaching out and folding her fingers around it. She slowly gathered her loose hair and pinned it up, the cherry beads hung like swag against her fair hair. She favored him with one of her rare true smiles and as Ukitake returned it; jumped into his arms, sending him to stagger back slightly. Surprised by the spontaneous outburst, he was slow on embracing the Elemental clinging to his body.

Kurosaki was livid with silent rage.

Toya stared, wide-eyed, for he had never witnessed the respectable Captain of Fourth aligning her body against any man let alone one of the oldest Taichous of Soul Society.

Kazeatari's bland one was less shocked. More along the lines of- _and I thought her tastes were for younger men_.

Kagami sighed to himself as her arms loosened around the man. A little flushed, Ukitake slowly let her slide to the floor, making the mistake of lowering his face to hers as he did so.

Moments later there came the unmistakable sound of "chu"

(*chu in manga, the sound of a kiss)

Kagami could only think in horror, _on the mouth! _

...

"I don't see what the big deal is." Kei grumbled as they walked along the main bridge leaving the building that had housed the meeting in the distance. For the most part Kagami and Kazeatari remained silent, lagging behind them, Takara shared with Toya recorded audio clips from the Fukutaichous meeting.

"There is no problem in actuality," Kagami finally muttered, a headache threatening to pulsate in his temples. "I-"

"We." Kazeatari corrected testily.

"Three." Toya added at the last minute.

Kagami sent him a glance over his shoulder then shrugged, "we three were all surprised, that's all." Not to mention, he thought chagrined, Ukitake didn't seem all that upset about it. On the contrary in fact he was-

"Spur of the moment." Kei said, matching a nonchalant tone to her posture of hands clasped at the small of her back. He made a face at her back. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again, quieter, "by the way, this is where we split up."

"Huh? Why?" he was glad Ichigo had been chased off by threat of Zaraki-Taichou.

Kei spun around on her heels, looking every bit like a sweet child.

Kagami scowled at her. "_Why?"_

Her sad smile was for them three alone. "Yama-oji wished to speak with me more so I have to return to Division one's office."

He looked at her concernedly. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Yes...I." she looked away. "It's something I have to do."

...

Kazeatari ignored the faces of the Shinigami she passed.

Some openly curious.

Others hostile.

They angered her all.

Suddenly breaking into Shindou, she vanished from the center of the busy street, racing away past it all until she reached a grassy area. There, she swung up into a high tree branch, draping her lithe form against the warm sun-dappled wood.

Folding her fan against her breast, she closed her eyes to wait.

...

She was waiting for him at the entrance to the outer courtyard.

A thickset man that Kagami recognized vaguely from seeing him in his youth- Marechiyo Omaeda flanked her. "Soi Fong-san." he said politely, inclining his head to her. "Surely this is a surprise I wouldn't have thought I'd have the pleasure again of seeing you so soon after the meeting. From what I hear, the leader of the Onmitsu is quite diligent."

The petite woman favored him with a hard stare. Kagami's expression remained mild, lacking condescension. In time she looked away, scowling though something in her gaze had softened. "If any of you lack quarters, Second Division is willing to provide lodgings for the duration of your stay."

He caught the fleeting break in the woman's iron-clad exterior. "Shaolin, I..."

"Yes or no?" she blurted out demandingly.

He could sense her embarrassment growing as even Omaeda tilted his large head at her.

"Taichou, are you blushing?" The Fukutaichou grinned stupidly.

"Shut it!" Soi Fong snapped viciously then glowered heavily at Kagami as if her warm cheeks were somehow his fault. "Well?"

"Yes." He said, shrugging.

She nodded vigorously then spun on her heel. "Good. Let's go, Omaeda."

Kagami stared after the mismatched pair, until he remembered something, calling after her, "*o-mishiri oki o, ittekimasu, Shaolin."

(lit* please remember me, I'm going but I'll be back.)

It seemed in that moment, the past overlaid the present.

A small voice called out in return, "*Ki o tsukete, Kagami-kun!"

(lit*Be careful.)

He glimpsed a small smile from the sliver of her profile now.

...

The spacious office was as _Keiko_ remembered. Kei having been there only a handful of times, gazed around then to the old man on the balcony with his back to her. Sasakibe had allowed her entry and promised they wouldn't be disturbed.

She wondered if it went through his mind how fast she could kill Yamamoto before he could get inside the room. Smiling wistfully, she folded her arms over her breast, saying aloud, "Oji-san, I have come as you asked."

Silence reigned, then Yamamoto spoke, his deep voice rumbling, "do you remember when your parents died and I took you in?"

She remained smiling. "Of course. How could I _ever_ forget?" There was a double-edged meaning to her words that made _Keiko_ stir inside.

"You were so tiny and helpless, crying in the rain, I wondered how anyone could have harmed such an innocent thing."

_How so, indeed_. Kei thought, but didn't vocalize it, choosing instead another line. "Oji-san, tell me how did you feel when my parents showed you the mark I was born with on my left hand?" _How did you feel when you realized precious Keiko was the fire eramentar reborn?_

"I.." he sighed heavily. "Did not know what it was. You were such a lovely child it was hard to believe that anything so heinous could have cursed your soul."

"Yet here I stand." She responded, feeling a certain coldness in her blood.

"You lived when I thought you had perished long ago." He answered simply.

"If it were true," she began, having had enough.

He never faced her.

"Perhaps you would be in peace." Kei finished, turning on her heel and leaving.

...

It went without saying that the moment the bubbly Kiyone slid shut the doors after serving three cups and leaving the pot on the tray...Takara wished the girl had never left and was still chattering away.

"Well, this is pleasant." Ukitake said, smiling as he lifted up his cup.

Toya and Takara sweated uneasily in their respective robes, on her arm, the ornate silver embroidery glowed conspicuously. Toya flushed and lowered his eyes to the floor, the black haori coat pooled around his folded legs.

"Who'd have thought I would have had the pleasure making the acquaintances of the current Captain and Lieutenant of Third company?" The elder of the three commented, lacking a single trace of deceit in his amicable tone.

Takara risked a peek at his aura and saw genuine pink surrounding him. Biting her lip hard, she suddenly slumped forward, nearly cracking her head on the small table. "I'msorryforwhatIdidbefore!" she said hurriedly all in a rush. Ukitake gazed at her inquiringly, "come again?"

"I'm-"

Toya lunged to grab a hold of the Lieutenant's shoulder before she banged her forehead on the table, yanking her up to a halfway bowed level, he said quickly, "she apologizes sincerely for what happened before. She clearly acknowledges it was wrong."

"Ah..." Ukitake fixed them both with a steady gaze then waved it off, chuckling. "It's fine! Please don't bow to me. Neither of you are Shinigami bound by our laws. Besides that, we are friends!"

"Right." The Captain and Lieutenant said together then straightened unanimously. Takara ventured to speak again. "I uh-trust you're alright...um no adverse effects?"

"None so whatsoever." Ukitake said happily.

She looked a little guiltily away. "That's good to hear then" After a long moment of awkward silence, she lifted her chin and glanced around, "I was wondering um if you could show us that picture of your Fukutaichou?"

"Certainly. But aren't you going to finish your tea? It's really not bad. Kiyone worked especially hard to prepare it for your arrival."

Toya and Takara felt a renewed surge of guilt.

...

Once the tea was finished, he lead them through two corridors and finally to a plain door. Whereon, unlocking it, conducted them into a modest mid-size room with a large desk and two chairs before it. Takara couldn't help in her mind comparing it to the spacious modernity of First Division, the coziness of Second Division's stone fireplace and thick woodbeams and even her own office with sleek top of the line computers and glass desks.

"Something a matter?" Ukitake asked, glancing over his shoulder from the desk. Toya hovered near one of the chairs, looking around as well.

"No," Takara pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "It's just I see how different we are now." _It's not just architecture or mannerisms_, she thought lapsing into silence outwardly while the sound of pages being rifled through filled the air. _It's everything about them and us that's as opposite as the sun and moon_. Glancing once to Toya, she could discern similar thoughts brewing under the surface.

Soon enough both reveries were broken by the sound of Ukitake's triumph as he withdrew from a thick book, an old-type photograph of a grinning dark-haired man. Toya and Takara crowded around the desk as he held it out to them.

"This was my old Fukutaichou, Shiba Kaien. I presume you see immediately the resemblance between he and Ichigo-kun?"

They nodded mutely.

"When did he die?" Takara finally asked, getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach the longer she gazed at the image of the dead Shinigami. Ukitake thought a moment, "oh a great many years ago. Roughly fifty I would say give or take. It started when his wife, Miyako went on a surveyor mission, she and the rest of the team were taken by surprise by this Hollow, no one survived. I, Kaien and Kuchiki Rukia went to hunt down the creature...in the process Kaien was possessed and Rukia was forced to end his life."

"Pardon me for asking, but, Kuchiki was able to take down a Fukutaichou?" Takara demanded, recalling Kyou's previous assessment from a few months before on Kuchiki Rukia's skills.

"It was by happenstance that she did. It seemed to me that some part of Kaien still existed and that he drove his body onto the point of her sword." Ukitake answered gravely. Takara upon glimpsing the sorrow in his face, immediately repented of her lack of condolences no matter how worthless they were.

"We of..." she bit her lip, "Third Division extend our sympathies toward your loss. It isn't easy losing a comrade; we should in particular understand. We barely knew our former Taichou whom was sworn in the day before he died in battle. For well over a hundred years I lead Third on my own until everyone deemed it was time to lay down the foundations for the future and Toya lifted the burdens I had carried alone. Now we're inseparable!" she giggled.

The hint of a smile touched Ukitake's weathered face. "I see. You two are a fine match for one another."

Toya was slower to catch the meaning, but nodded all the same. Flushing slightly when he thought of what he was agreeing to. _Oh, Kami-sama! The man probably thinks we're in __**that kind **__of a relationship!_ Trying to hide his panic, Toya went as politely as he could. "As comrades, sir. We are a perfect fit. Not in other ways."

Ukitake looked momentarily surprised, "oh, then you are in a relationship?"

"N-No! We-" Toya became even more flustered. Takara wisely decided it was time to steer clear of those waters. Deliberately speaking over him, she asked more out of curiosity than anything else, "what was the name of Shiba-san's Zanpaku-to? Perhaps one of ours has heard of it."

"Neji-bana."

_"Never heard of it. I'm guessing it was a Water type Zanpaku-to. Maybe Kage knows something?" _

"He might." She answered aloud, temporarily forgetting the company of the two males and the non-materialized Haretosora. She earned two strange looks moments later. Takara colored a little, "sorry. I was talking to my Zanpaku-to spirit." She turned to Toya, "by the way, did Kage know Neji-bana?"

"I don't think so." Toya was uncomfortably aware of Ukitake's presence and the sheer fact that he was a Soul Society Taichou. He wondered at the ease in which Takara spoke freely in the man's company. "Outside of harassing some of the resident spirits, he never got out too much. I know for my part I can say that I never met Shiba at anytime during my tenure here."

Takara looked thoughtful after that. "Hmm...I wonder."

"What?"

"If Keiko knew Shiba-san and if she had seen the resemblance as well?"

Ukitake shrugged, "as far as I know, I'm the only one who has. Then finding that you two see it as well means I'm not alone in that theory."

"What theory?" Takara gave him a strange look.

"That Ichigo-kun is Kaien's reincarnation."

/../

"Do you really believe that?" Takara hissed as they walked from the gates of Ugendo. Toya in step with her, "dunno. Stranger things have happened. I mean look at our officers, I've got that thing I told you about, Kyou's got the God-eye and can sense reiatsu in the next dimension. We've got an Arrancar in our ranks and a modified konpaku in the body of a dead Shinigami...it's like, c'mon Takara, we're not all that normal ourselves."

"Let alone the three Elementals." she added surreptitiously.

"See my point?" They kept walking, attracting glances from every direction as the only grey-clad figures in a sea of black. "Maybe," she muttered, glancing around the marketplace they had entered and made a beeline to a stall selling ornate haircombs. Toya sighed and trailed along, stopping at another down the way to look at sword stands.

"How much?" Takara pointed to the prettiest, a plaquet of enameled dark blue with yellow stars sprinkled across it. The seller, a balding man in common robes, smiled at her, "three hundred yen."

She quickly did the monetary conversion in her head, reaching into the sleeve of her robe to withdraw a small pink brocaded coin purse. "Okay, I-" The hand of a large burly man clamped down on her shoulder. The seller frantically bowed, "oh! Good morning, sirs!"

Takara turned, seeing three large Shinigami wearing sneers on their faces. "You must be one of the rogues, aren't you little girl?" the one whom had grabbed her, asked, his breath gusting over her. She grimaced at the stale scent of Sake. "Please unhand me."

They guffawed loud enough to attract the attention of several other milling denizens of the white city. Takara stood her ground as the man lowered his face dangerously close to hers. "They taught you manners, did they? Think you're so strong and so invincible..well you and the other lot got another thing comin' to them!"

"Release me." She said tightly, refusing to give into anger. The man's piggish eyes widened and his free hand snatched at her chin, twisting her roughly around. The few shopkeepers kept silent in mounting fear. Takara felt her feet leave the ground a few inches, the grip on her shoulder becoming increasingly more painful.

"Or what?" The Shinigami breathed.

_"Eleventh Division."_ Haretosora said.

"Or I will-" Takara began, just then, Toya's voice raised in panic filtered through gathered crowd. "Takara!" Pushing his way to the forefront, he immediately snapped, "what's going on here? Takara! Let go of my-" The nearest of the burly goons exchanged glances with the leader as Toya advanced on them, reaching for the hilt of his sword.

A huge fist swung out suddenly as Takara let out a half-scream. It smashed into Toya's face, sending him reeling into the nearest line of Shinigami, whom pushed him back to meet the two black-clad combatants. Blood poured down his face from his broken nose. The closer of the two swung out again and caught him in the stomach. Toya sunk to his knees, his lips forming a Kido spell, his concentration broke as a sandaled foot rammed into his gut sending him flying back into the cart of hair combs. The older man squeaked and frantically scrambled away. Takara choked down a sob as she pivoted her body and smacked the top of her head against the chin of her captor. The Shinigami howled and immediately fastened his hands around her throat, Takara was slightly quicker, snapping out, "Rikujokoro!"

The six-rod lightning restraint pinioned the first Shinigami down. Takara, released from his hold advanced on the other two whom were circling Toya. "You-" one growled out, he had a snake tattoo on the side of his neck. Takara easily evaded his punch, catching his fist and twisting back as she swung her body up and smashed her knee into his throat. He fell gagging to the ground. The next one eyed her with a ferocity in his beady eyes. Takara caught the blade he charged her with between the flats of her palms, backing up a few steps under the sheer amount of weight the Shinigami put behind his thrust. She grasped it tightly, pivoting her legs forward, leaving the ground, she kicked hard into his chest, he stumbled back, dropping his sword. Takara evaded his second lunge and hardening her hand, delivered a swift chop to the back of his neck and rammed her foot into the backs of his knees, making his body buckle down.

Panting heavily, the Squad member, pivoted about, "you bitch-!" Bringing a hidden dagger he'd had up his sleeve arcing toward her throat. Takara was prepared, Haretosora's blade sliced through the lesser metal, sending the pointed tip to skate across the ground.

"Give, now." Takara said coldly, holding her blade to his throat. The sweating man attempted to stare her down yet she never backed up an inch. Soon, he nodded jerkily. Satisfied, she stepped back and made a circle around the fallen one to reach a groaning Toya.

"Here, let me help you..." she murmured, sheathing her sword and sliding an arm around his shoulders. Toya looked a mess with caked blood on his face and with drying rivulets staining his robes. Unsteadily she helped him to his feet just as the Shinigami on his knees called out to her. "Who are you, girl?"

On the street leading back to Ugendo; she paused, staring hatefully back, "Shimizu Takara, Lieutenant of the Third Division."

...

"Oh, my Gods! What happened to you!" Ukitake flew up from his desk, motioning hurriedly to Kiyone and Sentaro, "bring some towels and a basin of water. Hurry!" As the pair squabbled amongst themselves as to who would carry what, Ukitake helped Takara settle Toya into a nearby sofa against one wall.

"We were attacked..." Takara finally let herself catch her breath, "by some thugs in Shinigami robes. I don't believe any of them carried high ranks and there didn't seem to be any Taichous around."

Ukitake looked truly worried, "do you know what Division they were from?"

She remembered what Haretosora had said, "Eleventh, I think."

He looked as though he understood. "Ah, I thought so. Zaraki-Taichou has never kept his men in line. Someone should've thought to have given prior warning about their propensity to start fights among strangers."

The sounds of sloshing water and Kiyone's upraised voice yelling at Sentaro for being a big oaf, reached them. Takara looked down at the floor, "I wish..."

He glanced at her, brown eyes softening.

"Everyone was as kind as you."

...Tsukikage Castle...

"What's on the itinerary for today Lieutenant Shihoin?" Kanzaki meant to sound light in spite of the fact that over half the current Captains were in Seireitei, a dimension away. Mai glanced up from the corner desk where she was tinkering with a circuit breaker. Hisrio to the left of the main desk at the other end of the room, raised his head momentarily, "I believe the riffraff that is called Sixth is due to arrive for inspection from Arkley. Before leaving, Captain Yamamoto sent Ichino-miya to bring them here."

"Keiko did?" Kanzaki hadn't heard about this. He frowned, turning over his shoulder to see that Mai was still poking at the black box. "So, who's at the gates?"

Hisrio set his report down with an annoyed thud, his pouty upper lip curled in disdain. "A most unruly combination of Namaiki's fourth and fifth seats. The Retsu twins."

Kanzaki nodded slightly, taking his glasses off to wipe at them with a cloth he carried in his sleeve. "Oh. That's fine then." After another minute of silence punctuated by tapping from a screwdriver, he added, "you shouldn't speak so about the new officers. Just 'cause they're konpaku we've trained from the deceased of Assiah, doesn't mean they're any less than a Noble or a Shinigami from Soul Society."

The man's arched nostrils flared, "pardon. I meant little offense, merely that once the skills of the Sixth Division are seen by my eyes, shall I acknowledge them as comrades." he stood abruptly to his full imposing height. "I will await them down in the main hall." Hisrio announced, depositing the documents he had on the desk, then swept by Kanzaki without another word.

"It took you a hundred years to accept us all...Hisrio." The Captain of First murmured softly as the door slammed shut in the distance. "Don't let your prejudice alienate our few allies."

...

"How far, ma'am?"

Kazura stepped to the edge of the cliff, below late blooming flowers grew abundantly in vibrant purplish-red hues. Tarantacula. She smiled turning back to the dark-haired boy, "forty miles. We're almost home, Sano. Now, as one, increase your speed to match mine. We're in the last stretch!"

The evenly divided genders, stepped back obediently. In alignment they all flash-stepped to the next canyon in crackling bursts of light.

The boy whom had addressed her flanked her on the right. Sano Kouichi, heralded from the Eastern coast. A fisherman's son once, he was a casualty of a Hollow outbreak fifty years ago. He was exceptionally fond of Kenjutsu, eager to reach Tsukikage to try out his skills against the famed Captain of Fourth whom he and the others had rarely seen.

To her left, a youngish girl with two long thin braids ending in pale tassels of hair. Kiyomizu Yuka. A resident of the western city of Persephone, she had once been a *Yotogi during Assiah's dark days. A seamstress originally by trade, she had sewed the traditional black under and grey over kimonos and hakama worn by the new unassigned officers. Her own uniform she had chosen to accentuate with an obi possessing fine hand-embroidered daisies. Kazura had heard from Zoe Elbe, that the Zanpaku-to of Kiyomizu's was close in similarity to Shimizu's of Third. Kazura had yet to see another one that even came close to the Haretosora's purifying power.

(lit *Watcher)

Kouichi's excited voice took her out of her thoughts. "I see the castle! Wow, it's so beautiful!"

Kazura felt a surge of pride. "It is, isn't it? Tsukikage castle of the moon's shadow, citadel of the phantom city. ...It's your home now too."

...

At the gates, Kyou saluted Akashi Osore while Hana inclined her head in respect.

"How far along are they, Kyou-kun?" he asked. The boy closed his eyes briefly then spoke. "Less than eighteen miles and closing in fast, sir."

He himself couldn't sense as far and marveled in silence at the youngster. He had even heard rumors- _but no! It couldn't be true. It was impossible to be able to manipulate reiatsu_. Still...he wondered.

True to Kyou's, seven grey-clad figures touched down outside the gates. Kazura at the forefront, strode ahead of the boys and girls, nodding to Hana whom grinned in return. The fourth seat then wasted no time in sliding the heavy iron bar from the post and letting one side of the high black iron gates swing open to admit the new generation of Soul Reapers.

Akashi watched fresh-faced youngsters stream in, suddenly getting a nervous attack the longer he realized that very soon he would be leading them. _Had the others felt this way?_ Kazura bade them line up in a horizontal row. Like foreign military cadets out of human life, they stamped their sandaled feet once and stared straight ahead, Zanpaku-to strapped neatly to each left shoulder.

_I am...their Captain_. He thought, as silence descended. _They're waiting for me to_..

"Good afternoon." he hoped his voice didn't shake. "I hope you all had a safe travel by flash-step to the castle- I.." he laughed a little. "See that everyone is in one piece. So, I can imagine that you did. As you were told some weeks back, the position of Sixth Division's Captain had been decided by adherence to our laws." he touched his chest lightly, "I was chosen as the winner. My name is Osore Akashi and I look forward to protecting our world with you all." When an even deeper silence fell after his pronouncement, he colored around the ears but soon the stares turned to smiles and six pairs of hands were brought together in sonorous enthusiasm.

In that moment he remembered Kazeatari's famous _rise and fight_ speech that had earned the hard loyalty of the rebellious fighters; Kagami's rousing address the night when defeat seemed imminent and Keiko's homily to the dead on the morning of their victory. None of his words had come close to surpassing their honorable ranks yet he still felt a swell of accomplishment as a girl with two twin braids draped to the front of her shoulders came forward from the line.

"I am Kiyomizu Yuka," she said with a hint of an accent he couldn't identify. "And I believe I can speak for all of us, that we are glad to have you as our Captain. Now, what are your orders?"

Before he could speak, Kyou interrupted with amazement in his voice. "What an interesting Zanpaku-to you have!"

Yuka glanced to the small dark-haired Soul reaper wearing the badge of fifth seat and blushed slightly. "Oh, thank you. It's name is Tsubasa gaaru hogosha."

"I know." Kyou replied, studying the shape of the girl's aura. Finally he turned to his sister, exclaiming, "I was right! Wait until Keiko-san hears this! Kiyomizu-san's Zanpaku-to is similar in element to Hasumi Sakuzawa's!"

When Kyou didn't elaborate further, Akashi shrugged to Yuka, "Sakurazawa was the former Captain of Third. Recently though, a new one was sworn in. You'll meet him once the diplomatic mission to Seireitei is over." Murmurs of interest circulated throughout the group. Still feeling awkward, Akashi motioned to them as a whole, "c'mon troops let's head on up to the castle for lunch!"

...Seireitei...

Takara left Toya resting on the sofa. Unable to sit still for any longer, she wandered around, on the edge with her thoughts. Ukitake had offered to send for one of the others, but she had declined, letting him go back to the duties of his Division. Coming across a sliding door off the connecting hallway, she pushed it open and stood in the slanted sunlight spilling across the engawa.

Birds sang in the trees, the ground was dappled with sunshine yet she could no peace there. It wasn't Tsukikage nor the ancient stone pathways and steps of the sunken garden, no, it was as alien to her as the feelings stirring in her heart.

On the surface, Takara knew it was probably just a crush. An all too human feeling that she despised at that moment. Sighing to herself, she willed it all away, knowing that focus was the one thing needed here and set off for the edge of Ugendo.

...

He could sense when she got up and left. It was the first thing, Toya was conscious of, awakening on the floor of the black tower, surrounded by piles of books. High up, he could see the pinnacle of the ceiling in crenellated ornament.

"Awake now, are we, partner?" Kage said a little off to his left. Toya turned and halfway raised himself up to see the Zanpaku-to spirit lounging in a chair. He found he was slightly relieved to realize he was there in spirit form and had not simply phased through the dimensions while asleep.

"You really let 'em get you this time."

"I couldn't use violence." He mumbled.

"You still let yourself get hurt." Kage leaned forward, "guess maybe you're just a glutton for punishment. Meh..I don't care, so as long as thou doesn't do anything to get me broken."

Something else occurred to Toya as he sat there. His brows furrowed, "where were you? I came to my mindscape several times and each time you were gone. Don't tell me you were bugging that Zanpaku-to, Tensa Zangetsu again?"

Kage sniffed and averted his misty face, "as if. I have more important things to do than to waste my time with that idiot."

"Oh? Such as what?"

"None of your beeswax." Kage grinned.

Toya covered his face with his hands, muttering, "why oh why did I get stuck with such a sarcastic Zanpaku-to?"

"Because I'm cute." Kage heard and replied.

"No, you're not." Toya said tersely, annoyed as he got to his feet. "Far from it." He stepped over the books and went over to the spiral staircase, mounting it with heavy clinks of metal resounding in the air.

"Where are you going?" Kage had gotten up part way and was peering upward, searching for his master. "Nowhere. You stay down there!" Toya warned, almost to the top. Rounding the next curve he stepped out onto a wide platform surrounded on two sides by high railing. From the nearest wall, he approached and slipped his hand through the slats to unfasten the shutters sealing one window. Brushing his fingertips over the dusty glass, he peered out the narrow aperture over the land of Shurei.

The sky still remained a sickly reddish crimson burning more like the color of fire than blood.

His gaze roved to the ground, eyes widening slightly when he caught a slip of movement.

Something was down there.

As he fixated on it, the more he was convinced it was a child in a red hood moving slowly toward the base of the tower. Toya was near to calling Kage when suddenly the tiny figure stopped, slowly the upper part of the torso lifted, the hood falling away.

Toya stumbled back violently, his heart threatening to burst from his chest. For seconds, he was consumed by fear, wild-eyed unable to catch his breath. Then, suddenly forcing himself forward, he searched the sliver of Shurei visible from the window.

Nothing at all.

Toya pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. Was this a symptom of that power? Was he going crazy? Slowly he lifted his hands from his face, scanning the vista once more. _Had it really been there- that creature with a child's face and red eyes like a serpent's?_

Questioning himself on it did little good. After a few more mouthfuls of air, Toya gauged he was calm enough to try what he had gone up there to do. Going to the far side of the railing, he leaned over as much as he dared, from the dizzying height downward, he could barely catch the tip of Kage's pointed boot flicking the air. The Zanpaku-to spirit hadn't moved from the chair and was perusing a book about Bakudo spells, from what he could tell from their shared mind-link.

Relieved momentarily that Kage hadn't disobeyed his order, Toya paced around in a circle with his back to the curved length of black wrought iron railing. Swiping one hand out, he summoned Kage's blade form from the air, grasping it midway down the sheath. He sensed the spirit shift down below in response to the static form being drawn on yet as he hoped, Kage stayed where he was.

Licking his lips in a fit of nervousness, Toya breathed softly, "Rankle the seas and Heavens, Neji-bana." The blade in his hand began to warp, shocks of black light shot up from its surface. Unused to the rocky start of the transformation, Toya held on with a tight grip watching as the blade wavered and twisted wildly around. Around it and over it, energy pulsed, the vague outline of another sword appeared flickering into that of a translucent trident.

_Neji-bana_.

Toya suddenly felt physical pain ripple through his hand up into his body, stunned momentarily, he flung it away at the next exploding shock of black light. The sword clattered across the floor landing at the edge of the top step, smoke arose from it as it resumed its normal form of a Combi-stick. Kage's bootsteps thudded up fast, his shadowy form rounding the last curve and coming into sight. "What's going on here?"

Toya couldn't speak, clasping his wrist with his free hand, he slowly opened his palm to reveal scorched flesh.

"I couldn't...mimic it."

...

The black tower rose up ahead. The hebi's journey was almost at an end. Gen had been wrong. It was better to crush the hindrances rather than allow them freedom. Sighing to himself, he reached into a tiny drawstring bag inside the sweater, taking a pinch of dark brown clay he formed a wakizashi with a square-shaped guard.

Dragging it by the leather cord attached to the hilt, he stalked toward the tower when he sensed eyes. Slowly, he looked up to the sole window and the face of the young man peering out.

Amakusa Toya. Wielder of the sword he was going to put down. No...the hebi's gaze became filled with that of the Soul reaper. There was something familiar about it...Like a face from the past then as the elusive memory came, the man vanished.

"So, it is you. How auspicious that you should be reborn so close to _her_, Amane..."

...

Takara glanced over the diagram of Seireitei that she had scanned with the laser. Tapping the screen once to turn it off, she folded it over, her wrist swinging back to her side. "So, this is it." Her eyes passed over the sign hanging high from the eaves of the traditional Japanese style building: _Research and Development Division, Communications Technology Department, Spiritual Wave measurement lab_.

Inside, she could feel the agitated reiatsus of half a dozen Shinigami. She wondered how she was going get by them all-

When a sudden explosion rocked another building in the large complex. Stumbling forward, she caught herself, murmuring, "what the hell was that?" Pounding steps soon came, they belonged to the strangest group of Shinigami she had ever seen.

Chattering amongst themselves they rushed past her, all running toward the area of the explosion. Takara looked after them, briefly dazed then reached into her sleeve, withdrawing a paper holder containing a CD-ROM disc. She inhaled several times then looked toward the doorway up ahead with new purpose.

In seconds she had crossed the threshold and stood in a large control center. Monitors lined the walls and below huge system buses performed various tasks. At one a small blond was busily bent over, muttering to himself.

_"Rin Tsubokura."_ Haretosora whispered.

_Got it_. "Tsubokura-chan!" Takara called, wearing her brightest smile.

As predicted, the Squad member gasped and spun around, wearing an increasingly nervous expression.

"Who are-"

"Shimizu Takara, Lieutenant of the Juppongatana's third Division. I came to see your advancements in technology."

Tsubokura lost some of his anxiety, "oh! I'm not the one charge, Akon is. But I uh-"

She gave him her best dazzling smile.

"I can still give you a tour!"

_"This one is apparently a bit of an airhead." _Haretosora muttered_._

_Shhh_.

She beamed as he fumbled around trying to gather up the empty food wrappers littering the workspace then as he came upon a tray of cold tea on the low round table in the center of the room, shot bolt right up. "Oh! Where are my manners! I'll make us some tea!"

Takara fought hard to keep her smile from slipping, "that'd be lovely."

Once his slouching back had disappeared down the adjoining corridor leading deeper into the recesses of the building, Takara snickered under her breath, glancing once to the doorway leading to the outside. None of the other researchers had come back yet, but she knew she had to work fast. Turning her wrist over, she slid her fingers around the side of the compact computer, depressing a small button a tiny click sounded as the flash drive was ejected.

Takara took it and went for a closer look at the nearest console, bending over to peer at the plug-ins. As Kei had surmised originally, the installations were newer, the ancient MS-DOS system was replaced with one twenty years closer to the times. Running her fingers over the tiny square slots she soon came across a hidden port.

A USB 1.0 she guessed, inserting the flash drive which was no bigger than a memory chip into the slot. Straightening and shooting another quick glance around and hearing nothing other than the distant clatter of dishes, she flipped the screen of the computer up, watching the blue screen transform into a page of cascading numbers. One-handed, her fingers fairly flew over the Qwerty keyboard, typing out a direct system command to the network in Tsukikage. Her efforts were rewarded as the screens situated all around the room suddenly flickered on, displaying the same image of a bright sun and twinkling stars, the emblem of Third Division.

She breathed a sigh of relief_. I did it_. Raising her arm close to her face, she whispered into the built-in microphone, "resume previous task. Resume previous task _now_." The screens simultaneously changed back to the dull stationary main screens. Checking one last thing, she beamed in pride, "three minutes." And snapped her computer shut, spinning about with the paper sleeve in hand as Tsubokura walked in precariously balancing the tea tray.

"Here we are! I hope green tea is alright?"

"That's fine!" Takara said, feigning cheerfulness.

...

"Ah hah!" Mayuri cackled to himself from the recesses of the darkened laboratory.

"Sir?" Nemu prompted from the web-like prison she was trapped in as punishment for an earlier mistake (the one that caused the explosion)

"Quiet, Nemu!" He barked immediately, turning to the screen once more. "Seems as though we have one little rat that needs to be snuffed out from the Juppongatana." _Outsmart me, will she?_ He smirked, watching the hidden security feed from only an hour before of the main room of the Research and Development Division.

"...and that rat is Shimizu Takara." The Taichou of Twelfth Division whispered. His laughter echoed long in the confines of the lab.

...

"Oh-hey- there's Takara." Kei said, turning to the blonde trudging wearily up the road to them. The gates to the Kuchiki manor loomed ahead. Takara upon hearing her name, looked up and an expression of the most abject relief crossed her rictus grin face.

"Keiko!" she cried, launching herself at the Fourth Company Captain. Kei caught the girl, exchanging looks above the slumped head with Kazeatari. The wind wielder shrugged and went to go bang on the gate for admittance.

Kei decided to ignore that, and instead questioned gently, "Taka-chan, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

The blonde raised her head, a grimace decorating her delicate features. "Keiko..please.."

"What is it? Please tell me."

"Take me home!" she hissed, grasping onto the front of Kei's haori coat. "They're so freaky-and-and they wouldn't let me go-and-and the Vice President of the Researchers has horns! And I-just wanna go home!" she burst anew into dry wails just as Byakuya appeared with his senior retainer, an old man in traditional costume, to answer the gate.

"Oh, hi, Byakuya." Kei wrapped an arm around Takara, turning her best flattering smile on the man. "I hope you don't mind two extra?" She peered at him from under her eyelashes, the effect being a sudden unmistakable color rising to the Noble's cheekbone area. Kazeatari noted this remarkable phenomena with growing speculation.

Speechless, he nodded once curtly and spun on his heel appearing for all the world like some great Feudal Lord, except the blush ruined it.

...

Once situated in rooms across from one another- Kei's had the best view of the Zen garden. The girls all gathered in her room to discuss dinner plans. "Where'd you get that?" Kazeatari asked suspiciously of the white kimono with delicate pink cherry blossom print Takara was helping her into.

"He said I could have it." Kei shrugged, loosening her falling hair to fall in a wave. Biting lightly on the middle of the hairstick, she raised her arms, twisting her hair up into a knot while the blonde Lieutenant fastened the matching Obi.

Catching Kazeatari's look, she rolled her eyes to the crossbeam ceiling. "Oh, please. Byakuya isn't like that. We were friends when I entered the academy, he was a little younger than me at the time...really bratty," she chuckled, adding. "But cute."

_Cute she says_. Kazeatari thought with a snort.

"Thanks." Kei said to Takara whom stepped back, admiring the loveliness of the other girl. "Anyway, Ukitake invited us to a small party at Ugendo later on in the evening-"

"Ukitake-san!"

Kazeatari and Kei caught the fleeting color on Takara's face.

"Uh-I mean that was really nice of him!" The blonde tried to cover up, blushing furiously. She took half a step back, "I'll go get dressed now!"

"Hmm...he has always been like that." Kei's murmur halted Takara's flight. At the door, she glanced back, "what do you mean?"

Kei shrugged slightly, "ever since he was young, he's always wanted people to be happy. To smile with no tears. I guess you could say that he's a genuinely kind man. Which makes it certainly a pity with the tuberculosis-"

"TB!" Takara burst out.

Kei looked at her strangely, "yes. Didn't you know? Ukitake's one of the oldest Taichous in Soul Society yet he is also terribly ill most of the time. He's never married but then I suppose it's only because he doesn't want to burden someone else with his illness."

"You think?" It was Kazeatari's turn to eye the Fire Elemental oddly.

"Well, I'm not saying it is, I'm just assuming that. But, anyway we should get going. Kaze, you dressed?"

The wind wielder glanced down over her ensemble of a plain black kimono and sash. She briskly snapped her fan in matching black and white colors, open, fanning her suddenly very annoyed expression. "_No_. I'm not." and stomped past Takara out the door. Where in the hallway the sound of a door sliding shut could be heard.

Kei raised an eyebrow, muttering aloud, "what's her problem?" Then turned and began to busy herself in front of the vanity mirror opposite. In the glass she observed Takara's fidget and nervous lip biting as she came forward.

"Keiko, could I ask you something?"

Kei smiled into the mirror, "normally I would say anything, but..." she turned slightly on the cushion. "Go ahead."

Takara nodded faintly, settling onto a spare cushion to the left of the Fire Element. "I was only curious to know if you were once friends with Ukitake-san's former Fukutaichou?"

Kei paused a moment in uncapping the lip gloss fished from her small travel bag at her hip. "I don't..oh. Kaien Shiba, correct?"

"Y-yeah." Takara found her palms were sweating. _Why was she so nervous?_

"I didn't know him personally or anything like that," Kei paused in speaking to apply a smooth layer of cherry scented balm. "Being of the Hisakata house, I was pressured in my youth to associate among those of my own rank. Not that I did much except for Byakuya." she said, chuckling in quiet amusement. "The Kuchikis and I do have history together, one I doubt anything could erase. But, anyway, the Shiba family was one of those. I seem to remember one instance and only one at that, when I met Kaien in passing."

"Oh." Takara felt severe disappointment. "I-"

"It was actually strange, you know." Kei continued, her gaze taking on a faraway misty look. "The feeling that we both got when our eyes met."

_Rushing across the grassy area, her shoulder buffeted another, taller thicker figure in different robes than most. Her chin turned up, their gazes locking in the same instant of passing_.

"Shihoin had given Kagami leave to have a small picnic on a warm spring day. He was already waiting for me when I collided with Kaien Shiba."

_Earth-colored brown eyes met and were snared by lilac_. _He couldn't look away_.

"I stumbled back. Shiba turned to face me. I remember recognizing the particular mon emblazoned on his hakama as being from the Shiba family. But, there was this feeling it's indescribable...like when you meet someone that you've known all your life?" she tried. Takara watched her face intently. "Shiba took a step closer, almost reaching out. Like he was compelled as well, driven by some other inner instinct to-to..."

"What?" Takara prompted gently yet feeling this surge of urgency for Kei to finish. "What was it?"

Kei finally shook her head. "I'm not sure exactly. Just that it seemed as though he was as drawn to me as I was to him."

"Then what happened?"

She shrugged, "nothing. Kagami called my name in the distance; I bowed to him quickly in apology and ran off." she dropped the lip gloss back into her bag, sliding a finger beneath her bottom lip to wipe away any smeared traces. "I do think he called after me, but I never looked back."

"So, what do you think it was?" Takara shifted on her cushion, one foot falling asleep.

"Hmm?"

"That compulsion you felt toward each other?"

Kei frowned, snorting softly under her breath a moment later. "I really don't know. Shiba wasn't handsome-" here Takara wanted to fall over. "Byakuya was way cuter back then and even Ukitake was very good-looking in his youth." Kei rattled them off. "I guess it doesn't matter when you think about it. Kaien's been gone for decades, although I'm sure that if I hadn't runaway I might've become his wife."

"How so?"

Kei zipped up her bag, smiling down as she did. "It's an established practice for Nobles to marry other Nobles. Since there was no other cousin for me to inter-marry, I would've probably been given the choice between Byakuya and Kaien even though from the Shiba side, Kaien was older than me."

The door slid open noisily. "What're you flapping your lips about? It's getting late!" Kazeatari grunted, standing in the doorway in a white and gold striped kimono. Kei turned on her cushion, grinning broadly, "oh ho! Who's the ho?"

Unamused, Kazeatari snapped, "shut up!" to Kei's snickers while Takara remained pensive in the background.

_They were drawn to each other...like the moth to the flame_.

...

"I presume your health has held up?" Kei asked politely once they had been seated in a larger open space room just off the outer veranda. Colorful streamers and round Chinese lanterns had been strung in the trees and Kagami was refusing all alcohol that Thirteenth's attentive third seats plied them with.

"Sorry, I don't drink."

"Isn't it _can't?_" Kazeatari made the point of, sipping her own cup of Sake.

Ukitake smiled gently and clasped her hand, leading to Ichigo's immediate sputtering across the room. "Dear Murasaki. Thank you for asking, everyone around here seems to take my long illness for granted and rarely ever asks me that."

_Isn't that because you're sick nearly every other week?_ Kei thought.

On the other side of the table, Takara nudged Kagami in the ribs, "Kagami-san, why are there pink flowers around Ukitake and Kei-san?"

"I'll tell you when you're older." he muttered grimly.

Toya having heard, glanced around then turned to Kazeatari whom was seated next to him at the table. "What flowers?" She took her time in answering as Kurosaki glowered over his cup. "I suspect he means the pink hearts twinkling above Ukitake-san's head."

"Huh?" he was even more confused than before.

Across the room, Kurosaki still glared but hiccoughed loudly, holding his cup out to a passing Kiyone. Kei managed to gently disentangle her hand from the Taichou's, "I assume it isn't because of a lack of concern on your behalf." she attempted kindly. "But, rather an acceptance of the precarious state of life and death you all balance."

"I hear there aren't any Hollows in Assiah, is that true?" Kiyone piped up, looking with bright wide eyes.

"Yes, it is. We eradicated them all."

"Wow! But, how is that possible?" Kiyone had finally sat down and propped her elbows on the table, leaning forward quite intently.

Kei's smile thinned, "try being abandoned and surrounded by hundreds of Hollows." Her voice ended in an undertone which no one caught. Kagami sent her a warning glance recognizing her look; Kiyone blinked, looking slightly confused, "huh?"

The Fire element sipped at her drink, lowering it after a moment to say something else when the door behind Toya crashed open noisily. An infuriated Matsumoto Rangiku and a few other of the male Fukutaichous peered sheepishly from over her shoulder.

"What's this! Someone's having a party and no one invited me?" she fairly roared.

"That's because you're a drunkard." Kei murmured into her sleeve discreetly. Matsumoto sent her a sharp-eyed glance, at once suspicious of the Soul Reaper. Ukitake beside her, beamed benevolently at the interlopers.

"Welcome! Welcome! Of course you can join us!"

As the Fukutaichous settled down; Takara nudged Kagami again, hissing, "Kagami-san! There's flowers _and_ hearts around Ukitake-san now! What does it all mean?"

"Pay them no heed, Takara!" he hissed back, glowering at the remaining liquid in his cup. As per norm, Soryu was visible, shaking his large fist at his master in warning. "Stupid Dragon." he muttered, setting the cup down rather hard on the edge of the table only to have it suddenly fly forward and upend in his face. Kiyone scrambled up to fetch some towels while Toya inched away from his neighbor Hisagi's question.

"Hey, you a light weight?" Hisagi jerked to the cup in his hand.

"N-no." Toya said, backing off into Kazeatari's personal space which earned him a whack on the shoulder sending him closer to the glazy-eyed Fukutaichou. "What say you and I have a little contest?" Hisagi's breath was already liquor-scented, invading _his_ personal space. Toya nodded dumbly as his shoulder was steered toward the outer edge of the table where Takara sat with Kagami, shaking the man by the sleeve again.

"-the winner," Hisagi slurred, "gets the little blonde dish as a prize!"

"Wha-but-" he fumbled to find the words to explain to the inebriated Shinigami, he wasn't interested in Takara _that way_. _I mean not really_- he started disputing with his thoughts. Something whizzed by quite closely to his head, clipping Hisagi-Fukutaichou on the forehead. The stunned Shinigami gave one more dopey grin then slumped over under the table. Toya, startled, leaned over for a closer look at the tiny cup still spinning on Hisagi's forehead.

It was undoubtedly Keiko's cup.

The Fire element beamed at him from across the table.

Again and again Toya reminded himself why in the past he had never participated in drinking games.

...

By nine, most of the conversation had lulled. Takara had fallen asleep against Kagami's shoulder which the hapless water elemental was too kind to waken her and just uncomfortable enough with a numb arm and a dead weight to grumble things under his breath. Toya was wide awake and strangely alert, sitting up straight he avoided Hisagi's snores and Kazeatari's glare should he intrude on her personal space.

Across the table, Kei was telling Kiyone Kotetsu a story about the 1922 party they'd had at All Hallow's eve while Ukitake left a few instructions with the other third seat, Kotsubaki. Matsumoto was still drinking, in a contest with the sunglasses wearing Fukutaichou, Iba. Toya hadn't an idea what the prize was, but he was sure he didn't want to know. Fidgeting on the cushion, his stiff muscles immediately cramping in protest.

Toya was on the verge of excusing himself to ostensibly sneak off to the hard bed roll waiting in Second's barracks when Ukitake's voice suddenly made him hunker down, curious to the answer that would be given.

"And what of the Earth Elemental?"

Kei stiffened.

The others stirred.

There was no malice in the man's demeanor save for plain curiosity, "you haven't once mentioned him. yet I was sure that by now the four Elementals would be reunited- Murasaki?"

She had stood up.

The attentions of every person in the room was on her.

Kei turned away, her face shadowed.

Her shin-soku was silent broken only by the rattle and slam of the sliding door leading out to the veranda and the moonlit grounds of Ugendo. Ukitake blinked looking from wide-eyes to pale faces, frowning, unsure of himself. "I'm sorry. Did I say something upsetting?"

Kagami forced himself to speak. "No..." he shifted more upright. Takara having awakened, returned to occupying her own cushion. "I think it's time I tell you all the fairy tale of creation..."

-TBC

AN: moi wanted to pass out with this chapter! x.x

While I liked certain parts of it, the translations were a real pain and the Japanese could still be slightly wrong. oh and thanks to Hichishirosaki for allowing me to borrow Yuka.

Anyway thanks for reading!

No flames!

:) reviews loved!


	82. To your other self

I cannot see the future, and the past is so frightening

ShiKai CH.75: To your other self

"This is a story told in Assiah by mothers to lull their children to sleep. Yet it is suitable- I think for our purposes." Kagami said gravely, gazing at each rapt face in turn. Only one was distracted, only one stood up to his full height, stepping over bodies without a word._ Kurosaki_. Kagami allowed the boy to get to the door, sliding it open noisily before he spoke again.

"And what do you think you are going to say to her when you find her?"

"I'll think of it then." Kurosaki replied as an afterthought. The tension was palpable between them. "Kid," Kagami tried again, against his better judgment. "I highly doubt she'll welcome you with open arms right now. Sit back down and wait a while-"

"No, dammit! You can't tell me what to do!" Kurosaki snapped, throwing a fierce dagger-filled glare to the man. Takara cringed beside him. Kagami kept a tight rein on his irritation, shrugging mildly, "ah well. It's your funeral then."

The door slammed.

A collective ripple passed through the Juppongatana officers. Matsumoto looked from their pale strained faces to Kagami, finally demanding, "was that such a good idea?"

Kagami answered before Kazeatari could, "no. It probably wasn't. However, Kurosaki's stubbornness wouldn't have been put off."

"She won't hurt him will she?"

He didn't reply. Takara herself looked down at her clenched fists resting on her lap. She remembered all too well Kei's response to the innocent-seeming question about the Earth Elemental. With effort, Kagami went on, "if anyone _else_ wishes to not hear, they are welcome to leave."

No one moved.

He smiled a little, "very well then. In a time when the world of Assiah was new, there existed in a castle of night, the Gods of life and death-"

"There's only one!" Matsumoto interrupted rudely, "Reio-dono-"

"Yes." The annoyed story-teller muttered, "that's what I was getting to."

Takara hissed, "shhh!"

Matsumoto looked slightly affronted.

Kagami shook his head. "Reio the God of death and Ukiyo the giver of life. For all their omnipotence, the two deities were severely lonely, a few scant humans eked out their existences far below in the lands where the four seasons passed yet their lives passed in the blink of an eye. Hardly suitable companions for the two lonely Gods. In all the lands there was only the demi-gods and Goddesses, earth and wind, fire and water. The four elements watched over the dwellers of the land. Water with the frozen snow-topped mountains, earth in the spring with the renewal of the land, fire in her scorching ecstasy of the blazing sun for the fruit to grow bountifully and finally wind to cool the sweated brow and bare the trees of their gilded foliage in autumn."

Takara had never realized until then how soothing his voice could be. With each sentence he was painting a canvas of a primitive land with the passing of the seasons in flowing detail.

"But...how to ask such beings to ease their loneliness? The two lonely Gods thought and thought and thought away, knowing that the elementals place was on Assiah's plain. All was hopeless as years passed on the human plain and the castle of the moon was as empty and devoid of laughter as could be. Until finally Reio came up with an idea to trick the elementals -"

"That's-" Matsumoto began, Hisagi glared at her now.

"As I was saying. Reio soon shared his idea with Ukiyo whom protested at first yet essentially gave in once he thought of the four elements. So, he agreed. Invitations were sent out by a winged messenger made of clay. A party was being held up at the castle and attendance of course was mandatory. Well, Fire being in her summer residence of the rocky canyons in the south received hers first. As befitting her nature she answered the challenge with gusto and set out immediately in the guise of a sexy woman."

"I thought it was a woman of great beauty?" Takara interrupted.

Kagami with a tic on his forehead muttered discreetly, "there are adults present. Not children. Now where was I? Oh, yes..."

...

The grounds were filled with shadow. Kei left the shelter of the engawa, weaving a mindless path through the expansive grounds. In the distance she caught the slam of a sliding door then rustling footsteps hurrying toward her.

"Why are you-" she spun angrily about, her hand upraised to slap away the one that reached out to her; _believing it to be someone else_. "Ichigo?" A slant of milky light splashed across the hard plains of his face, she glimpsed the worry in his expression and relaxed the tension ready to lash out in her body.

"Are you alright?" he demanded without preamble. "You left so suddenly so I-"

She folded her arms over her torso_; he was always like this_. "Walk with me?"

Suddenly unsure, Ichigo awkwardly shrugged, "uh sure."

Kei took the lead, letting him fall into pace with her. "I know my actions must've seemed strange, taking off like that because of a question. It's not Ukitake's fault, he couldn't have known."

"Couldn't have known what?" he struggled to keep up with her morose mood. She made a quarter of a turn, facing him with her hands clasped together. "You're so kind, Ichigo. I never thought there would be anyone like you-" she muttered under her breath turning askance, "even if you can be a little thick-skulled."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." she said swiftly, "let's walk on." Confused more than ever he tried to remain serious. "If that's what you want..."

"It is." she said over her shoulder, clasping her hands at the small of her back. After a few more minutes of silence, she spoke again. "Do you know the myth of creation?"

"The what-?"

Kei sighed, her eyes tilting up to the leaves silhouetted into mellifluous shapes by the scant moonlight. "It's an old tale, one of Assiah's many legends. I think that's what Kagami's telling them..." she smiled sardonically. "Not the truth exactly, mind you. Nevertheless hearing about one's own self can be quite frightening."

"You don't have to be afraid of anything, Kei." Ichigo said firmly, "I'm right here." He wished he could see her expression as she smiled. "Yes, you are. I suppose I'm glad of that...that's it you and no one else."

He felt surge of warmth at her words. _Hah! Showed Kagami right, thinking she'd turn him away! _ "You know you can tell me what it is weighing so heavy on you- I'm willing to listen! So, please!" _Open up to me_.

- _**"trust me." **_- The voice echoed soothingly in his own mind.

They came to a clearing. Kei gazed up at the sky expressionlessly. "The northern star is especially vibrant tonight. Its luminescent trail hides all even the crimson star of the south." He followed her gaze wondering why she would comment so about something so ordinary.

Her next words sent a ripple of coldness to his blood.

"What if I would say that I knew what it was like to have a sibling, to have someone like you in almost every way except for one."

"You have siblings?" he asked, surprised that she hadn't mentioned it before.

"Once. Ichigo..." she murmured to the night sky. "The Earth elemental was my brother. Throughout our incarnations he's haunted my steps continuously sowing death and destruction wherever he goes. He's a vile, hideous beast whose one desire is myself!"

"But..." stunned he could barely formulate the words. "Why? Why would anyone let alone your own brother want to hurt _you?_"

Kei's voice echoed softly into the fragrant air. "All for an emotion called _love_."

- _**"I love you, Kei."**_ - The voice in his head whispered; his eyes widened.

- _**"I'll always love you."**_ -

"No." Ichigo hissed, his face screwing up. The darkness creeping at the fringes of his vision receded, "no!" _Not that_. Kei turned to him, her eyes searching, "what's wrong?" Ichigo forced himself to see her- to see the one that had been standing there along.

In the dark place in his mind, he shoved at the smiling figure trapped in the mirror.

_"Stay away from me!"_ he screamed silently, jolting back to reality of the darkened grounds and the face of the one he loved.

"..ei. Kei." He grabbed her suddenly, pulling her into a fierce embrace. Soothing his large hand through her hair, the other clasping her around the back. "Keiko, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He mumbled, "I'm here now...and I won't harm you again. I promise."

...

_In the depths of darkness, the figure tapped his fingertips against the mirror's surface, the seal of the red phoenix flared weakly in response, no pain was felt anymore._

_"We shall see, boy. We shall see...you cannot sunder me for I am you as you are me."_

_His laughter rippled, taking many forms of brown mist-like miasma. _

_One, a delicate female figure sunk to her knees in a subservient bow._

_Solidifying with his final words._

_"We shall see whom this vessel truly belongs to."_

...

"Ichigo.."

"What is it?"

She pushed lightly against his chest, raising her head, sniffing the air. "You're drunk."

"I am NOT!" he squawked indignantly.

"Ichigo. That was Sake Kiyone was pouring-"

He turned crimson.

She was smirking now with a Rukia-reminiscent smirk. "Not what Ukitake and I were having."

"Wha- but- but I didn't know! No one told me!" he yelled, decidedly fuming. She giggled behind her hand, "we all thought you _knew_." _Or at the very least realized_.

He huffingly stamped away, coughing discreetly into his cupped palm to smell the liquor and uttering a loud string of curses when he found it was true. Aggravated, he rubbed the back of his neck roughly, still facing away from her. A different note to her voice when she spoke next surprised him yet again.

"I missed..." her mirth faded. "This side of you." _Don't go away again please_.

"Kei.._ko_. I-" he spun around only to catch her fleeting unease.

"Ichigo, why did you call me Keiki before?" Kei stared at him openly, her shock evident.

"I...did?"

It was clear he didn't remember it at all. _The boy really could be an airhead_. She sighed slightly, the tension easing. "I don't mind however you prefer it. Kei, Keiko. Keiki- even Murasaki." She adopted a slight thinking-pose. "It's true that Ukitake uses Murasaki even though it's really old and Ten- _he_ calls me Keiki sometimes when he addresses me which is rare and I threatened Kagami that I'd cut him to ribbons and let Touda peck his eyes out one by one if he ever called me _Nee-sama_ again-" she fisted one hand and shook it at the memory.

Ichigo swallowed hastily when she turned to him shrugging.

"But yeah. Whatever you like." She held her palms open to the sky. "There's even Akane or Kanae, I don't really care for those just like Murasaki..." she trailed off.

He eyed her fist warily, after being the recipient of too many of Rukia's punches. "And who are Akane and Kanae?"

"The names I bore in my previous incarnations." She said nonchalantly.

"Riiiight."

She shrugged again, "like I said. It's your choice. Of course you could always use _Captain Yamamoto._ Like the officers."

"Uh... I think prefer _Kei_."

"Hmmm." she giggled. "_Kei_ it is then!" After a few minutes, she gestured toward the faraway lights of the lanterns strung in the trees. "Shall we go back? I'm sure Kagami is finished now."

"Alright." he said still feeling a little light-headed from the alcohol or maybe it was from her smile.

They walked almost hand in hand back to Thirteenth Division.

...

_He's changed_- Takara saw it immediately when the Shinigami sub and the Soul Reaper reentered the room. There was a certain lightness to the boy's easy smile and laugh. Takara grasped the nearest object at hand which happened to be Toya's sleeve and clutched it, leading him to look at her questioningly.

_Am I the only one who sees this?_ she wondered, shaking her head mutely at Toya's glance.

When Kurosaki brushed the backs of the fire elemental's fingers, she looked back at him and smiled, slightly intertwining them. _She's not pulling away_.

When she willingly kissed him goodnight, catching him on the side of the mouth- there was only affection in the glances they shared. _No greedy, grasping thing_... Takara glanced after the backs of the Shinigami whom Kurosaki walked with down the opposite street.

_What changed?_

With her eyes she could see nothing.

_The darkness that had been prevalent around the boy like a miasmic cloud over his soul had vanished_.

"Something wrong, Takara?" Kagami asked finally noticing her preoccupation as she had stopped in the middle of the district staring after the black-clad figures receding into the distance.

"N-No." she forced her unease away. Smiling. "It's nothing at all."

_Maybe it was never there to begin with_.

...

The bed was warm. The smell of the room different than what she knew. Kei woke up briefly disoriented, blinking away the last vestiges of sleep. She pushed away the coverlet, sitting up in the bedroll.

_This was_...

Someone most likely a servant had opened the doors to the veranda, a cool breeze gusted through the few trees, rustling leaves and wafting the bird song through into the room. The events of the past night came back to her as she fully rose, walking barefooted to the edge of the doorway.

_She was in the Kuchiki mansion, Byakuya had invited her_. Kei rubbed at one blurry eye, feeling the uncomfortable pressure of the city teeming with souls.

She made a face, sliding the doors shut, casting the interior in minor gloom. Today was the day...there was no putting it off for the next. Kei went resolutely to the folded pile of her traveling clothes, disregarding the flower-print yukata left out.

_She had to see if it was still there_.

...

Toya pushed the broom across the floor. Out on the veranda, Takara chatted with Kiyone while packing away the folded lanterns. Since waking up early and finding Kagami already gone and the bedroll tucked away in a discreet cabinet, he had started to wander around the hallways when Takara had pushed open one side of the doors he was passing and dragged him down to Thirteenth Division to help clean up.

Something he sighed at.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway, the door slid open and a familiar voice said with a hint of amusement, "why Amakusa. I didn't think you were such a work-hound. Taking on extra duties-"

"It's volunteer work." Toya muttered, unable to keep a dull flush from creeping up the collar of his robes. Keiko lounged in the opposite doorway, smiling. "I see Takara's running all over you."

"Huh?" he stopped sweeping, eyes wide.

"Nothing." Kei said dismissively, glancing past him to the sliver of grounds. "Is Ukitake in his office? There's something I want to ask him."

"Um, I think so- uh wait!" he called as she turned to leave. Kei stopped, looking back over her shoulder. "What is it?"

Surreptitiously, he leaned the broom against the wall and snuck away from the sound of the girl's voices. "Can I go too? There's a place I want to go..." she looked at him strangely.

"Alone." He added.

She nodded slightly, understanding glimmering in the depths of her eyes.

...

"I don't see why not." Ukitake responded after their requests had been made. Toya clasped his hands behind his back, staying a little behind the girl in deference to her rank. He never would have approached Ukitake on so slight a matter as skivving out on volunteer work.

_Now that he thought about it_... he started to panic when he heard multiple footsteps in the hallway beyond the door. _Wouldn't Takara have his head on a platter or something even more painful and violent because he was sneaking away?_

All these scenarios went through his head in a nanosecond.

"Um, have a good day! I'm going now!" Toya forgot himself and phased through the nearest wall leaving Kei to eye the space where he had once been, curiously.

"Did you see that?" she demanded of Ukitake. Before he could answer, the door slid open with a loud bang. Kiyone immediately started yelling at Kotsubaki, calling him an oaf and Takara had the broom, wondering aloud as to Toya's whereabouts.

Kei shook her head slightly and smiled one last time at Ukitake, "I'd best be going as-"

"Ah, but wouldn't you like some company?"

_Actually no_, she thought to her chagrin as Kiyone left Kotsubaki alone long enough to pipe up, "going somewhere?"

"Murasaki's going on a short trip out of Seireitei, want to come along?" Ukitake then happily replied.

Kei's smile was dangerously close to cracking.

...Shurei...

He had been looking at the same page for hours, not seeing it. What _had Toya meant...that he couldn't mimic it?_ Kage left out a huffy sigh, interlocking his hands the way the book had showed. "May as well practice." he muttered to himself, pronouncing without conviction, "Bakudo seventy-nine, Kuyo Shibari."

It was no use.

He just couldn't concentrate. Kage dropped the hand position, falling back down into the butterfly chair, dropping his misty head into his gloved hands. _Why was the feeling that something was inherently wrong somewhere so pervasive?_ _Sure he had failed slightly in convincing Senbonzakura to join them- well not really. The samurai hadn't said anything and Kage had told him to seek him out if there was a change of heart. Fat chance of that_...

Unable to rest, he slumped down again and took up the book of Bakudo spells, flipping forward to the last pages.

"Itte Kaso...hmm. A forbidden spell which takes a great amount of power to cast. When properly cast, it resembles the tip of a giant sword forged entirely from burning flames slicing from the ground upward to pierce and incinerate the target." Kage studied the ink illustration with vague interest. "Toya-ko could probably do this, if he wasn't all with the whole forbidden thing curling his hairs..." he trailed off, his lids drooping. Swords didn't really need to rest, but he was overtly fond of imitating Toya and pretending to be tired

Soon Kage had fallen asleep. He wasn't conscious of it. Only that he felt a deep kind of tiredness urging him to close his eyes and to fall down, down into the depths of a dreamscape.

When he opened them next he found he was in a field of incomparable beauty. Wild flowers grew in profusion and in great vivid hues rarely found in the nature of the world. As he gazed about himself, taking in the splendor all around he soon noticed something off about each and every flora.

One bled thin reddish liquid like blood on the sunlit yellow of its petals.

Another had thick fat green worms crawling from its delicate pink center.

And still yet another patch of wild bluebells wept yellow pus.

Kage covered his mouth with a shaking hand, sickened by the travesty of rotted beauty. Slim lily-white hands covered his eyes out of memory.

"Guess?" whispered the sweet feminine voice.

He trembled, shuddering with malaise born of remembrance. Kage couldn't bring himself to face the *Aizo no Ken.

(lit*sword of love and hate)

"Hello...Setsuka."

A girlish giggle echoed from the space behind him. Kage prayed it was merely a dream. The hands covering his eyes left suddenly only to wrap tightly around his middle, hugging him in a burst of emotion.

"Oh! You remember me after so long! That makes me very happy."

"Yes...it has been a very long time." Kage watched the green worms recede to become pistils of the flower once more. "So long in fact that memory eludes me. It is merely a name and nothing more."

"You jest surely." Setsuka chided, "your sense of humor always has never failed to mystify me. Then do you remember at least what I said and the question I asked of your feelings?"

_If they had changed..no_, his gaze lowered, unseeing the darkening slime of the flowers beginning to putrefy. _If they would ever belong...to you_. Wind rustled the stalks of the moss-ridden flower bank. Kage pushed away at her hands, breaking the circle of her bandage-covered arms. Finally able to breathe, he walked away from her, standing at the crest of the hill. For as far as the eye could see, fields of rotting flowers caught in a paradox of beauty and filth flourished beneath the sun.

A sun which gave neither warmth nor light only a mockery of it.

He bent slightly and picked a vibrant Amaryllis from a slender mold-covered stalk. "Setsuka, you are...but a memory." His fingers curled over the blood red flower. "A bad dream from which I must awaken from."

"No!" she screeched piercingly, the cloying sweet odor of rotting flowers in water tainted the atmosphere. "Ilena said! Ilena said we were made for each other! I won't have it! I won't forgive-" she broke off suddenly at the sharp tone of his voice.

"Setsuka! I am not- _Toya and I _aren't who we once were. You..." sadness arose like a bitter ache in his throat. "You and Ilena are dead."

_I watched Toya's beloved be torn apart. _

_I watched you shatter. _

_We watched you both __**die**_.

He crushed the perfect flower. "So, just please..." it crumpled to ash in his palm. "_Disappear_."

Setsuka's scream faded in the distance.

...Seireitei...

The stairs were older, worn.

The pain familiar.

Keiko had understood his need to be alone. Toya paused midway and bent at the edge of the staircase built into the hillside to pluck a few wild daisies from the grassy stalks.

_When you took my place. _

He continued on, veering toward the left and a clump of trees skirting the top of the plateau. The grave markers were many, worn like the stone, aged from the weather elements. Toya walked past scores without any memorial, no one to remember them as their comrades and family were gone as well like dust in the wind.

At length, he reached a row of cracked miniature monoliths with faded carvings.

_As they tore you apart_...

He reached the last one. A pitiful epitaph to a lost life. Toya sunk down, leaning forward, he pressed his forehead against the cold stone. The daisies lay against the base of the marker.

A tear rolled down his cheek.

Then another and another.

"Did you hate me in your last moments?" Toya whispered, stroking the stone gently. "Ilena?"

...Shurei...

Something rapped against the outer door.

Kage jolted, near falling out of the precarious chair. The book draped over his knee clattered to the floor; _so it had been just a dream_. Unheeding the book, the mimicker rose, taking a few halting steps toward the shadowed section of wall where the door to the outside world was.

_Who could it be?_ He wondered, knowing full well that it wasn't Toya. He assumed it was another Zanpaku-to spirit yet even that was unlikely as none had ever visited him before. Kage briefly considered calling out but even as he thought it, the sound stopped. Perplexed, he went and unlocked the door, peering out.

Flakes of ash spiraled down never ceasing for the midnight hour. The red sky visible through the leaden clouds, flickered intermittently with flashes of lightning. Kage gazed about him at the barren wasteland, not seeing a soul.

"Huh...guess I must've-"

"Kage-bunshin."

He let out an unintelligible yelp. "Gah! Senbon-Senbonzakura! You came!"

The samurai spirit in violet robes with crimson and gold-trimmed armor went forward. "I do not believe I have ever been to this land." His long dark hair swished as he turned and glanced around then followed the pinnacle of the tower. "Ah, yet, I presumed correctly," he sounded dry. "This being the most presumptuous edifice around was yours."

Kage grinned, "would you believe that when my master came..."

Glass crunched.

They both turned simultaneously to see the newcomer standing some distance away on the eastern plain. Kage's grin faded. "That is.." Senbonzakura faltered while Kage still had his wits about him.

"_Why_ is _it_ here?"

The hebi bore a sword, dragging it by the hilt; Kage was unwillingly reminded of the Shinigami Zaraki's Fukutaichou.

"Wind and Fire, how unlikely a pair." The creature said in a mockery of a child's thin voice. "I suppose Wind will not stand down...ah well. I've been lonely for so long. Now I have two to play with."

Kage's gloved fist shot out and latched onto Senbonzakura's leather bracer-clad arm.

"Back up slowly."

The door stood open, allowing a sliver of light to fall across Senbonzakura's stocky form. He shifted subtly even as the minutest of quakes rocked the ground beneath their feet. "Get inside." Kage whisper-hissed urgently, "and close the bloody door!"

"Show cowardice!" Senbonzakura snapped as the ground erupted with violent force, sprays of dirt and glass obscured the sky as jet black cylindrical columns shot up in a horizontal line splitting them apart. Kage dove to the side inelegantly flinging his hand out, forming a slender katana which he flipped sideways, declaring as his comrade did simultaneously.

"Chire, Senbonzakura!"

...Rukon forest...

She hadn't expected an entourage.

_I could've gotten there by now in half the time_. Kei thought, forcing the biting remark near to surfacing out in the open, to stay where it was, on the tip of her tongue. Instead, with feigned cheerfulness. "It's not far." To Ukitake and the trailing Shinigami.

"Where exactly are we going, Murasaki?"

She hesitated, the weight of the drawstring bag in her hand seemed heavier than it truly was. "It's..." she winked impishly, "a secret!" And shinsoku'd away.

"Murasaki!" Fading into the distance.

She closed her eyes. _You'll know. This place_...Kei soared through the tree branches, leaping off a higher one to land in the middle of a ruinous clearing. _It's somewhere only you and I know_. Whistling movements of air came as Ukitake and the others landed behind her. Kiyone shielded her hand against the glare of the sun and looked around, stunned, "this-this is-"

"Sub level Rukon district 70." Kei answered, gazing at the village being retaken by nature and time. "Where the recorded _slaughter of the innocents_ took place."

Ukitake, increasingly pale, covered his mouth with a shaking hand.

"I was the sole survivor."

"But.." Kiyone began hesitantly, "there _were_ no survivors except for-"

"The murderer." Kei finished.

Collective gasps went up.

... memory...

The air was thick.

The air carried the scent of burnt blood.

Lightning crashed and rain fell in hard slanting sheets.

The droplets fell from the tips of her fingers, arms laying on the tops of knees, forehead pressed to her forearms. The droplets were red.

The clink and draw of swords from leather scabbards approached.

Gasps.

Her head rose.

The white-haired young man from two lifetimes previously, was there before her. His white haori billowed around him in the sharp gusts of wind. A squad of seven Shinigami were fanned out, eyes wide with horror at the carnage presented to their disbelieving eyes.

She felt a keen, sick delight at their expressions.

"How could this..." Ukitake Jushiro began shakingly, "Mu-Murasaki! Why? For Gods sakes! Why?" his voice ended on a shrill desperate note.

"I am not Murasaki nor am I Akane or Kanae." She said with a deadly calmness as if the destruction that surrounded her meant nothing. The other Shinigami murmured to themselves, taking steps back as she rose, the pale white kimono that all konpaku new to the world of the dead wore, was stained with burnt blood. Black hair the color of rare indigo ink shone a faint bluish sheen, falling to her shoulders in tangled waves. Her face had taken his breath away the moment he had first seen it, now it made his chest tighten and ache in strange ways.

_It seemed a sin against creation for anything to be so breathtakingly lovely_.

"I..." Jushiro couldn't move.

"I wonder," she murmured, snaring him with her sapphire eyes. As with Murasaki, the reincarnation of the same woman, she aroused feelings he had never known he possessed. Gazing upon her, he felt cold and feverish at the same time. Conflicted and in another way knew what he had to do.

Wretched in ways beyond anyone's comprehension, he unsheathed his sword as she closed the gap between them. "Would that you could run this blade of yours through my body..." her tiny hand touched his face. "Perhaps my sins would be absolved?" She pressed against him, twining her slender arms around his neck.

He couldn't breathe when her lips touched his.

In that moment, Jushiro realized he would never be able to forget _her_...

She broke away after a moment, sadness in her eyes.

"Save me." His sword was at an angle to her thin unprotected back.

Tears sprang to his eyes, "I..."

"Kill me so that I may be reborn to find _him_!" she urged in a soft whisper, her eyes beseeching, pleading with him.

Jushiro could still feel the lingering warmth and pressure of her soft lips. _He?_ Another feeling welled up inside his heart. An all too human emotion that possessed him. Gently pushing away her hands, he slipped one into his pocket withdrawing a coil of gleaming crimson.

The collar snapped into place around her slender swan-like neck as she gazed at him.

"I can't." Jushiro said simply, gazing upon her face one last time.

A single tear ran down her pale cheek.

He turned away, knowing a lifetime of suffering awaited the Kouseitan'i of Fire.

_Can I ever be forgiven for my moment of weakness, Murasaki...?_

...Shurei...

The cherry blossoms enveloped the hebi like a pink curtain sealing away the darkness. Kage crouched, holding his sword in a defensive position. Senbonzakura warily flash-stepped to his side, eyeing the mirror-image weapon with distaste.

"Must you replicate myself?" The samurai asked clearly miffed.

"Huh? Oh. Heheheh." Kage grinned nervously, his static form sizzling into the long silver and black combi-stick. "Sorry, old chap. Was a little distracted there...and -" he breathed in sharply, breaking off suddenly. "It's still alive?" he jabbed to the center of the rising cloud where a tiny form cast shadow against the slicing pink cascade.

The petals suddenly exploded apart, dissipating against the more powerful force. The hebi of Genbu remained untouched in a perfect circle, yet all around the ground bore thousands of tiny cuts lacerating the ashen soil.

"How can this be?" Senbonzakura hissed, seeing as well that neither attack had done anything to the fourth guardian. "Never have I met one whom could withstand my thousand sakura petals!"

"Oh, I have." Kage placed a gloved hand on the other's armored shoulder. "Brace yourself, Bon-bon.."

He received a heavy glower undiminished from the ornate crimson mempo. "_Don't_. Call me that. That is not a name suitable for a _warrior_."

"Heheheh. Couldn't resist." Kage snickered, gravity returning in the next beat. "Don't be fooled by its child-like exterior, that thing is a remorseless killer. We're in..." they both felt the ground shake. "For the fight of our lives." He swung the combi-stick forward, "go."

...Second Division...

The sudden summons had been surprising.

Yet awkward was the atmosphere in the plain nondescript room he was seated in with her.

"How-" Soi Fong hesitated. "Have you been?"

"Fine," he answered over the tea cup. In truth he had a slight nervousness that he endeavored to hide from the Second Division Taichou. "Or perhaps you question more on how I am still alive." Kagami attempted to smile kindly at the petite woman with eyes normally sparking now downcast.

"After all wasn't it you whom said we would all die there in Assiah?"

"I..." She couldn't speak like in that moment, so long ago.

...Memory...

"I..." she couldn't speak. Blood gushed down the younger girl's porcelain face, staining her white kimono the color of rust. She whom was once known as Shaolin to the wounded, stared aghast at the short sword clasped by her own small hand, the tip plunged straight into the ocular cavity of the other.

_So many things unsaid._

_So many broken in that instant_.

"I.." _I didn't mean-!_ Soi Fong struggled, her face screwing up with emotion. Suzumebachi had told her to aim for the sword in Hisakata Keiko's hand. She had only for the girl to take the blow meant to shatter the Zanpaku-to. _I never meant to hurt you_.

"Why can't you speak?" Keiko said softly as Suzumebachi slid from her eye. Soi Fong took half a step back as cold rage twisted the delicate features of the girl. Keiko moved suddenly, sweeping the Shinobi off her feet. Soi Fong slammed to the ground, breathless, wincing in pain as Keiko's sandaled feet rammed down on her wrists, pinning her down.

"I am what I am-"

"A monster-!" Soi Fong found her voice.

Keiko gazed down at her pitilessly, her slim hand evening out to palm down, a clear path to the trapped Shinobi's face. Soi Fong struggled weakly, Keiko's next words silencing her coldly. "Kagami is as well. He is not any different from the man you looked up to in Shihoin's long service. Rather," the single violet eye gazed down accusingly.

"You-" _are the one who changed_.

"-are the monsters!" she cried in desperation. "You and him deceived me!"

_You lied to me_.

Keiko's good eye closed, "Say no more. Everything is already gone."

Memories of missions, of fighting together, of laughter and goodbyes and smiles. Warmth and friendship. A hundred different scenes passed through her consciousness as the pure incinerating red of the Kido formed at Keiko's palm.

"Hado -"

Silver spun through the air, Keiko leapt back, slashing her hand across the atmosphere, "Enkosen!" _Instead_. The Kido wall erupted over her as the shuriken clashed against it. A black clad form knelt at Soi Fong's side, "hurry! Lady Shihoin has called a retreat!"

"Wha..what?" Soi Fong could scarcely believe it as her comrade helped her to her feet roughly, drawing her back as Keiko advanced. Impassive now yet with malevolence radiating from her aura.

_It's too late to mourn_.

_It's too late to regret_.

Soi Fong gazed at the face of the girl whom had once been her friend.

_It leaves nothing- there __**is**__ nothing but hatred_.

As the kido lanced out in a rippling reddish whip of light, Soi Fong yelled across the void between them. "You'll all die here! Every one of you-!"

Keiko gazed at her expressionlessly; the shoji doors were opening around Soi and the other injured Shinobi. "This world'll be your graveyard!" _At least I still have my lady. Yoruichi-sama will never betray me_.

The doors sealed shut.

-_end of memory_

...

"Keiko told me." He elaborated in the short silence that followed. The haunted look vanished from the onyx eyes. Soi Fong forced herself to sip at the cooled tea. "I see. Surely you must regard me with despise or in the very least possess some malice toward me bearing from the past."

_No more tender feelings_.

"On the contrary." he said smilingly. _Pain, yes. Pain that could never be erased_. _But, neither of us are the same as we once were then_. "I find it's much easier to pity rather than condemn."

"Oh?" Her eyes grew hard again. "I don't want your pity."

Kagami's smile saddened. No, I didn't think you would. "The difference between us, Shaolin, is that I learned to live with my pain and not bury it deep inside."

She poured herself more tea, even though it was bitter. "What about...what you said before...?"

"I only wondered if you remembered, is all." He answered softly.

...

"Are you all appalled?" Kei questioned, stalking forward to kneel on the ground, taking from the drawstring bag a stick of incense. Snapping her fingers, a tiny curl of flame lit the tip, Kei watched the red ember burn steadily, perfumed smoke rising up.

"Ukitake of course knew. For he was the one whom arrested me that night. The field of carnage was such that it was written it was like a scene right out of Hell. I suppose some of you may question why I their murderer should come to the place of my sin and light incense for the dead?"

"Murasaki..." Ukitake went forward and knelt beside her, gazing at her with the same kindly brown eyes that she remembered. "What you did was wrong, yes." He gently covered her smaller hands with his own. "However justice was served in a manner of speaking. You paid the ultimate price for it in the past and therefore are absolved of it. It is your coming here to pay respects is what truly shows the kindness in your heart."

Takara looked around and pulled on Kazetari's sleeve, standing on tiptoe to whisper, "Kaze-san! I see hearts around Ukitake and Kei-san again! What does it all mean?"

Kazeatari made a face, "ask Kagami when we get back."

"But-"

"Shh." Kazeatari warned.

Kei gazed at him for the longest time. Until she finally smiled faintly, "thank you." Rising as she did so. "No one has ever spoken thusly as you have to me."

"Murasaki." Just her name. He wondered secretly how much she remembered of that night. _Of the plea she had made and how the petty emotion he had felt, had in the end caused her all the more pain_. "I-I'm glad," Jushiro had difficulty getting the words out, "I was able to comfort you, Murasaki."

She lightly squeezed his hand just as Kotsubaki spoke up, "but, aren't Kei-san and Kurosaki-kun together? So, shouldn't he be the one to-" Kiyone soon elbowed him to be quiet but Kei had already let go, replying that she hadn't seen Ichigo since the night before.

With a hint of reluctance, he watched her face light up when she talked about the boy._ Always another_.

...Shurei...

"Crap..." The ground was gritty beneath his head. Toya opened his eyes to the crimson-skied world of Shurei, bracing his palms back and sitting up in the middle of the barren land. "Must've fallen asleep..."

Kage must not be home, otherwise... he picked himself up off the ground, dusting the ashy grit from his legs and shaking free his long dark hair. Retying it with a grimace, while he didn't mind once or twice, this was getting to be a habit he would've preferred not to develop.

Looking into the distance, he could see the black tower rising high on the plain and...his eyes squinted beneath the fringe of bangs. A disturbance in the valley below it. He hurried forward. Kage's spirit pressure was emanating in frightened waves from it as well as another's which struck him as vaguely familiar.

_Just what the heck was going on?_

...

The wound stung. He clasped one arm across it, leaping back unsteadily as waves of crushing force swung out like a belt. Kage clumsily blocked it, feeling the fabric of the gloves split and fray away. He landed unsteadily half a field back, glancing to the bleedings cuts and blows hammered into the combi-stick. Pretty soon he'd have reached his limit and Toya would begin to feel the effects. He forced a grin, calling out to the samurai in no better shape.

"You okay, Sen?"

Blood dripped from a rent to his forearm and various other tears and marks from hitting the ground decorated the bedraggled Zanpaku-to spirit. Senbonzakura clenched his sword tighter, straightening his stance. "Speak for yourself, Kage-bunshin." He glared, the effect was ruined in part to the cracked mempo mask revealing part of a firm jawline. "And please refrain from addressing me by anything-" he broke off suddenly as smashing spears shot out of the atmosphere itself, lancing the area where he had once stood; airborn, Senbonzakura twisted his good arm back and unleashed a rain of slicing sakura petals.

"-other than my _name_."

Kage leaned on the extended Combi-stick, grinning, "it's too long."

"But it's my name."

The mimicker vanished, reappearing in the sky beside Senbonzakura. "Say, can you distract him for one minute? Get his attention fixated solely on you, just for sixty-one seconds." Kage promised.

Senbonzakura's expression hidden behind the mask, twitched slightly, "that is..a minute and one second. You said one minute only." almost accusingly.

"Did I?" Kage feigned innocence but couldn't keep the grin off his shadowy face.

"Yes, you did." Senbonzakura deadpanned without finding humor in the situation. Kage's grin faded to a tiny twitch, "heheh. Well, just a minute then!"

The samurai glanced to the swirling clouds of ashen dust spinning in a whorl around the tiny figure of the hebi. "I will manage longer if need be, get ready to pull whatever it is you are going to do."

"Will do." Kage replied, straightening and beginning to evaporate into a long black bullet-shaped mist. Senbonzakura breathed in deeply then called out, "Keiko Hisakata cannot belong to anyone but my master! For he is going to propose to her to-morrow!"

Kage's head shot up out of the mist, "are you serious?"

Senbonzakura clearly annoyed, thrust his sword at Kage causing the mimicker to go, "eep!" and shoot down to vanish into the ground. The hebi hissed, rage swirling into mist-like forms around it. Senbonzakura braced himself, throwing up a shield of cherry blossoms. The petals quivered and shook as a multitude of spears lanced it. Never stopping.

He hoped Kage kept his promise and didn't light out on him.

...

In the ground, Kage's head popped out of the displaced ashy soil, directly behind the hebi, he could see the former's intense preoccupation as it sought to crush Senbonzakura. _If bon-bon sustains further injury...Byakuya Kuchiki's life itself will be in danger_. Kage thought, bringing his hands up in a gesture known only to the Kido Corps agents. One to supremely channel one's energy to achieve the most devastating effect.

_Sorry, old chap. This may take seventy seconds_.

"Bakudo...79."

_This is going to take everything I have_. Kage's mind ran over the positions and chant described in the book, choosing to discard the lengthy verbalization. _Please let this work_. He had never tried anything above a level 5 Bakudo with an output of half its potential power.

_Please let this count_.

"Kuyo Shibari!" he barked as eight black holes rimmed by deep violet light swirled into being from the chaotic mass of ambient reishii whirling in the air. They surrounded the surprised hebi with the ninth and final black hole blasting through the hebi's chest. Kage slammed his palm down on the ground as it began to shake and crack apart ominously, "now for the piece de resistance. Hado 43, Gaki Rekko!" Green light erupted from his hands in a swift containment circle.

Senbonzakura yelled from faraway, but Kage ignored him.

"This may hurt us both, Toya." he said softly as brilliant green spears slashed through the entire circumference.

The hebi screamed.

...

Toya gasped, stumbling forward onto the pitch ground.

Pain lanced through his body. Burning flashes like as if pierced by many spears. Yet he bled from no physical wound. Gasping deeply, he rolled over onto his back, staring up at the crimson sky.

_Kage_. It had to have been Kage...slowly he picked himself up, the pain strangely receding. Toya was sure Kage was fighting something, in the distance he could sense the grains of Kido energy fading away. He decided to Shunpo the rest of the way.

Just what in the hell was so monstrous that Kage was fighting?

...

Senbonzakura was numb for the first few minutes. _A zanpaku-to spirit performing Kido spells_...he had never witnessed the like. Breaking from his reverie abruptly, he threw caution to the winds and began searching the land of Shurei for his erstwhile comrade.

He soon found a body-shaped outline on the sands.

The smell of charred fabric wafted from the still smoking form.

"That was an incredibly foolish move, Kage-bunshin." Senbonzakura chided, carefully crouching down at the other's side. "What if Enkosen had failed?"

Kage let out a stream of smoky laughter. "While it is nice for you to be concerned, I was forced to use Benihime's Blood-Mist shield as Enkosen did fail. As a Kido caster I do falter occasionally."

"You overspent energy casting two different spells at the same time." Senbonzakura explained, glancing around at the damage to the surrounding area. "True damage could've been caused had they failed utterly." The samurai tilted his head in a slight questioning angle, sounding genuinely unsure with his next words. "Why would you put yourself in such risk...for I?"

Kage grinned unwillingly, "yes, well. I must be getting soft in my young age." He struggled to sit up, airily waving away Senbonzakura's gloved hand. "The wielder's got this self-sacrificing streak that I must be catching like the plague." Kage muttered, peering at the large crater blasted away by the combined Kido spells.

There was no trace of the hebi to be found.

He straightened, unsure of whether or not it was a good thing. "By the way, how're you-watch out!" he lunged past the samurai as the ground exploded in a shower of grit and blood droplets. Black flashed as a daito blade sliced narrowly between Senbonzakura and the thin cylindrical spear held by a taller figure.

"You-" Kage began, feeling a tremor he had never known before ripple through the katana he had mimicked. The black moon cutter was cracking.

A sliver was visible of the tortoise's bandaged face. It smirked.

Breaking.

Kage had one second of realization, only one to question whether or not he had been wrong in a moment of selflessness. Then with a slight smile in the face of the fourth guardian, he felt the searing plunge of the negatively charged rod pierce his spiritual body.

Senbonzakura hadn't moved, stunned into horrified silence.

"KAGE!" Someone familiar yelled in the distance. Kage felt some annoyance then as he fell back, immeasurable pain ripping throughout his form. _Stupid...you should've stayed away_.

"You bastards!" Toya snarled, rounding the last hillock, swiping his palm forward, reishii flew to his fingertips. "Hado 54 Haien!" A crimson arc of light clove the air just as other figures ran onto the field.

"Kage!" called a feline-like woman brandishing a katana with a cat-head guard. "Take this!" Grayish mist erupted from the tang of her sword. A child in many layers of fancy dress, at her heels stared sharply around, "as I feared." She summoned a miniature glittering scepter from the atmosphere, stabbing the ground with it. "Muhyo-Getten!" Shirahime cried fiercely.

Ice, mist and the slashing crimson of the Kido all shattered upon the tortoise's unbreakable spear. "_I_ shall withdraw for now." He said calmly, the hebi peered out from around his legs, forked tongue slithering out in a low hiss at the new combatants. Even as two twin boys in blue robes followed closely by a brown-haired girl in a kimono appeared behind the cat.

"One day soon I will walk in the sunlight through the blood of your masters."

The cat started forward, a snarl on her lips but they had already disappeared through the earthen ground. "Let it go," Shirahime advised, strapping her scepter over her shoulder as Toya skated up to Senbonzakura and the prone figure of his sword lying on the ground.

_I can't protect you right now, Toya-ko_.

"Kage! Kage!" Before Toya's horrified gaze the shadowy human form melted into a battered katana. "What's happening to him? Why's he not responding?" Toya looked desperately to Senbonzakura then to Shirahime and Haineko. "Hey- wait, I know you. You're all Zanpaku-to! But-"

"Toya, listen." Shirahime said firmly, ending his disjointed sentences born of panic. "Kage has taken that form because he has been severely wounded. He was in a sense driven into his shell. You cannot touch the outer part of his spirit right now."

"Well, what can we do?" Haineko fairly wailed. Shirahime touched her pale brow in consternation, "please refrain from raising your voice, Haineko. As I was saying, there's nothing you can do for him right now! You must take him to Keiko!"

-TBC

AN: apologies for any minor mistakes- wasn't read over well. -.-; *ahem* thanks for reading.

No flames!

Reviews loved :)

.


	83. Unforgettable

_Blaze_  
_Could I ever ease the pain of you_  
_Crescent moon follows in my shadow_  
_Blade_  
_If I ever ease the pain of you_  
_Will you be mine to the end of **Earth**?_

_-Insanity, Kathy Showers_

* * *

ShiKai CH.76: Unforgettable

"I can get there faster!" Haineko interrupted, "I'll take her eminence to Amakusa!"

"What should we do?" Tobiume finally spoke up. Toya recognized her as the spirit whom Kyou had danced with at the Hallow's eve party. The twin little boys peering out from behind her kimono-covered legs, gazed with worry in their expressions over the cracked katana on the ground.

Shirahime nodded to her, Sogyo-no Kotowari and Senbonzakura, "if you aren't required currently by your masters, I suggest you all retire to Getsu-ten's dimension-"

"But-!" Tobiume fretted, biting her lip, "we weren't summoned by Keiki, shouldn't we-"

"We have the right to enter the confines of Fire's realm. Besides which, Kage will mostly likely recuperate there rather than at black tower because of a lack of inaccessibility." Shirahime said sternly, ending all protests.

Toya picked up his sword, gently dismissing the static form. He was still amazed at the diminutiveness of the white princess and her unquestionable authority. He was even more amazed by the difference in personalities of the sword and the wielder herself. Zoe would never be taking such command- _so severely_, he corrected himself silently saying aloud to no one in particular.

"I fell asleep in the cemetery. I'll wake up and stay there."

Hesitant then, Tobiume opened the portal herself to Getsu-ten's moonlit world. Ushering the others ahead of her, Shirahime was the last and also the one who glanced back. Unsurprised to see the door to the black tower standing open still, unnoticed by Toya and forgotten by Kage.

_Such negligence_...the princess thought, gently motioning Tobiume to go on ahead. "I'll be there in a minute." And walked across the way to close the door. As she did so, catching a slight glimpse of the untidy room within the circular tower, something else so out of place made her momentarily forget manners.

Stepping inside, she bent and retrieved from beneath the nearest chair, a broken Amaryllis stalk, its crushed petals black with blight. It reminded her of something- _but what?_

"Shira?" Tobiume called nervously from the portal outside.

The little princess straightened and glanced around, seeing nothing else amiss in the vaguely masculine room. "Coming!" she called absently, wondering why a single decaying flower could fill her with so much foreboding.

...Tsukikage castle...

The sound of horseplay echoed up high. Kanzaki stood at the window, gazing down, hands clasped behind his back. "They're so carefree. It's hard to believe they had once suffered tragedy at the claws of the Hollows." He commented, not expecting Mai to answer. Kazura had taken the morning shift, leaving the sixth seat to sift through the data streaming in from Takara's malware infestation.

"Find anything of interest?" Kanzaki finally turned away from the window. Mai wore a habitual frown, peering intently at the screen as her fingers fairly skimmed the keys. "Not much beyond what Kyou Retsu-kun and Mimasaka-san could've told us."

"Oh? So was it a waste of technology then?" He had known a little bit of Takara's early exploration with the Dies Irae program, now he wondered how untraceable the perfect virus she had created, was?

"No." Mai scrolled the mouse over to the PRT icon. The whir of the inkjet printer across the room filled the silence. "I'm compiling a list of known attributes of the thirteen original Taichou of Soul Society. Three of course have defected, however I aim to have these sheets passed out among the new officers."

"What about their Fukutaichou?" he asked more serious now. "Recall that Kyou and Renko haven't been able to gauge the spiritual pressures of ten of the Fukutaichou. They've only met Abarai and Matsumoto."

Mai shrugged, "I understand your point, Captain. Except..." she tapped a few more keys, scowling even harder. "It seems the record is incomplete."

"What?" Kanzaki asked sharply.

"I don't know yet, but so far even though it doesn't appear to have been tampered with, I would give an educated guess that someone infiltrated the data stream and took out whatever they deemed wasn't necessary."

"Shimizu wouldn't do that." he said thoughtfully, glancing over shoulder at the indecipherable code flashing out continuously on the screen. "No," Mai agreed, "she wouldn't. We have to factor in the possibility that someone knows Shimizu hacked into their system."

He grew worried, "can they trace it back to us?"

She shrugged again, "if they knew Shimizu was a Lieutenant of ours, then it's highly likely that we all could be incriminated."

"Good point." He assented; watching her work faster. After a moment longer, he finally asked, "what are you doing now?"

"Checking the firewall." Mai said shortly, "I have to make sure the security system is still in effect."

"Could it be breached so easily?" he wondered aloud.

"Yes, it could." Mai said slightly snappishly, beginning to find his endless questions tiring. "Let me put it to you this way, cyber hacking like this could easily be traced and if the wrong people got a hold of the evidence, we could be tried for treason."

"But-"

"How?" she finally left the computer, turning up to him with cold flinty eyes. "Don't be foolish, Karasu. You out of all of us should know the answer to that."

He grew silent as memories passed through his mind, unable to hold her gaze, he wandered away back to the window where out on the far lawn he could glimpse Hisrio, a spot of vibrant purple and disapproving grey monitoring the younger Soul Reapers mock fights like a hawk.

"I suppose..." he said, sounding very distant. "Everyone knows how my adjutant once was ordered to kill me."

Mai visibly relaxing once he wasn't hovering over her shoulder, twitched a faint smile, "and how his failure in doing so cost him his rank and near exile to rectify the escape of the Quincy."

"It_ wasn't _exile." Kanzaki said with faint bitterness. "The damned fool couldn't take the loss of the high horse he rode so he chose to flee Seireitei rather than weather the storm of censure his failure entailed. I gather the Shihoins weren't pleased there was a black blot in their perfect record back then."

Mai sipped at her drink, her gaze skimmed the Windows Defender report, her mind on the past as well. "Isn't it sad that one command passed down out of judgment could ruin a life so utterly?"

"Well, that is the story of our lives." Kanzaki held his arms out as if to embrace the world visible from the window. "I suppose I should be satisfied."

"With what?"

"Keiko's already kept her promise to me." He finished quietly.

_And those kids out there...are the proof of it._

...Unknown realm...

"That was a foolish thing to have done!" The tortoise strode through the darkened cavern, light nor darkness a difference to his senses.

"But, Gen-!" The hebi whined, "we could've crushed 'em!"

"No." He instantly refuted, "there is nothing to gain from open hostility so early in our awakening. We have only the barest minimum of our power available. For master's sake we must conserve it until the time when he calls on us. How many times must I repeat this to you?"

"But...I could've done it on _my_ power alone." The hebi murmured petulantly, "Gen, I want Kage-bunshin to be the first one to die. Then Senbonzakura for his dared impudence. Keiki can't belong to anyone else but Master!"

"Yes," the tortoise said softly. "He is the only one whom can save her from her fate."

_Why do they not understand this?_

...Seireitei...

The cat came barreling out of the surrounding trees. Immaterial, so no one else was able to see her except for Takara. _And myself_, Kei thought, hoping to ignore the felinus catuus spirit and be able walk on with Ukitake in peace.

Haineko was soon upon them.

_"Eminence!"_ she wailed, launching her busty female form upon the hapless Elemental. Kei stumbled back, feeling the impact of the spirit. "What happened? Did you trip over something?" Ukitake asked concernedly, unable to see the translucent paws of the cat grasping onto the front of her kimono.

_"Eminence! Something's happened! Kage-"_

"What?" Kei asked sharply, startling everyone.

_"-was attacked! It-it was the guardian of the north!"_ Haineko sobbed, apple green eyes brimming with tears. _"And-and your eminence, you need to hurry!"_

Kei paled, going chalk-white.

..._Genbu_. Without hesitation, she grabbed a hold of the cat's fuzzy pink forearm, saying to Ukitake, "I'll explain later." Forcibly phasing from sight.

...Getsu-ten's mindscape...

The flower remained on her mind as the others spread about the spacious library. Senbonzakura in his battered armor and slightly disheveled ponytail, swished to the curved wall of windows looking out over the veranda. Tobiume wrung her small hands, fretting around the room and Sogyo and Kotowari had settled on the floor against one of the large floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

_There had to some significance to it_...

"Tobi, can you give me a rough estimate on how many earth-type Zanpaku-to there are in Seireitei?"

The young girl stopped her nervous fidgeting and covered her mouth with one trailing sleeve, thinking. "I'm not sure exactly. Momo-chan doesn't go out very much...but I would say, Gegetsuburi, Gonryomaru, Wabisuke, Zambimaru, Houzukimaru and Ruirokujaku." she frowned a little, "of those I know are earth-type swords."

"Huh," Shirahime sat perched on the edge of the large armchair. "mostly males. There's a few in the Juppongatana, but except for Orochi and I think one or two others, they're all males too."

"Does it matter? What're you thinking of?" the plum asked, lowering her sleeve from her mouth.

"Nothing much. Just that was I wondering is all." Silence lapsed again. Senbonzakura's voice cut through the quiet, "they're here." The four Zanpaku-to gathered together as Kei, Haineko and Toya at their heels entered through the library doors.

"Now, what is this all about?" The fire elemental demanded, one hand on her narrow hip. Her fair hair was wind-blown from the abruptness of her flight, escaping the confines of the cherry stick, strands hung messily around her pale face and fiery eyes.

"I already explained-" Toya began,

"Yes, but what do you expect me to do about it?"

His expression worked between fury and desperation, "-something! Anything! Look! Kage's on the verge of breaking! Can't you-"

"I don't _have_ the power to fix a broken sword." Kei said sternly, crossing her arms beneath her breast. "At my disposal so easily." she amended. "I can fix the surface of the blade by restoring him to a point before he was cracked but it's highly likely that he won't emerge anyway. If you the wielder cannot reach him, how shall I whom has had less contact with his spirit than anyone else?"

Toya deflated somewhat, "I guess you're right. But what can I-"

"No," Shirahime spoke up, stepping from the shadow of the taller adult Zanpaku-to. "In a way you're correct, Keiko. Amakusa should be the better suited, but I think in this case, _you_ are." Piercing frosty blue chips gazed out from the child-like face. "Have you forgotten the innate bond we all share with you?"

Kei matched the white princess's stare. "No, I have not." she said a little stiffly, "however your point hasn't been made, Shirahime. Kage-bunshin has belonged to Toya for almost two-hundred years. Touda told me once when I asked." she added.

For his part, Toya colored. _Has it been that long...am I that __**old**__?_

"It doesn't matter." Senbonzakura interceded, his deep cultured voice muffled by the lacquered mask. "Your bond with him is still there. No matter the centuries that have passed since he was first created."

_He's_...she studied the samurai's gold half-cherry blossom crowning the top of dark brown locks. "So, you're saying I should try to link consciousnesses with him? See if I can pull him out of whatever dark hole he was plunged into?"

"Correct."

..._Byakuya's. Wonder what's under that mask?_

"Before I do, can I be alone with you, Senbonzakura, for a minute or two?"

...

"I wonder what her eminence wanted to talk to Senbonzakura-san about?" Tobiume murmured, curiously looking at the closed doors. Shirahime clasped a hand to her tiny brow, "don't ask."

Toya eyed the Zanpaku-to spirits and prayed Kei would hurry; he didn't relish leaving his unconscious body in the Kuchiki mansion especially near _hers_.

Haineko tapped her heel, pouting toothily, "I bet her eminence is checking out the goods-if there are any, under that mask!"

Wisely no one replied.

Approximately five minutes later by Toya's count, one side of the doors opened briefly to let out a slightly more disheveled Senbonzakura. The samurai retained some of his stiff, elegant grace yet was noticeably pink- _this time Toya could see it_.

Wisely yet again, no one asked what had transpired behind the closed doors.

...

Kei approached the divan beneath the windows where the sealed sword had been laid.

"You were always a strange one, Kage-bunshin." she murmured, standing over the scabbard. Forming a two-fingered Ketsu-in, she made a circular motion, energy waves washed over the sword transforming him into his unconscious spiritual body.

She seated herself carefully at the edge of the cushion, sliding Getsu-ten from over her shoulder to rest sheathed atop her knees. Laying her hands atop the scabbard, she focused on the cold night radiating from the dead sword.

...

Kei opened her eyes to absolute whiteness. Not blinding purity but a kind of eggshell white-wash, the only blot amidst all the whiteness, were bricks. Millions it seemed, littering the ground in tiny piles and great stacks. Black bricks of shiny hard obsidian. She hadn't seen him among the multitude, until he moved.

A sigh rippling through a thin shadowy humanoid form. Coattails fluttered over the clean lines of stacked black bricks, he sat on them, gazing out in an attitude of boredom.

Kei hadn't expected it to have gone so easily. Who'd have guessed the sword would've taken up refuge in the first memory? Walking toward him, she circled around, coming to face him as he sighed again.

"Perhaps it is hopeless."

"Nothing is hopeless, Kage." Kei said softly, cursing mentally when she almost tripped over a wayward brick. Her lips moved but no sound came out. Surprised, she took half a step back as the bricks lifted of their own accord, building a toy wall between them.

"The hell..." she looked sharply at the downcast sword. _Is he doing it? _

"My idiot wielder can't hear me anymore. He's shut me out." Kage continued to mumble, propping misty elbows on thin knees, gloved hands folding beneath a sharp edge of a chin. She had never seen Kage's true form, then again maybe no one had.

He was a shadow who mimicked other forms.

_Did he even have a real form?_

Kei watched him uneasily. In the state he was in, there was no way to gauge his next move.

"Kage," she decided to try again, without taking a step forward. "Toya's worried about you. He can hear you, but you can't hear him! You need to wake up-" _this is all just a bad dream_.

"He can't _hear_ me. No one can." Old resignation had crept into his tone.

"Kage-!" Kei made the mistake of reaching out. Instantly she was repulsed by a static shockwave, bricks flew up and around, slamming into place one by one, creating a circular enclosure.

_This is_...

Kei stumbled back, watching with horror as the tower was built up before her eyes.

The Zanpaku-to remained in the center, eventually disappearing from sight.

"Kage..."

The capstone sealed it off.

Her hand fell to her side.

_A tower...self-imposed isolation. A prison of the mind, thoughts, personality, strong as a tower with hard unyielding bricks made of stone_... she approached again and lightly touched the smooth outer surface.

A stone to reflect and absorb the grief of the soul.

As with Kage, no one knew much about Toya, beyond his name and that he had wandered for a long time after leaving Seireitei. They knew nothing about his isolated nature...no one had pressed and he had never offered. _This could be a problem_.

Kei sighed, reaching for Getsu-ten's hilt only to encounter thin air.

A sudden throaty growl split the atmosphere.

She spun about to find mist creeping up, wraithlike, illuminated from within by some inner-luminescence. Figures formed from it, like rippling mirages of their living counterparts.

Nekomata was closest.

_The swords he's mimicked_, she realized, backing up until the hard surface of the tower's wall met her back. The wraith of the demon cat growled lowly, baring jagged teeth, eyes gleaming a sickening grayish phosphorescence.

"Shit." Kei murmured, her fingers skating along the slick side of the tower behind her. _Windowless, entirely sealed up from the outside world_- she dodged Nekomata's lunge, the demon cat plowing head on into the tower, broke apart into misty fragments like water against rock. Again she tried to call on Getsu-ten as the rest advanced, to no avail.

_Damn it_... she ran around the other side, looking desperately around for some kind of weapon. A glint of metal caught her eye and she lunged for, bringing up the plain asauchi blade against the jet-black of Tensa Zangetsu, wielded by other than the mirror image of the spirit.

"Et tu, Tensa?" she said softly, tightening her muscle and shoving back with a clumsy counter. The shade of the moon cutter stumbled into the rest of the snarling hoard. _Seems as though they're not even half as powerful as their true counterparts_, she thought, hastily blocking a sideways swipe of a pure white katana with a ribbon trailing through the air.

_Sode no Shirayuki_. She ducked another swipe and aimed a kick at the Yuki-onna's unprotected obi-covered torso. "Oops!" she pulled out quickly, finding herself sliding through the Zanpaku-to's body.

_Only the sword can-_ her eyes widened as she traced the plain lines of the sword she held. It wasn't Getsu-ten as she'd originally believed. _Of course!_ Kei braced her weight against the two blades close to cleaving through her. _This is Kage's world_- _only __**he**__ can touch it_.

Again she pushed them back, fending off more attacks as she edged toward the tower again, sparing a glance to see it unchanged. _Windowless- without hope-? Everything in a Zanpaku-to's mindscape is a metaphor for the soul_. Kei lunged to the side again, scraping her hip yet was on her feet in a flash, breathing hard.

_There's no place to_-

The world at the fringes began to darken, the Zanpaku-to started to close in. Kei switched her stance, eyes darting around. Luminescence spilled from behind her, casting her silhouette on the white ground. The shades were drawn to it- forms flickering on the edges.

"Light..." she mumbled, twisting around, searching the black tower for its source. A tiny window hidden near the top spilled the luminescence. "Fire!" she cried with realization.

_"As light gives heat...so it gives hope."_

She raced back to the tower, swiping at the misty forms swirling up the ground. Up reaching its base, her free hand skated over the smooth glassy surface. "C'mon...c'mon!" she hissed under her breath, her nails scraped the seam of the bricks. Drawing back almost onto the point of the sword dangerously close to slashing her across the spine, she thrust the katana into the crack between the line of bricks.

_There's always hope_.

A shfft sound splintered the air as tiny hand and foot holds broke out in an uneven line to the top. Kei fingered them, then jetted up, clinging tightly to the cold stone as Tensa Zangetsu's blade had almost sheared her in half.

"You'd better be worth it!" she bit out, hauling up her screaming muscles with sweating hands, ever mindful of the tenuous grip on the cold, slick stone. The window seemed far above, a beacon she could seemingly stretch her hand out and reach. Something lanced her ankles, stinging like a wound. Kei choked on the cry of pain burbling up in her throat, clutching on one-handed, she lunged again with the katana.

"Wake up, Kage! I'm ordering you to stop this _now_!" Kei screamed, feeling the black bricks of the tower suddenly come apart with an ear-splitting crack, with a suddenness that took her breath away, the tower began to collapse in on itself- with her still clinging to it.

"Oh, shi-"

Blackness.

...

Everything hurt.

Kei shifted against the pile of bricks where she had fallen, feeling immensely battered and bruised. Tilting her head up, she regarded the hazy expanse of white and the haphazard stacks of bricks. Kage's immobile, anguish-racked form wasn't hard to find.

She got up with a groan on her lips. "Not again..." Kei forced herself to straighten, limping toward him with determination in her uneven step. "You can't hear me. The isolation was self-imposed, a tower built of thoughts becomes a prison of the mind."

The bricks trembled in warning. She stopped just short of the closest stack. "You trapped yourself in a memory, Kage. By fleeing the present, you buried yourself in the past." Her body hurt from the pelting of bricks. "None of this exists! It's all just a memory! Open your eyes! Toya's waiting for you!" Something else occurred to her as she gazed down at the asauchi still in her hand.

"He's...he's no longer that child he once was." she guessed. "He learned your name and you've fought together already! He's built up this tower-"

"No, Keiko. That's not it." Kage finally tilted his head up at a slight angle. "You don't understand the point of all this." _The fall of the tower_.

_He could hear me-! _Kei watched him uneasily, "what do you mean? What don't I understand?"

"I should say...what no one at all understands. You see, Keiko, I have a secret that he can never know...it would devastate him utterly were he to find out. That is why..." the sword spread his gloved hands out to the empty world. "I chose to hide here. I must say though that Toya gets awfully-"

"You haven't answered me yet!" she snapped finally in exasperation silencing him. "What are you so afraid of Toya finding out? Everyone has secrets, things they don't want no one else to know, so-"

"Yes.." he nodded slightly, "I suppose you may understand. Forgive me for misjudging you. You know what it's like to watch someone die. Even unto the knowledge of knowing you could've saved them."

_Is that what haunts you?_ she wondered silently in amazement. _You regret not saving someone?_ "Everyone makes mistakes, Kage." Kei attempted, gesturing with her open palm, meaning for him to take it and come with her. The sword remained sitting, gazing at her for the longest time. Kei had the strangest feeling she had said the wrong thing.

"Perhaps. You can go now and tell that old fool I'll be alright. Sorry for the fall earlier." he waved his hand dismissively to the bricks, "old self-defense mechanism."

"Uh-huh. Won't you come with me now?"

"I still have some thinking to do. Shoo! You go on without me!"

Annoyed, she lobbed a brick at him, effectively ending anything else.

"Ow." Kage rubbed at the spot on his forehead where the projectile had hit. "That wasn't very nice."

Kei shook her fist, checking her grip. "No. It wasn't."

"You're not supposed to agree."

She practiced her throwing-sword move, hurling the blade end over end at its spirit form.

"Yikes." He barely twisted out of the way in time. "Danger-"

"Behind." Kei indicated, attempting to suppress a smile.

Kage spun about, swiftly ducking as the blade twirled back around, embedded in the ground near his foot. "How-?" he sounded dazed.

"Aerodynamics." she blithely said, studying the hand she had used. "Hm. Must be losing my touch, that should've pierced you the first time."

"Ehehehe."

She shrugged, "oh well." Then turned to leave.

His quiet voice after a few minutes, stopped her. "I saw _her_ you know..." _she was watching from the distance far behind the earth-shaker_. _The Aizo no ken_.

Kei turned back. "Who?"

"Someone who should be long erased from the worlds."

...Getsu-ten's mindscape...

Kei withdrew from the world of white into the surroundings of the library. Glancing down, she saw the hole in Kage's chest sealing up. Still annoyed, she strapped Getsu-ten back over her shoulder and stood, gazing down at the misty form.

_What did he see..?_

She rolled her shoulders back, feeling the stiff bruising of one and rubbed at the sore muscle. Catching sight of the clock on the other wall, she realized five hours had passed. Just outside the door she could sense Toya's agitated reiatsu, turning slightly to regard the sword again, she shook her head.

"Do you _not_ regret saving someone, Kage-bunshin? Is that it?"

Her question went unanswered. Turning back toward the doors, she purposely strode forward and said all that Kage had wished for her to say. Evasive in Toya's prodding, Kei was thankful he respected her enough to know when to stop.

"Why would Genbu attack Kage-bunshin?" She finally asked. "It doesn't make sense. What could be gained from harming him?"

"I think it was a warning," Shirahime said in Tobiume's arms. "Maybe because his wielder is someone in your sphere?"

"That doesn't make sense at all!" she complained, "why not Ichigo?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo's strong."

"But, Kage's hardly weak. Besides, Amakusa and I are only comrades, we're officers of the same rank. Not like Ichigo and..." Kei stopped herself in time. _What are we?_

Shirahime ignored her slip. "Look, all I'm saying is everyone should be extra careful. The fourth guardian has already proved that at a reduced power level he was still more than a match for three attacks of ours simultaneously. Kage's wielder, Amakusa, is no lightweight."

Toya perked up at the mention of his name.

Kei's face darkened. "You refer to of his being a former Kido Corps agent, I presume? Even that wouldn't be enough." A coldness crossed her features. A hint of disdain sharpened her eyes. "I see even you don't understand either. Avoid direct conflict with the fourth guardian for you cannot hope to win. As for myself I must return back to Seireitei, I suggest as well that you go back to your masters until the time being." she dipped her head in light respect and turned to go out the arched doorway to the main corridor. _If he wished to, he could destroy you_.

Something that had been bothering Toya resurfaced then.

"Keiko, is it- is the fourth guardian more powerful than you?"

She smiled enigmatically and vanished.

...Somewhere in the Rukon...

"Now, why'd you come all the down here for, eh?"

The house was as ostentatious as ever.

He scratched at the side of his head, a little embarrassed. "I was in Seireitei for a couple of days and decided to drop in-"

Ganju's loud voice came from somewhere behind him. "Aww! It's been too long right? I just know you missed Bonnie's special kissie-wissie!" The smelly boar was pushed into his face. Ichigo rammed his elbow back into the larger man's gut, yelling. "Shaddup!"

Soon the man was rolling on the ground in pain while Kukaku looked on amused. Bonnie- the trademark boar was off snuffling the grasses for something to eat.

"So, how you guys been?"

"Moving around, setting up shop. The usual!" Kukaku waved airily, her cleavage on the verge of spilling out. Sharp dark brown eyes traveled back to his face, almost mischievously, she grinned, "how about you? Got yourself a girl yet, Kurosaki-kun?"

From the ground, Ganju popped up, mysteriously unhurt. "Yeah! Yeah!" he waggled his bushy eyebrows, "got yourself _a little action_, strawberry-kun?"

Before Ichigo could snap something, Kukaku had beat him to it. Sending her brother flying across the field with one of her special punches. "Idiot! I'm askin' the questions here!" she roared then turned him with an easy grin, "so? Yoruichi told me a little. Who is she?"

He scuffed the tip of his sandal in the dirt, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Well, she's-"

"I know!" Ganju called from behind a large rock, "she's hot and sexy so it's gotta be Orihime-cha-"

"Dumbass!" Kukaku hefted a much larger rock and flung it mightily across the field.

Ichigo winced when a huge 'whump' sounded.

"You were saying?"

"Uh..." he himself knew what it was like to be the recipient of the woman's superhuman strength and hesitated on angering her. "Um, she's.." what words could describe her? "Amazing? I guess." he finished dry-mouthed.

Kukaku nodded, still grinning like a shark, "powerful too?"

"She's the elemental of Fire." he said proudly.

The color drained from the woman's normally ruddy face. "Not...Hisakata Keiko-?"

"Yeah...what's wrong?"

Kukaku looked away sharply, "come inside."

"But-"

"Now!" she snapped, turning back blazing eyes.

Ichigo shrank away and meekly followed her lead.

Ganju waved an arm for help from beneath the massive boulder but Kukaku glowered heavily in her brother's direction. "Leave him," she dismissed, and tramped inside. Motioning to a large room off the main foyer where he left his sandals, they entered it together; Kukaku hastily excused herself.

"I'll make us some tea." she said jerkily and not at all like the cool confident woman of before. Ichigo stared at her, slightly perturbed, "no, it's not-"

"What, got a problem with my tea?"

He held his hands up quickly in surrender, sweating nervously, "no, ma'am!"

"Good." she barked and stomped off, leaving him to the silence of the room- well not true silence since distant explosions and thuds were heard as the Shiba family servants puttered about, setting up the outside decorations. _As if they needed more_, he thought dryly, getting up after hearing nothing preceding Kukaku's imminent return.

He wasn't overtly curious by nature yet something...something made him wander around, looking at all four corners of the room, eventually seeing nothing of interest he turned back toward the shallow steps where Kukaku would sit and the panel of wall directly behind.

_Something..._

He went around the small low table, running his hand along the seam of the panel. Quickly his fingers found the catch, tugging with minimal effort, it came away in his hands to reveal a dark space built into the wall. "What is..." Ichigo hesitated on reaching in, his nagging sense of right urging him not to poke through their stuff, yet another feeling urged him on.

Soon his fingers were probing the small space, encountering the hard solid edge of something. Curiosity overcoming his qualms, Ichigo pulled it out to find it was a picture of a dark-haired man, whom resembled Kukaku to a certain degree and...

_**"Coming back now?"**_ Whispered the honeyed voice.

_I thought I told you to go to Hell_.

_**"You're not the one whom can send me there. Because if so, you would be condemning yourself as well."**_ The voice responded coolly.

_Che_. He scowled, gazing down at the picture of the smiling man. _Who is this?_ _You know, don't you?_

_**"That is Kukaku Shiba's brother...Kaien. You remember the story Ukitake told you?"**_

He did vaguely and he was sure the voice knew it as well. _So, what? This guy's nothing to-_

_"__**Are you yet unaccepting of your own soul?"**_

"What the hell are you talking about?" he scoffed softly.

_**"He is **__**you**__**." **_

Light exploded in his vision.

He felt as though he were falling backward, unable to catch himself and startlingly remaining rooted to the spot. The world swirled in motion, the oil lamps in Kukaku's house became bright sunshine. Panel-board walls transfigured into a kaleidoscope of trees- a grassy area.

Motion.

He was walking and standing still at the same time.

Two scenes overlaid themselves.

A blur of fair hair and unsteady gait rushed past, clipping his shoulder. Ichigo felt the physicality of the touch almost as a searing flash, an inner burning in his veins, his chest felt tight beneath the white kimono. Then, he caught the familiar scent.

Ash.

He turned in the same moment as she did.

Wide, terribly innocent violet eyes.

She looked so young..like a child.

Yet it was there. A pull of gravity in the center of his being, something beyond what he could comprehend. He was drawn to her...even then.

The girl that was Keiko, had stumbled back upon turning but as their eyes had locked, had been unable to look away. Ichigo could see that the same sensations were gripping her heart and body. Heat. Excitement- ..._want_.

I want to hold..

_You. Keiko_. The need to touch her was the most overwhelming.

Ichigo-ne Kaien Shiba reached out as a man's faraway voice spliced forgivably through the moment.

"Keiko! Where are you?"

Kagami.

Disappointment lanced him sharply as she swung into a quick bow, "gomen." And spun away in a flurry of red hakama and flowing pale hair. The white moonflower clamped to her hair sent shockwaves throughout Kaien Shiba.

_A kenseikan...house of Hisakata_.

He still reached out, calling out in a stranger's voice. "Wait! Come back!"

She never turned back, disappearing up through the trees.

Kaien-ne Ichigo, frowned, unaccustomed to being ignored. Running thick fingers through his hair, his chest remained tight, burning all from that single minutes' look and brush of their shoulders.

"Man...what am I thinking?" he grumbled quietly, "she's just a kid."

...

Ichigo withdrew shakingly from the memory.

That had been...he was-

Heavy footsteps thudded in the hallway just beyond the doors. Quickly he shoved the picture in the space, closing the tiny cabinet door. With sweat standing out on his brow and a tremor in his hands, he retook his seat as Kukaku burst in the room, a tray of tea things precariously wobbling with her jouncing step.

"Here we are!" she sang, dropping the tray down with a rattling thud as he jumped up, earning him a slightly suspicious look from the woman.

"I just remembered! I have to-"

"No tea?"

"Uh-um, no-" just barely Ichigo leapt back, skating across the room. Momentary surprise took over her expression, _she had missed_. _Either that or his reflexes had improved_. Kukaku straightened from her lunge, nodding decisively.

"Alright, you're off the hook for now."

With a sigh of relief, he watched her cross her fists beneath her generous bosom. Then as he walked past her to the door, she added quietly.

"Go running back to _her_."

Ichigo stopped, the bitterness in the woman's tone took him aback. Kukaku hated idiocy, rarely ever a person...so why? He felt he had to know, turning back slightly even with the suspicion of their kinship in the past.

"When I first mentioned who my girl was, why did you act like that?"

Kukaku's profile was made of stone. "I couldn't...explain it to you even if I knew what it was." she said in an altered tone so very different from her loud boisterous tones. "But my brother..."

A ripple passed through him. _Kaien, she meant_.

"...was at peace once that girl went away."

"What do you..mean?" Ichigo was almost afraid of the answer.

Kukaku locked gazes with him, her lips pursing. "I don't mean a damned thing...jus' that he was possessed-like! Now get on outta here! Didn't you say you had someplace to be?"

Ichigo took flight at the sight of her iron-fist.

Kukaku's voice remained, repeating over and over in his head.

_"..he was possessed-like."_

Possessed.

_By what?_ Ichigo wondered.

The voice remained silent in his mind.

...

"Where'd you go?" Kagami asked, sipping at the tea poured for him by Takara. Peering at her closer, he remarked surprised, "what'd you do? Go mountain-climbing or something?"

Kei glowered him into silence.

_Try tower-climbing_.

Ichigo brooded against the base of the tree, the dark figure only those with the Konjoukei could see, by his side, meeting her eyes briefly.

"And you!" she snarled, jabbing her finger at the sword. "I especially don't want to speak to you right now!"

To everyone but Kagami and Takara, it seemed like she was talking to Ichigo.

"Me?" The sub finally pulled out of his stupor long enough to notice her finger-pointing.

"No!" Kei snapped, her eyes flashing, innately she knew it was ridiculous to blame the moon cutter for the nasty swipes his near-twin had dealt considering it was basically Kage's fault, but since only the wielder of the mimicker was present...well Kei sufficed a nasty glare to Toya as well whom shrank down wide-eyed just wondering what he had done wrong this time.

Then as she stalked off away from the picnic, Kagami called after her- unafraid of the look of death she sent him.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"None of your business!" she snapped, stomping back the way she had come.

...

Kei shut the door to her borrowed room.

Slumping against the thin rice paper panel she suddenly felt very tired.

_So tired_…

She slowly crossed the room and slipped out of her old attire, changing into a light yukata in egg-shell white. Long shadows drew tentative fingers over the slants of the floorboards. Evening was falling, in Tsukikage she judged, it was the middle of the night a time when the sconces were brightly lit and officers scuttled like little mice in the great old castle.

Smiling faintly at her reminiscent musings, she got beneath the covers, pulling them up to her head, peering out like a little child at the fading light glistening through the paper doors.

She closed her eyes, slowly drifting off.

…

Nothing had really changed in Getsu-ten's mindscape. The cold stillness of the ruined miniature castle fit Kei's morose mind. She kept replaying the scenes over and over in her head. The crumbling village being retaken by the forest, Ukitake's saddened expression as he recognized the place of their second meeting.

Kei covered her face with her hands, eventually sliding them up to grasp lightly at the roots of her pale moon-washed hair. Many believed that time healed all wounds. _Time_, she thought mirthlessly, letting go and descending to the first level of the gardens, _merely forgets all wounds_.

Here and there, green showed among the withered stalks. Kei touched a single blossom on a wisteria tree only to have it crumble and ashen at her touch. Her lips twisted in a humorless smile, she walked on, thinking of nothing yet reflecting on everything around her. From the silvery pools of light in the nestled recesses of the dead creeper clinging to the crumbling stone wall to the fountain dripping a solitary drop.

Kei stopped at the basin, gazing down into the weathered bowl and clear water that filled it. Intermittently a droplet splashed, breaking ripples across her reflection. Soon, another joined hers. A smooth-cheeked male with a hooded face.

"Water. I did not think you capable of emotion."

"Did you come all this way to simply render a meaningless insult?" She said testily, moving away. In little mood to play games, Kei prayed he would drop it and leave her alone. Her thoughts were much too uncomfortable to be shared, yet after a moment, quiet steps followed down the circular stone steps to the lower tier.

"You know," Kei began, trailing her hand along one stone wall rising up to form the higher level. "The ancient hanging Gardens of Babylon were inspired by the sunken gardens of the King's castle. Some say that Nebuchadnezzar was touched by the hand of God, yet it was a vision from Ashura, the yumemi whom sent him the dream of our castle. Amazing really when you think about it. They were once one of the seven great wonders of the living world along of course with the Colossus of Rhodes."

"It was a senseless act on the part of the yumemi," he pointed out caustically. "The gardens you speak of no longer exist."

"But, they did _once_." Kei looked up at the moon. "Even great things are not everlasting."

He found the double meaning behind her words. Scowling openly as his mouth turned into a thin hard line. "Some things do not have to die."

She smiled faintly, "non omnis moriar?" Then shook her head as she glimpsed his sudden understanding of the phrase. "It is the natural order of the world that nothing not even memory is everlasting."

(*Lit: I shall not completely die)

He lunged for her, grasping her shoulders and shaking her with urgent desperation. "You will not die! You-"

"Why do you care?" Kei gazed at the spirit, merely curious without a trace of well-worn mockery. "Wouldn't your heart be at ease were I to cease to exist?"

"No, I..." the moon cutter couldn't speak.

Kei reached up a hand, gently pushing his way, "don't be so eager to pass judgment when you cannot bear the thought of the outcome." He looked away, averting his gaze. She passed quite close to him, walking to the edge of the enclosed wall, thoughtful again.

"The stairs have collapsed. There's no way to get to the final level save for jumping over." So saying this, she hoisted herself up onto the layered rocks swinging one leg over first, then folding the other, she straightened into a crouch and leapt down. Landing in the middle of the last stone tier. Here, the place echoed emptiness and silence. Secluded from the higher levels and the castle, the miniature valley bore a solitude all its own beneath the light of the moon.

"This is where you used to stay." She murmured when he landed beside her. Gazing about as well around the rectangular enclosure. Broken pillars formerly supported an ancient gazebo-type building, a fountain remained dry, the stone cracked with age and farther at the edge of the tier, a large tree with withered arms.

"We parted here over a hundred years ago. Do you remember?"

His tone darkened. "How could I forget?"

_That was the day when you_...

...

_The garden was still. Broken only by the heavy breaths and labored steps of the girl. Like in bygone days, she still ran full tilt forward, awkward gaited with her long torso and short legs. It would be many years before she learned how to walk for simply walking and glide elegantly with a different kind of motion. But for now, she was Keiko Hisakata-Yamamoto. Barely out of her teens. Darkish fair hair hung unkempt and messy around her face, an even darker more violent color stained the strands sticking to her bruised cheeks._

_"Ten-oomph!" she barreled straight into a thin chest. Momentarily dazed, she stepped back, a grin perched on her lips, "onegai shimasu!" she breathed for as being of Noble birth, manners still predominate her interactions. _

_The sword though being of materiality in the dimension away from the earthly plain, said nothing at first. One hand lifted, gliding to her cheek. _

_Shaolin's wound is still fresh._

_Keiko leaned into his touch. Welcoming the slight warmth to his skin, accepting it more than Kagami's pity driven by compassion._

_"Does it hurt terribly?" he asked softly._

_"No. It doesn't." Keiko smiled bravely._

_Shaolin's wound to her heart still bled inside._

_Moments passed. Keiko covered his hand with her own, clasping it closer to her face. The skull-splitting pain hadn't diminished. "Tensa, I..." here now. The offer was before her. Keiko gathered what remained of her spent strength. _

_Then he spoke. Angrily. "I am your shield! Why did you allow yourself to be hurt when I could've protected you?"_

_She flinched at the harsh tone._

_You'd give up your existence for me. She saw it so clearly now. You'd be so selfless as to die for me the way...Oni-hime did for me. _

_"...it's alright. Swords don't die, they simply cease to exist. I'd rather it be my eye than you- because I don't want you to stop existing, Tensa. But please, do this much for me...find someone worthy of wielding you. I know you've been alone for so long, so please when the day comes that you have a Shinigami as a companion, find me. Because I want to see __**you **__happy."_

_He gazed at her for the longest time, speechless when she slowly lifted their hands, hers sliding free. "Go, go now."_

_"Kei-" then it simply died in his throat._

_The moon cutter nodded once to show he understood then simply disappeared from sight._

_Keiko sighed and collapsed down beneath the willow tree._

_"What was I supposed to do?" she murmured, burying her face in her hands._

_/.../_

_"Keiki." _

_She was curled up beneath the willow in the scattered leaves blown from other trees._

_"You're back...why?"_

_He gazed down at the small, bloodied form and felt a surge of tenderness well up in his being. It was so great that moments passed before he was able to speak coherently._

_"Keiki, I love you." Tensa took one step forward then another, dropping down to where she was. "I...love you so much." Her eyes had closed. A light shimmer seemed to glisten on every inch of her body. Startled the moon cutter reached out as if to hold her there..his fingers passed right through her._

_"Has she awakened?" He said to himself as she disappeared completely from sight, never knowing that in the next world it was murmured by the elemental of water._

_..._

_"She's awakened!" _

_Even Kazeatari moved to see, crouching down beside the bleary-eyed girl._

_"I don't want to see your ugly mug so early in the morning." Kei muttered, glaring. Kagami waved down Kazeatari's rising fan and wind gust. "Keiko, you're confused. It's the middle of the night."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Takara hadn't said how badly you were hurt. Look, I'm sorry I shouldn't have told you to go to sleep. You need to stay awake until we can be sure you didn't sustain a head concussion." Kagami instructed, helping her to sit up from the bed of leaves. Kei ran a hand through her loosened hair, frowning at the flickering light of the nearby fire. _

_"You know..."_

_"What?" Kagami resheathed the Hokuto-Shichisei, setting it aside. Takara moved around the campfire to poke at the logs. Kazeatari settled down soon as well, staring moodily into the night._

_"I had the strangest dream..." she rubbed at her left temple, feeling a slight ache throb in her skull. "Well, what was it about?"_

_"I-I'm not sure.." her hands fell to her lap._

_"It could've been the Shichisei that cut it away, you know."_

_She looked down. "Yeah, probably."_

_"It's best forgotten, I'm sure." he said as he reached into one of the packs lying on the side, withdrawing a deck of cards. "Now, who's up for a game of Whist?" _

_"Not me." Kei said quickly earning her a shocked look._

_"You're kidding! I used to love this game when I was alive!"_

_"Uh-huh. I can see why, it's boring just like you!"_

_"Hey! I take offense at that!"_

_On and on it went. _

_Until that dream was forgotten..._

_..._

_In Getsu-ten's mindscape, the willow tree began to wither._

...

"I don't understand you." Kei murmured abruptly, walking away, crossing her arms loosely over her torso as though she were chilled.

"What is there to understand? Aren't I discernible enough to your eyes?" He stood still in the middle of the ruined plateau. "I'm not Kagami. I don't have the complete gift of Konjoukei." she replied tonelessly, "If a long time ago you had given me one inkling. One word on how you felt, I-" she hesitated. Staring ahead to the base of the willow. What would I have done?"

"Now whom is passing judgment on who?" He commented scathingly after a few minutes.

"What are you talking about?"

"For all your haughty pride and arrogance.." he stalked forward, boot steps ringing harshly in the dull silence of the dead world. "If I could-"

Kei spun around to face him. "What?"

The moon cutter's hand had been reaching out in a semblance of tenderness and now closed, shaking in a fist inches away from her face. "I would show you," he finished tightly, breathing harshly out, "just how it feels to be rejected in the same breath as a goodbye!"

"You're acting as if-" she frowned.

"Don't take me for a fool!" he snapped, rudely shoving her hands away and walking a few paces abreast. "You heard every word and-" something Touda had cryptically said, replayed in his mind.

_"Wielder had a severe head injury that night from SoiFong's vicious Hakuda. Fortunately Mizuna was able to use the fake sword, the Shichisei to salvage some part of her."_

"You..." Tensa turned slowly back around. Kei stared at him, oblivious to the torment roiling through his head. In a single heart-stopping second, everything he had said and done to her since that night long ago flashed in a relentless wave. _I never knew...about her injuries_.

Their eyes met. He saw the truth in them.

"You don't remember when I said I loved you."

/

"There are a lot of things I don't remember from that time."

"Such as?" Pointless though the question was, a genuine curiosity remained.

Kei sat, resting her elbows on the tops of her knees. "I never thought I would forget the reason why I lost my eye to protect you from Shaolin's Suzumebachi. When you asked me why much later on, I could only remember Oni-hime and couldn't understand why you treated me so."

He closed his eyes, turning away from her.

My thoughts.

- Stop acting like it never happened! -

- You're just mocking me -

- I love you why can't you see that? -

Her voice punctured his guilt. "How did you realize about my amnesia?"

"Touda." He said shortly, glancing quickly to catch her surprise fleeting across her face. "Touda came to me not long ago and said things I didn't believe." Their gazes locked, this time neither looked away. "I see now...it was the truth. Keiko...I-"

"Shh." She leaned closer, brushing her lips against his.

_I thought- nee believed you were playing with me. You knew how I loved you and only wished to hurt because of it_.

...

The night drew on.

"I knew I could have you."

Somewhere far off, a forgotten fountain dripped, a crystalline sound that reverberated in the silence enveloping the two beings. "But," she frowned trying to make sense of it all. "At the same time I couldn't."

He looked at her strangely, withholding the questions that threatened to burst out. "Why?"

_Because_- she bit her lip, unable to finish_. I wasn't sure of your feelings_. _I wanted something even I don't have words for, beyond physical contact. I_-_I don't know what I'm saying anymore_. She realized with a sudden lost sensation. In desperation she lifted her eyes to his face as he asked, carefully with the hint of hope lightening his youthful features.

"This is pleasant."

She was aware of her heart expanding, taking in painful breaths. "How..so?" It seemed a ripple shimmered in the air around him, the very atmosphere changed, the soft trill of music notes fell in sweet remembrance.

..._arms holding her safe and warm_.

"We speak without malice, wouldn't you say that is a change?"

"I.." she could barely breathe. The feeling was so real.

_Their hands intertwining_, _waltzing gracefully to a song._

"Do you love me?"

And words.

Kei reached out for him, "with all my..." _heart and soul_.

_His face_.

The dream shattered.

He was looking at her not with the beloved emerald green but devotion all the same burning in brown.

"I-" she pulled away from his touch. Tensa didn't take immediate offense, gazing at her with only minor confusion. "What is it?"

"I-" Kei shakingly clasped a hand to her temple, trailing her fingers down the side of her face, sliding it then to cover her mouth. "I...I'm sorry..."

"Keiko, what's wrong?" He looked at her so kindly, so gently it drove something painful into her heart. "Is it...Ichigo?" The moon cutter prodded.

_How could I have not realized it?_

"I can't!" she screamed when he approached. Turning on her heel, she fled the lie she saw.

_When I see you...I see him._

_I'm sorry, Tensa...I'm so..so very sorry_.

_There is only one person whom I love with all my heart and soul_.

...

Kei awoke with tears on her face and the rattling sound of pebbles pelting the shoji door.

_Couldn't you be a little more subtle?_ She thought, wiping the tears away and throwing the blanket over her shoulders as she hurried to slip out onto the veranda. The figure in black was already climbing over the wall, nearly falling into the pond at the rebuking tone of her voice.

"You could've been caught, Ichigo! What was so important that you had to sneak over when Byakuya's never given permission for you to come here?" Kei harrumphed, letting indignation show rather than the distress that plagued her soul. The sub ran his fingers through the unruly spikes of his hair, something about his manner was different than before.

She couldn't place it at first.

"Why do you always question me? I just felt like seeing you is all."

"Oh, Ichigo." Kei placed her hand to her forehead, sighing heavily. "You're such a child. That isn't much of a reason to come barging into peoples houses. I mean do you even realize it's practically two am in the morning?"

He didn't seem to be listening to her. Pacing away across the narrow bridge spanning across the water, he looked up at the stars seemingly entranced. "It's a lovely night for a walk, don't you think?" The boy known to all as Ichigo Kurosaki turned back toward the woman he had left in the shadows. Kei gazed at him, her expression furrowing deeper with each passing moment.

_Something's...different_. Though she didn't understand why, unease stirred in her soul. Keeping her expression smooth, she shrugged fluidly, "guess so. If walking in the darkness suits you."

After a short silence, he responded, "perhaps it does."

Before she could ask him what he meant, Ichigo came toward her. Concern in his voice. "Are you cold?" he indicated the throw wrapped around her shoulders. Kei pulled the sides closer to her body, smiling faintly, "not really. I just wanted something secure around me. I know that seems silly actually, but I-"

His head was downcast. "Have you been crying?"

Kei froze, her smile felt like acid on her face. "Of course not. I-" _how could he_...

"I can smell the salt on your lips."

_What?_

"C'mon," unconsciously she wanted to withdraw from the hand he extended to her. "Let's get you inside. There is a chill around."

They walked back in silence to her room. Closing the doors, shadow again reigned in the interior of the space. Kei sat across from him, atop the bed roll, the blanket drawn tighter to her chin.

"Keiki, what's wrong?"

She felt his hand slide comfortingly around her upper arm.

It seemed wrong for that name to pass his lips.

"I just think you should leave now, Ichigo. What if-"

"You want me to go?" He ranged between anger and hurt. Kei shook her head slightly, willing him to understand. "No, it's not that I don't want you around. It's just I..." she was soon startled by his closeness, arms wrapping around her, drawing the blanket from her yukata-clad body.

"Shhh." he smothered her protests, kissing her gently at first as his hands wandered to her shoulders then down as he suddenly pushed her flat. Kei immediately tried getting up but he held her in place, shifting his heavier weight atop her as he pulled her robe open. Kei initially annoyed with his aggressiveness let out a sharp cry as he ruthlessly plunged down, taking her breast into his mouth.

"Ichi- _stop_!" _I don't want to hurt you_.

His tongue lewdly curled around her hardening nipple, sucking it hard while his other hand pumped her other breast. Reishii flew to her fingertips, a binding spell selected from the many in her repertoire. But, I don't want to hurt him. She flinched when his teeth bit at the underside of her breast when his hand traveled down the expanse of her taut abdomen, caressing the dip of her hip bone and plunging down her panties.

Kei jolted, every muscle in her body tightening in gut reaction. Droplets of liquid glistened in the corners of her eyes, her lips moved soundlessly, _stop it. stop it. stop it. stop it_. Her lids screwed shut, a thousand images of humiliation streaming painfully through her consciousness.

_Stop it._

_- grasping hands_.

Ichigo lavished her breasts with kisses, his hot breath fanning across her skin sent chills of malaise to break out all over her body. She let out a helpless choked sob unable to keep it in any longer.

He let go suddenly, his head tilting up, pinkish flush adorned his face and saliva trailed from his lips. "I can't scent your arousal." he frowned, "why aren't you aroused?"

"Did you think I wanted to be raped again?" she cried in a moment of forgetfulness. Taken aback he gazed down at her in a torrent of confusion.

"What're you-"

She averted her face to the side.

"You- you were raped? Who raped you?" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her forcefully. "Tell me! Tell me now!"

- "Who hurt you?" -

Deep in the recesses of his mind, it was all too familiar.

- "Tell me who it was, for they do not deserve to live!" -

The murderous feeling was overwhelming. To he whom would protect even unto giving the greatest sacrifice, the darkness combated against his own reasoning. Even as he shook her and demanded answer, sickness churned his stomach. Rose like burning bile in his throat.

Seconds only moments before he drowned in the inner turmoil, Zangetsu's deep voice echoed from his subconscious. "Ichigo, let it alone for now."

The tension drained away.

"I'm sorry..." he mumbled. "Sorry." Lifting his hands from her shoulders.

Her eyes were glassy.

"I always do the wrong things." Ichigo said softly, gazing down into her face, by happenstance his hands had trailed down, one palm in particular cupped around something warm and _squishy_.

He got a very bad feeling about it not to mention a rush of familiar heat in his own body by proxy reaction. He jolted back catching sight of her peeved expression.

"I didn't mean-"

"Fool." Zangetsu said coldly.

Kei grasped the sides of her robe closed, glaring, "do that again without my permission and I'll send you to Hell!"

Ichigo spun quickly around to face the wall as she rose.

"I uh...was wondering..."

Clothing rustled.

"What?" she asked venomously.

_Oh, boy...she's pissed_.

"If you'd go on that walk?"

…

_I can't believe I'm doing this_.

The night air was cool, fragrant once they had left the more populated edge of Seireitei.

- _**"Ask her...Ichigo, see if she speaks the truth." **_-

_Leave me alone_.

The voice pressed, refusing to be silent. _**- "Did you ever -" -**_

The words slipped out casually into the slightly tense atmosphere between them.

"Did you ever meet Ukitake's former Fukutaichou?" Ichigo said it all in a conversational tone. The woman walking ahead of him, remained impassive. Never a ripple passing through her.

"Shiba Kaien was it? No," she forced a laugh. "I'm sure I never met _that personage_."

"Oh, I see."

_She was lying_...he was sure of it.

He started to trust her less at that moment.

"You love me, don't you?"

"That's not something-" Kei began sharply, attempting to pull away. A scowl darkened his face, catching her by the wrists, he held on stubbornly, refusing to let her off this time.

"No, tell me! Why-"

She jerked her wrists, throwing her lighter weight against his slightly unbalanced step. Ichigo fell back into the grasses, tugging urgently. "Tell me!" he sounded petulant, whiny like a small child forbidden candy.

"Tell me you love me."

She wanted to pull away, be a thousand miles away from that question. From him.

"_Please_." Fringe overhung into his eyes, she was glad she couldn't see the expression on his face. Startled, Kei gazed down at the bowed head of the boy, all the while perceiving the other figure in the darkness, awaiting her response.

"I want to hear it even once from you."

_Tell me that I'm something to you_.

"I..." _you would believe me. Anything I say now you would accept in the fragile emotional state you've put yourself into_. Kei gazed at him detachedly, no longer afraid. _Human hearts were so very breakable, perhaps mine doesn't exist anymore._

"I am a very selfish creature, Ichigo. In fact I am the epitome of it." she said, smiling without remorse at his quick denial.

I wanted you because Inoue wants you.

I wanted your heart because Inoue wants it.

"I am not the same person I was when I met you three months ago."

"I don't understand." He said slowly, scowling in a quizzical way that made her smile broader. "Ah, see that is what drew you to me I don't think anyone could define it." Kei twisted her hands at an angle, gliding her fingers up the insides of his wrists until the connected with his palms and they were holding hands.

"Because of you a small part of me has changed."

_I saved that child because I knew you would've done the same_.

"I did something the old-me wouldn't have ever considered in a millennia." Kei said solemnly, "Altruism is meaningless to the Juppongatana. It's a practice we take to heart in dealing with those outside our sphere."

Humanity is meaningless.

"I don't get it." He mumbled.

"I didn't think you would." she said sweetly. _For then you would understand __**everything**_. Gently tugging him to rise, she held their hands forcefully at their sides, her chin tilted up to look into his face above hers.

"But, don't worry it's something you don't have to. We are...so different."

They were close.

So close she could almost feel the beat of his wonderfully alive heart.

"Yet so alike. Ichigo, for as long as you are _with_ me, we will be together."

_I would protect you from __**him**_.

She suspected even then he didn't understand.

"Keiko," his tone was light. "Then I guess we'll be together forever."

She chuckled quietly, amused at a human's way of thinking. "That sounds good to me."

Wrapped in the shadows of the moonlit night, they lightly pressed their foreheads together. Smiling only for each other. Somewhere else, lurking in the shadows, a hope quietly died in the heart of another and began a new set of events to unfold.

-TBC

AN: speed posting here. Sorry for any mistakes hafta hurry! Thanks for reading!

No flames!

Reviews loved


	84. Captains and the Kings

_I'm at war with the world and they try to pull me into the dark._

ShiKai CH.77: Captains and the Kings

Kage was gone when she dared venture back to Getsu-ten's mindscape. Kei wasn't sure if she was relieved to find that Tensa had left as well. He had been so understanding (so gentle) but even then there wasn't a clear answer in her mind to give.

To either of them.

Falling back onto the divan beneath the windows, she closed her eyes.

Opening them to the slants of light of early dawn.

It was morning already and she had gotten little sleep. Kei arose, slightly groggy with the effects of emotional stress burdening her down. Dressing slowly, she was finishing slipping her haori coat on when the thud-thump of footsteps echoed up the hallway.

"Come in." Kei called, sensing it was Kagami. _Except he seemed to be agitated_...

She turned as the door slid open noisily. Disheveled with hair that hung in layers that looked as if he'd been running fingers through it then pulling it, Kagami breathed somewhat hard, leaning in. "We have a problem."

...

Kazeatari and Takara had joined them, each slightly disheveled and with faces of jet-lag.

"Apparently, Matsumoto-Fukutaichou was meant to escort Inoue here."

"For what reason?" Kei asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "It's not like any of us are good friends. Inoue probably wanted to be near Ichigo."

"Hey, you said it, I didn't." Kagami disclaimed. "Anyway, something minor happened and Matsumoto was unable to meet her at the shoten, it seemed Inoue came by herself, reached Soul Society and...then disappeared somewhere in the Dangai."

"Sounds suspicious to me."

"Again, you said it, but this I agree." Their gazes locked. After a moment he spoke again, looking ahead to the small group waiting near the Senkaimon. "We have orders from Kanzaki to return immediately to Assiah. Aizen's suspected in this."

...Tsukikage castle...

The call came soon after breakfast.

Kanzaki jogged up the long carpeted expanse of First's office as Hisrio droned, "yes, sir. I understand, sir. Karasu's coming. Yes, sir, he's slow like usual."

The Quincy leader glared balefully at the former noble as he handed over the phone to him.

"Karasu, is speaking now." He muttered stiffly into the line. Kagami's voice came through. "Kanzaki? Listen closely, I have limited time right now. There's been an incident, I need you to issue an order for us to without haste return to Tsukikage, insinuate that war is imminent and that no one can be spared."

"But, isn't that mostly true?" Kanzaki interrupted.

Kagami sounded faintly irritated, "just do it and when Kei says she's going to help the Kurosaki boy, you are to say this exactly..."

/

Everyone played their parts spectacularly.

It couldn't have gone better than had a script been running through the minds of the players. Kagami watched it all with a burgeoning sense of pride.

Inoue was taken.

She was a suspected traitor.

Kurosaki was ready to go charging across the desert to rescue her.

Soul Society refused all assistance, unlike with Kei; none of the main superior body maintained a connection through the past with Inoue. Kagami hadn't thought he would ever relish another's misery yet he felt an ounce of it seeing the expression on Kurosaki's face.

They reached Tsukikage, leaving Kurosaki behind in the living world...

"I presume he's going to disobey Yamamoto's orders and still attempt to rescue her." Kagami said conversationally as the group entered Third Division's communications room directly after arriving. Kanzaki and Osore waited patiently beside the console. Mai Matsukaze had already taken the liberty of connecting them to Urahara's line.

"I'm sure he is." Kei said softly, a faint smile still lingering on her face. It vanished behind a mask of calmness when she saw the group gathered on the screen.

"Welcome back," Kanzaki said, unsmiling. "I apologize for recalling you all here on such short notice however times dictate a course for us to stay close to our own turf."

Kei could hear Kagami's lines in there.

"I hope you don't mind, Amakusa. I had Mai accept Urahara-san's incoming call in your stead."

Kagami sent him a veiled look. They needed an act of a cool, unbreakable facade, not one constantly apologizing. Toya didn't help matters by fumbling his reply. With effort, Kanzaki perceived the need for reticence and changed his manner.

"I assume, Urahara-san. You on the behalf of Kurosaki Ichigo wish to ask a favor of us. We are you know very well, allies of Seireitei and cannot be engaged on a quest that has no substance!" Kanzaki said with little force, "and no meaning. To place it quite simply, sirs. Inoue Orihime is a traitor in the afterlife and to our world as well."

Kurosaki looked as if about to interrupt, but Kanzaki continued on with a smooth callousness Kagami found intensely admirable. "There is no point in asking this of us. We are..." he leaned forward slightly, "united. Together we will stand against Aizen and his Arrancar and if Inoue Orihime chooses to be on the side of wrong then we will destroy her as well."

"Nn-" Kurosaki began.

Mai looked up sharply from the sidelines, holding the small netbook in her arms. "Karasu, there's an incoming call from Seireitei, shall I let them through?"

"Yes, please."

Kagami crossed his fingers that it was who he hoped it was.

Takara motioned to the computer Mai had. "Set the analog to split screen."

The picture jumped then divided cleanly to the shoten and the background of Research and development. Hitsugaya's turquoise eyes stared sternly at the assembled Soul Reapers. "I've been ordered to inform you that any action taken to assist Kurosaki Ichigo in retrieving the traitor Inoue Orihime will be directly acknowledged as a seditious act."

"We understand that perfectly well, Hitsugaya-taichou." Kanzaki said with a hint of a smile. "We were just informing Kurosaki Ichigo of the impossibility he asked of us."

"Wait! Dammit- you- Kei!" Kurosaki burst out unable to hold it in any longer.

Kanzaki's gaze slid to the furious red-faced boy, Urahara beside him simply looked apologetic.

"You dare to address the respected Captain Yamamoto, boy?"

"She's-" (mine) Kagami guessed.

Kei wore an enigmatic smile one that sharply reminded Kagami of _Keiki_. She went forward to stand beside Kanzaki, deliberately turning that smile on him. "What you say is an impossibility, isn't."

"What're you saying?" Kanzaki said in Kagami's place for almost the same thoughts were going through the water wielder's mind. But, she wasn't looking at him anymore.

Her attention was fixated solely on Kurosaki. "Do you remember what I told you last night?"

"Y-yeah..."

"That we would be together no matter what?"

"Do you realize what you are doing-" Hitsugaya began tightly.

She ignored him, declaring slightly firmer, "then wherever you go, I will go too even if it is to my grave."

"Keiko! I don't-" Kanzaki spluttered.

Kei slipped the haori off and took half a step back, tearing it in half. "Does that make my intentions clear to you?"

Silence fell.

At length, Kanzaki said heavily. "Then you are no longer a Captain nor an officer of Juppongatana. I Kanzaki Karasu hereby revoke your Captaincy and vows, you are not to return to Tsukikage while this order stands. Now leave this city, you have no place among us anymore."

"May I pack a few things?" Kei remained tearless with emotion just below the surface of her quiet voice.

"Fine." Kanzaki bit out whether from anger or from restraining some other emotion, no one could tell.

She stepped through the puddle of the haori on the floor, turning back once to smile brightly to Kurosaki. "Wait for me, Ichigo! I'll be there soon."

Kagami closed his eyes.

_So, it's begun_.

...

"You don't have to do this."

Kei tied the white obi, looping it twice to be tight.

"There truly is no need for this."

She gathered the newly razor-edge strands of her hair, twisting them up high samurai-style then tufted the fringe to frame her face, the edges past chin-length.

"None of us want you to go."

"I have to."

"That's a lie and we both know it."

_Let Aizen take care of Kurosaki_.

She finally turned to him, frowning, "well. Then, if you are so inclined as to question my judgment I will explain then. This is my last chance to convince him I'm not lying about what he means to me."

"Is he that important...to us and our goals?"

"You know he's strong."

"Given the chance without hindrances I could take him down- I'm sure of it." Kagami reaffirmed quietly. "Easy and there wouldn't be any need for you to give up your duties."

She gave him a look, one he wasn't foolish enough to not be able to read.

"Fine." he shrugged, "I tried. None of us want you to go to Hueco Mundo with Kurosaki. But, we can't stop you."

Kei looked away toward the mirror's reflection of herself.

"No, you can't." she said softly, gazing at the image of a girl in black robes.

...

"Oh! Captain, you're leaving already?" Toya murmured, passing her on the stairs. He blinked twice about the difference in attire most noticeably the lack of a haori coat, it was something he had never seen her without, despite being a witness to the little scene in Third's communications room.

Kei paused, her hand sliding along the banister rail. "Toya..."

"Yes?"

"I'm sure you know by now that man is no longer a member of Seireitei."

His look darkened, glancing away he was unable to meet her searching eyes. "Yes, the few Shinigami I asked weren't able to provide anything about his whereabouts."

She lightly clasped her fist, thudding it against the cold stone.

"I know where he is, Aizen told me."

Toya looked at her sharply then.

"He's in Karakura town. Toya, Hirako is a Vizard, he's the leader of the masked army." She gazed into the stony hardness of the Third Division Captain's face. "Toya...do you still want to do this?"

"That's what it all comes down to isn't it?" He began after a short silence. "A question of wrong or right. What a body defines as necessary when to another it's foolish."

"Toya, I didn't say that."

He cracked a slight smile but even it lacked true warmth. "No, you didn't. I've been waiting a very long time for this chance, Captain Ya-"

"I'm no longer 'Captain' anymore. Keiko will suffice."

His expression lost some of the flint. "You'll always be 'Captain' to me."

She smiled, "when it's all over you can always come back, Toya."

A little surprised, he slowly extended his hand to her. "You too, Captain."

Kei hesitantly laid hers in his palm.

"Of course."

They shared a moment of a new bond. One forged of warmth, friendship and understanding.

"In the blue matryoshka doll on the mantle in the game room downstairs, you'll find the coordinates to a specific place. If they confuse you, input them into Takara's computer." She released his hand, stepping down.

"..uh, thank you, Captain." Toya said surprised.

"Use them...when the time is right."

...

Out on the lawn a line of six officers waited. It seemed the hardest for her legs to cross that stretch of stone steps and sloping green. Zoe in particular, she could barely meet her eyes.

"As you all know, to the eyes of Seireitei, I am not an officer of the Juppongatana and as such have lost the title of 'Captain' please refer to me as Yamamoto-san or simply Keiko unless instructed to do otherwise by your commanding officers." She stood before them, looking at each in turn, various memories and scenes of the past flitting through her mind like snippets of happiness long gone.

"I am leaving for Hueco Mundo now and wish you victory in the field of battle. Be strong for the sake of our world, do not falter and never forget the ties that bind us together."

"We will see you again, correct?" Kazura whom had left the gatepost to Seijin alone, had joined the other five to see her off. Now, the red-haired noble gazed upon her with inscrutable eyes, saying the words foremost in the minds of her comrades.

"You will come back to Tsukikage..?"

Kei looked away toward the trees, feeling the breeze against her face. "Zoe, a word please." she motioned the Lieutenant to a shady copse of trees on the far side of the lawn. Once they were facing each other again, Kei felt the lack of the familiar weight of the haori coat over her shoulders, the matching silver Oleander as emblazoned on Zoe's armband.

She took a shallow breath in, beginning quietly, "*Zoe, ceci est mon dernier ordre à toi comme capitaine de la quatrième Division."

(lit*Zoe, this is my last order to you as Captain of the Fourth Division.)

The woman gazed at her intently, yet her expression remained placid like a pool of water undisturbed with Kei's next words.

"*Par les six heures d'heure demain soir, toi et les jumeaux de Retsu sont se déployer par Garganta au palais de Las Noches. Une fois que là vous déferez tous ce que stand contre le Juppongatana et êtes considéré par vos supérieurs comme menaces pour notre but principal. Comprenez-vous?"

(lit* _By the six o'clock hour tomorrow evening, you and the Retsu twins are to deploy by Garganta to Las Noches palace. Once there you will defeat all whom stand against the Juppongatana and are deemed by your superiors as threats to our main goal. Do you understand?)_

"*Il sera fait, capitaine." Zoe said firmly.

(lit*_It shall be done, Captain_.)

Kei shook her head, the ponytail swished slightly. "*Je ne suis plus votre capitaine."

(lit*I am not your Captain anymore.)

Old habits were hard to break. Zoe wore a serene smile, responding in turn. "*Aussi longtemps que vous existez dans les mondes comme Yamamoto Keiko, vous êtes mon capitaine. Aucun autre."

(lit*_As long as you exist in the worlds as Yamamoto Keiko, you are my Captain. No other_.)

"Be careful amongst the Espada." She murmured, "Kazeatari has given special instructions to Kyou. Once you are in Hueco Mundo, discard your title and rank. Kyou will tell you how to take down the enemy once the little scanner has scanned the perimeter. I trust him enough to tell you the way to victory."

"I heard Kagami-san saying something about Retsu's ability. _God-eye_, he said. How is it so different from normal reiatsu detection?"

"Kyou can gauge the depth and limits of another's power. Normal detection as what you or Toya perceives cannot judge that far without estimation and assumption. Kyou's not like that. So, trust in him and please remember my thoughts will always be with everyone."

"It seems we are always parting." Zoe remarked with a knowing look.

"True. But, this..this is to a better day. The way without enemies."

...

"Lieutenant Sakurai said you wished to see us?" It was a well-known fact that Hana Retsu respected only three people, on occasion five with the inclusion of Third's superiors. Kazeatari leaned against the desk, arms crossed. Kyou peered nervously over Hana's shoulder, clearly fearful a reprimand was coming.

"Yes. Please close the door."

After that was done, the two Squad members awaited further instruction.

"Direct your attention to those two boxes," she indicated ones on Rizu's desk. "The top one is Kyou's, the other is Hana's. You will wear them tomorrow and act as according to the new order I am going to issue you both."

The twins exchanged glances but Hana's was on the verge of a smile twitching on the corners of her mouth. Soon the sound of tissue paper ripping was heard as the female twin dove into her box with unrestrained glee.

"New clothes? Wow! Thank you!"

Kyou lifted up from his box a white jacket with black trim, startled. He realized the import of Kazeatari's grim silence. "C-Captain, these are-?"

"Arrancar uniforms. You have twelve hours in which to get accustomed to them for the fight ahead."

Hana studied the dress with an Egyptian-style collar fanning out in delicate black braids. "You mean we are going into battle in these? Why can't we wear our grey uniforms?"

Kazeatari sighed, rubbing at her forehead tiredly. "You and Kyou's captains-class ability together was decided by the five of us to be the perfect counter-measure. We are counting on you to destroy all whom stand in the way of our goal. Keiko is informing her Lieutenant of her role as well. I trust you will work together?"

They both nodded mutely.

"Excellent. As I said before, at six pm tomorrow evening you will accompany Lieutenant Elbe to Las Noches palace. Notice please the markings on your clothes."

The fabric was turned over and searched.

"There are similar on Lieutenant Elbe's. You two are assigned to the eighth Espada," Kazeatari said, "and Lieutenant Elbe to the third Espada. You are all defected Shinigami loyal to the traitor Aizen Sosuke and will respect your '_masters_' the Espadas and above all else defeat their enemies."

"You mean?" Hana asked with wide eyes.

Kazeatari gave them both a measured look. "I suggest you head out to the training grounds and practice at least basic Zanjutsu. Conserve the main bulk of your strength for the battle ahead."

...Ichigo's mindscape...

There was no rain. Only a few scattered clouds in a grey sky. The boy always brooded and that was a fact. Letting the portal seal up behind him, Tensa stared out over the expanse of the skyscraper skyline. A different kind of encroachment was happening.

_Buildings were still falling_...

The vast sea of them amounted to such an amount that the thinning at the edges had gone for days with little impact on the view yet even then slight rumblings and cracking sounds disturbed the peace of the mindscape. One in particular to the south bore striating cracks deep into the shiny steel surface.

_That's where_...frowning deeply, he crossed the short distance and examined the fractures in the building that housed Ichigo's memories. Just then a sound curled upward in the air. A few notes of a song played softly on keys. Startled his head shot up, searching, probing the nearby vicinity.

_No, she wasn't there_.

Slightly disappointed he soon realized that the sound emanated from below.

_Inside the building of memories_.

A chill swept through him as he straightened from a crouch.

_This song_. Surely he recognized as being hers. Tensa walked the length of the building, sliding through an open window to land in the greyish confines of an empty room. The sound was louder once inside and seemed to come from the inner hallway.

Exiting from the dreary room yet to be filled with articles from Ichigo's life, Tensa went out into the hallway glancing up and down at the row of closed doors. The sound seemed fainter somehow. _Not from any of these_. On and on it went until he had reached the sub-level where the cracks had spread up from.

Down a dim corridor a door stood at the end. Reddish light spilled from the crack under the door, luminescence slanting across worn floorboards. As he reached for the door knob, it swung open on quiet hinges to reveal the interior of a plush red carpeted room. Heavy damask wallpaper bore black medallions in western Regency style. No sooner had Tensa entered, had the door closed behind him, bolting with a click of an old-fashioned lock.

The moon cutter felt slight apprehension creeping upon him as he moved further in the room, reminding himself that the building along with the rest of the world was his domain. The sound emanated strongest from a corner where a Gramophone sat on a pedestal-like table. Tensa approached it warily, studying the deep dark cherry wood, knowing Ichigo had most likely never seen one in his life.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A voice he knew so well, echoed from somewhere to the left of the long L-shaped room. Tensa slowly turned, never allowing himself a jolt of surprise. The bottom half of the room bore a few pieces of heavy old furniture, most notably a large almost floor-length mirror in a heavy baroque setting. In a brocaded chair lounged the form of his orange-haired wielder.

_Smiling._

"The music I meant." Ichigo said, indicating the gramophone. Tensa ran his gaze over the form-fitting attire. Coal black pants, a lead grey chain looped around the belt and laying across one thigh. A high-collared white shirt with a single button peeking out and a solid black vest that covered the main torso.

"What is it, Tensa?" One hand was propped beneath his thin slightly angular chin. "Why do you look at me so? Do you not recognize your master?"

"You surprised me is all. I didn't think you would know this form."

"Ah. But, I do, Tensa. I would know you anywhere. For aren't we partners?"

"Of course." Tensa didn't like the sly knowing look in the depths of Ichigo's eyes. It filled him with unspeakable unease.

"Hmm..do you ever wonder about how many lives on earth I've lived? How many in which I _touched_ her life?"

Somehow Tensa didn't like that notion. His tone became sharp, "I hardly believe you have been together in the past. She has never..." he caught himself in time.

"Never what?" The smile dipped, something flickered in the amber. "..said she loves me?"

The scene from the night before passed through the moon cutter's mind, he couldn't hold Ichigo's gaze any longer. "But, you know she does."

"Do I?"

Surprised at the difference in tone, he glanced quickly to catch the fleeting pain.

"I'm afraid she'll find him."

"Who?"

Ichigo seemed not to hear. "She loved him so much in life...if she finds him...she'll leave me. And I can't bear that...I don't want her to leave me." He looked up slowly from his hands, "Tensa, you will help me, won't you?"

"First of all, whom do you speak of? Who is Keiko trying to find?"

Exasperation changed into annoyance. "Her dead lover from centuries ago, Tensa, he was bad to her. He _hurt_ her, but she still loved him anyway. So, won't you help me?"

Ichigo had said the one thing that could've moved the heart of the sword.

Tensa would disobey even her tears to keep her from someone who had harmed her.

"If it's for...Keiko."

Amber glinted, the smile returned.

Tensa gazed at the hand that had held the hilt of his static form and knew he was making the right choice. "Whatever it is I can assist you with, I will do so." Placing his hand in the other's.

They shook as if making a sacred pact.

Ichigo smile resembled that of a cunning snake. "When I find _him_...we will _kill_ him so utterly that she will never find him...and in the end...will realize that **I** am the only someone just for her."

...Tsukikage castle...

Hana gazed up at the sky, watching the fat grey clouds traverse sluggishly across the blue firmament. Aloud she muttered, "I hope Kagami-san remembers to keep it from raining."

Kyou sat on the ground against a nearby tree, elbows against knees, chin on fists. "I think Captain Nanatsu displeased Soryu-kami and it's actually Soryu-kami trying to make it rain."

"Hn." Hana unsheathed her sword, stepping to the center of the training ground. Truth be told she was of two minds as the link between her and the blade resonated. Silently its form changed, warping into a length of square-chain links with a slim black-hilted dagger with a spear-like cutting edge.

Her wrist slid the circle at the other end of the chain on, her other hand taking a tight hold on the center and slowly began twirling it in expert arcs.

_I may lose my life tomorrow_.

When slight speed had been gained, she let it fly, slicing through the high target of an energy sphere. Kyou shot another one into the sky. Hana repeated the same move only at a faster velocity, twisting her wrist at a sudden angle she aimed the chain-sword downward in a piercing spiral, judging just right to splice through the third test of level one.

"Three minutes." Kyou informed her.

Hana caught the slack on her chain, taking up the stance again. "Let's try for one."

Kei's p-o-v-

The gates have closed behind me. I feel somehow as if I'm leaving paradise and descending to Hell. I'm not stupid you know. The robes feel strange to me, the length and cut feel wrong. I wonder if Zoe or Toya will stash away a haori for me somewhere...

Keeping in mind, the time I have left; I cross the distance of the greylands with a rapid shinku-po. Hana's always admired Karasu's phantom, so I modified it and taught it to her. I wonder now if she'll use it in the battle ahead? Doubtless Kaze's told her and Kyou their mission. It's time for Hana's promise to be in full effect.

I who was once considered the enemy of the world, shall collect my payment.

I smile as I race through the canyons of Firethorn. Neither are as well powerless as their seats might suggest. They'll be alright, I'm sure of it. Anticipation makes my head giddy, my body feels light.

_I'm tired of holding back_.

In mid-flight I slice through the wall between the worlds ruthlessly.

_I want to make them tremble and scream for mercy as the sky burns all around me_.

/Shurei/

The ground had healed itself, he saw that as he cautiously left black tower and strolled along the site of the battle. With his finer-tuned senses to pick up reiatsu, he picked up on the lingering traces of Senbonzakura, himself and the earth-shaker.

Kage pulled away with a shudder of malaise when he felt it. Even with the short amount of time that had passed, Genbu's was still the most prevalent and stronger than theirs. Rising, he glanced to the place where he had seen _her_.

Going the short distance, he knelt down, pressing gloved fingers to the ashen soil.

"Are you still among the living, Setsuka?"

...Tsukikage castle...

_Is that how much you care for him? _

Addresses always made him nervous. Slowly all the seated officers filed into the large foyer of the castle. Thirty-nine faces gazed up expectantly, beside him, Kagami remained motionless, placid with little expression. The man could've been carved from marble, so still was he.

_Don't you miss her at all, Kagami? Or is this all part of some intricate design that I have no idea of?_

With a suffusion of pink to his face, Kanzaki realized he had been silent for a moment too long.

Everyone was staring.

"Ahem. Troops, as I'm sure all of you know by now, Captain Yamamoto is no longer with us. She has in essence defected from us and has left with Kurosaki Ichigo to engage Aizen's forces in Hueco Mundo for the safe retrieval of Inoue Orihime."

A ripple passed through the crowd.

Kanzaki risked a glance to Kagami, catching fleeting annoyance. Smoothened over a moment later, Kagami laid his hand on Kanzaki's arm, stepping forward a little more.

"You all probably wonder why we've called you here. Karasu and I would like a general acknowledgement of Keiko's defection as being non ratifying. To put it simply, there will be no permanent replacement for Fourth Division. Also I wish for the officers of Fourth to pay special attention now. By tomorrow evening, Lieutenant Elbe will be gone on a special mission to reinforce the barriers in Assiah. It's routine, unavoidable and couldn't come at a worse time. So we pray for your patience and respect as third seat Aki Shikouten is elected by Karasu to take over Fourth's command until such a time as Lieutenant Elbe's return or Captain Yamamoto's _victory_."

...Karakura town...

_She tore her haori_...Ichigo still was stunned over the turn of events from the past half hour. _She's leaving them behind...she's coming...to me_.

"You're lucky, Kurosaki-kun." Urahara had said in passing, wearing a faint smile. "Not many would have the heart to do what Yamamoto Keiko-san did. I suppose I misjudged her in the beginning, I apologize for that."

Ichigo absorbed the older man's words, saying slowly, "no, it's not me you should apologize to. It's her. Kei's a kind person and no one sees that." He shook his head slightly as he said it.

"Perhaps you are right." The shopkeeper paused in the doorway, facing the hallway so Ichigo couldn't see his expression. "After all she's doing this for you. It is maybe..the only expression of love she knows how to show."

Kei's p-o-v

I met Yoruichi at the door. I'm sure the woman couldn't help but remember other instances of when we had met under entirely different circumstances. Some that still frightened her, I suppose, thinking this as she passed. Yoruichi's emotions were carefully masked but I could see the tension in her body.

Urahara's voice broke it. "Ah, Ms. Yamamoto. Welcome on board." His smile and tone of voice never fail to irritate me. Patronizing, I think comes close to it. "Where's Ichigo?" I ignore his greeting as if I can't sense that idiot's overwhelming spiritual pressure (well the back of the shop _is_ a maze of rooms)

"Guess." Urahara smiles even broader as he leads me past the shelves.

I wonder if it's a test. "Fourth door from the right."

We pause in the hallway.

"Is it your normal senses telling you that?" He asks, sounding almost rife with curiosity. I look down the darkened hallway then back to him, "what do you think?" I can't be accused of tactlessness. The man irritates me.

"So, it isn't your heart calling out to him-?"

What is he- some kind of sick distortion of cupid? I know my expression shows it. His smile fades the tiniest bit.

"I'm only teasing you, Ms. Yamamoto."

"Well, don't." I snap dispassionately. "I've had enough to deal with in the last few hours." Days even. But I keep that to myself. Like I've said before, I don't like Urahara, I don't like his smile nor his smug -know-it-all- manner. He doesn't know everything and I look very much forward to proving him wrong on certain accounts.

"I understand." He said after a long pause in another beat, he motions to another door further down the hallway. "There."

"So, I was wrong then?" I'm halfway sure I'm not but he follows close behind me and I quicken my pace to not let his shadow fall over me. The door slides open to reveal a plain three-tatami mat room, a bedroll is tucked discreetly in a crate to the left and a small table holds a piece of tapestry -like textile.

My breath caught. I've seen it before, but it was whole in Takara's possession. Just what the hell is going on here? Wordless I turn to him as he circles around me, until I can't see his expression. Urahara shifts the delicate textile fraying with age to the side and lifts something else up. A paper- I think at first then he turns and I see what it truly is.

That's-! I remember clearly the day when I gave it to Lisa. She and I had become friends during a lecture at the academy when Kyoraku still occasionally dropped by with Ukitake. It was unmistakably the same photograph Urahara had now. Burnt on the edges though...worn with age.

I looked from it to his face. "What is the meaning of this? I gave that to Lisa Yadomaru. Why is it in your possession?" Aizen hadn't told me much about the Vizards only smug sentences of his experiments.

"I don't suppose you knew...how much you, the elemental of Fire fascinated me."

"No." I said slowly, realizing just then that I had never truly been alone with this man in close quarters.

"Not even a blind man could fail to see that you were different. I knew you were from the moment I first saw you in Kagami-san's company. It didn't take long for me to realize that birds of a feather stayed together. Kagami-san was one as well but he didn't interest me like you do."

"Why?" I asked simply. Urahara slipped the picture inside his sleeve and came toward me. Instinctively I wanted to back up, but I forcibly held my ground.

He captured a lock of my hair, wrapping it around his finger.

"You misunderstand me, Ms. Yamamoto. I don't want you for the sake of _wanting_ you. I am a scientist whom attempts to challenge the natural order of things. You are a perfect specimen of that breed which is why you fascinate me so."

"How did you get that picture?" I asked, vaguely uncomfortable.

Urahara smiled softly, "I was exiled for helping your friend Lisa and a few others whom I'm sure you were acquainted with, escape Soul Society. I must admit I was surprised to find it in her effects, you had been missing for five years and assumed dead by everyone. Yadomaru-san must've really cherished your friendship."

"So you stole it." I said flatly, tired of his rhetoric.

"I'm sure she thought she had lost it.

"But, _why_?"

"I've just said it." Urahara said smiling maddeningly. I wondered then if maybe he just wanted to get a rise out of me. "What you've said has been nothing but inanity." I refused to fall for it if that was the case.

"On the contrary, Ms. Yamamoto." Again the patronizing. "Everything I've said has been with truth and is quite sane I assure you."

"What is the point of all this then?"

"What are _you_, Ms. Yamamoto? Beyond the facade of a pretty face and everlasting youth, is there anything human beneath the bodily surface?"

I reached a hand up slowly, wrapping my smaller one over his larger one then forcing it away.

"I don't believe that is for you to find out, Mr. Scientist. It's a secret only God knows." I say coldly as footsteps echo in the hallway. Urahara smiles that peculiar half-smile, his hand falling to the side. "Just how powerful past the lies, are you, Keiki?"

The door slides open nosily.

"More than you could ever _imagine_." I say softly my gaze locked on his for a passing moment. Urahara's captivated. He's a scientist in an unnatural world, I am an oversight that shouldn't exist.

I try to understand man's fascination with what cannot be explained, but I fail more often than not. Ichigo's waiting. He looks between me and his mentor, "what's going-"

I cut him short, laying my hands against his chest. "Nothing, dear. Shall we go?" I doubt he believes me, he knows something happened in the previous ten minutes but I can tell he _wants_ to believe me. Catching my hands, he squeezes them lightly.

I feel then as if Urahara isn't in the room anymore and it's just us two.

"Are you sure about this? I don't want you to get hurt." Ichigo's so serious when he says it. As if he truly believes I can be hurt like any of his friends. I want him to realize I'm not like them so I lift our twined left hands in the small space between us.

"Don't be such an idiot. I'm here aren't I?"

He looks unconvinced. I can see it in his eyes.

"I'm not as breakable as you think. If only you knew what I've faced before," I give him a lopsided grin. "Then you wouldn't be saying that."

A moment of silence when he looks into _my_ eyes.

"Well then I want you to promise that you'll let me _protect_ you."

_You_- I know skepticism wasn't the least emotion on my face. _Protect me? __**What a joke**_. "Like I said, don't be stupid and let's get going." That seemed to rouse him somewhat, I didn't particularly care for using Kuchiki's approach yet I found I had little choice at the moment. Would the shadow of their bonds always be there between us?

It was a thought I didn't like contemplating.

"I suppose you don't need my assistance then?" Urahara questioned, reminding us of his presence. I'd almost forgotten he was there. Strange that only seems to happen when I'm with Ichigo. With forced effort I turn back to the scientist, shrugging. "No, I can create a path on my own to Hueco Mundo."

So saying this, I unsheathed Getsu-ten, lightly cutting a vague door shape in the atmosphere. I send an eerie smile to Ichigo as Hueco Mundo's never-ending night spilled out into the confines of Urahara's room.

"Are you ready for this?"

Ichigo to his credit, never flinched and stepped up beside me, laying a hand on my shoulder. "Yeah."

I have to make sure of something first so I pause, biting my lip. It's all an act of course. "What about Sado and Ishida?"

"I refused to let them be involved this time." Ichigo said determinedly, "the way I figure it is they'll be better off protecting Karakura while we're gone."

"Hmm, yes."

Dividing forces isn't the worst thing Ichigo could've done. I suspect Urahara might've had a hand in this. I feign a smile, hiding my annoyance.

Even if there's only two Quincies in Karakura, the ether in their bows alone could destroy us if the need for it ever arose. I find myself plotting Toya as a good match against Ryuken Ishida the elder of the pair. Then, I suddenly realize the futility of it. Toya's going to fight Hirako, after that he hasn't a reason to stay with us anymore. I grow sad beneath my mask of placidity.

Ichigo notices something, his pat turning into a rough squeeze.

"Don't be scared. I'm here...I'll protect you. I promise."

I want to laugh sometimes. The boy can be truly dense every so often. I force a nod, hiding my amusement deep inside. Still I wonder if Urahara knows about the Quincies. There's no way to find out now as I'm left with little choice but to enter into second world with Ichigo following close behind me.

Once the portal seals we're left directly outside the outer wall of Las Noches on the eastern side. I've guessed our location almost exactly. We're the farthest from the holding cells and closest to the only Espada on this side of Las Noches.

As Ichigo wonders aloud about breaking the wall down, I recheck my sensory perceptions.

Grit crunches beneath his sandals.

I know who's in the sky before the crude voice even speaks aloud.

"Are you going to notice me or do I have to fry you with Cero first?"

Our gazes swivel to the lone figure in the sky.

A manically grinning Grimmjow Jeagerjaques unsheathing his Zanpaku-to.

"It's killing time!" He cackles.

I secretly smile.

_This should be interesting_.

-TBC

AN: thanks for reading! (speed posting!) Chapter.78 should be posted next Friday!

Reviewer Q&A: Yes, the fourth guardian beast belonging to the Earth Elemental (think of it as a Zanpaku-to spirit) is Genbu, the intertwined serpent and tortoise or hebi and kame. Each have their separate powers yet together are the most destructive.

(lol) it is Ichigoxoc! (cue :jk smilie)

No flames!

Reviews loved :)


	85. Burn down the sky:reprise:

_We're reaching for a freedom that they don't know._

ShiKai CH.78: Burn down the sky :**reprise**:

_They're both idiots_. It was a thought that kept reoccurring to her as Grimmjow and Ichigo battled it out above the desert land. True to his word, moments after the sexta had revealed himself, Ichigo had pushed her back, stepping up to the plate. He was exceptionally stern and bossy in ordering her to stay off the battlefield.

Me! Her inner thoughts raged. That little...

Kei watched peeved with her arms crossed over her breast as a particularly nasty ray of Cero spliced the air, an electrical charge rippled in a shockwave displacing the sands in a geyser. The sound of a body crashing down echoed from miles around. Kei lowered Getsu-ten's shield, "need help?" calling to the increasingly bloody Shinigami.

"You stay back!" Ichigo warned, making a particularly violent shooing gesture with his hand.

"Suit yourself." She said with an annoyed sigh. Grimmjow's lean rippling body shot down straight for her. Ichigo yelled something and struggled to get up. Kei swiveled her gaze unconcernedly to the Sexta's bloodlust.

"Please, please respect Ichigo as your sole opponent."

Sparks flew through the air as Ichigo met Grimmjow's calculated swing. Kei reached up a hand, brushing back tendrils of hair that had escaped her ponytail from the sharp gusts caused by their movements.

"If it were up to me." Kei said, using her scabbard to deflect the spatters of blood flying from the cuts in the boy's body. "I'd have killed you by now."

Grimmjow glared, spitting her way. Ichigo crashed several yards away into a pile of white boulders. "I'll be looking forward to fighting you, _princess_."

"Hmph...we'll see about that, kitty." She said haughtily as Ichigo's black-clad form barreled into the Espada, sweeping him off into the sky.

"Don't you dare look at her! Your opponent is me!"

...Tsukikage castle...

Two hours in already.

Hana concentrated on Zoe's swing, the heavy chain wrapped up and over then down as the dagger spun to the Lieutenant's neck.

"Nearly one hundred and twenty minutes." Kyou called, "sans the break for the announcement."

Hana released Shirahime with a snicket of chain curling back and coiling her wrist. Zoe bowed to her partner, then turned to Kyou, asking softly, "how long for myself?"

"Um..half hour, ma'am." Kyou said, glancing to the clipboard balanced across his knees.

Zoe nodded slightly as Hana yawned, "well, guess that's it for me. Captain Namaiki said to conserve our strengths." As she spoke, her chain-sword became a regular Zanpaku-to. "By the way, do you know anything about the Espada we're supposed to meet?"

The Lieutenant shook her head, "not much. I recollect Kagami-san mentioning something once, he spoke of the Octava as if he knew him, or..how the Octava once was. You must remember, Hana, Kyou. The Espadas despite their rebirth from monsters, were once human too."

The twins looked at each other then back to the woman.

"So, you're saying that Kagami-san knew the Octava Espada...during his human lifetime?" Hana questioned with a frown. Zoe gracefully sheathed her sword, glancing to the west where a reddish tinge swept the sky heralding the setting of the sun.

"It is only an assumption, I know not whether it is true, however that was the impression I had received."

Hana ticked off her fingers silently, then exclaimed, "wow! That had to have been around two to three hundred years ago!"

"How do you figure, Hana?" Kyou piped up, sounding quite confused. Even Zoe looked curious.

"Well, Captain Nanatsu's been dead literally since the early 1800s. The way I assume it, he'd have had to have known the Octava two lifetimes ago. Basically, this one as a Shinigami or Soul Reaper in the fifth, the fourth one he told Kimiko who told moi, was something that he died really young."

"Yeah, but he could've known Grantz as a young boy." Kyou suggested mildly.

"Hmm. I doubt that." Zoe interceded before Hana could jump and do the noogie to Kyou's head. "I got the impression, Kagami-san was an adult and of the same profession as Grantz-san."

Hana harrumphed over the Lieutenant's polite address, frowning prettily. "Which would be?"

"A doctor." Kyou said, shrugging when the two females glanced at him surprised. "Oh, Captain Namaiki mentioned it during that time when Kurosaki had hurt Captain Yamamoto and Captain Nanatsu had spoken of being a type of bone doctor in the past relative to the type of injury she'd sustained."

"Oh, I see. Then that explains 'docteur' Grantz. Yes, I think you're right."

"Well, what did Captain Nanatsu say?" Hana asked curiously.

Zoe looked troubled for a moment like when a cloud obscures the sun on a warm day. "He said he wondered if it was guilt that had destroyed Grantz's heart when he died."

"What kind of guilt?" To Hana it made somewhat sense to the nature of the Hollow's being was a soul unable to rest. Yet Zoe tilted her chin up to gaze into the expanse of leaden grey sky, shaking her dark ponytail back and forth.

"I do not know exactly...but I think it may have had something to do with Keiko-san's past."

...Las Noches...

The battle continued.

Kei threw up a shield just seconds before Ichigo came crashing heavily down on her. Purposefully then she broke it, absorbing the weight of his flailing limbs and heavily wounded body. Without a grimace, she secured one arm around his heaving chest and with the other, flung Getsu-ten out in a wide arc of silvery light.

"You are...incredibly foolish." Kei whispered into his ear, keeping him aloft above the desert plain.

"..ei..Kei..ko?"

"Shh." She applied firmer pressure to his abdomen, clasping him tighter to her body as she performed a swift shinsoku step across the sky. Grimmjow raced through the resulting dust cloud, slashing angrily where they had just been.

"Curse you, bitch!" The Espada snarled, spinning about and pinpointing them in the distance.

Detachedly she watched the

"Kei..I don't want.." he choked, coughing up a spray of spittle and blood over his chest and her arm. "You to fight him!" He said more forcefully. Kei huffed, exhaling breath against the back of his neck and ear, leaning in, she brushed her lips gently on the sliver of skin left exposed the black collar. "That's your problem, dear." She could smell the stale sweat clinging to his body, feel the increased pounding of his heart.

"You always insist on doing everything alone." She pressed two fingers to his side, feeling time itself warp over his injuries. "Wha-what're you..." Ichigo tried twisting around to see her face only to have their mouths brush in an awkward, hard angle.

"Let me lighten it for you." Kei whispered only inches away. Slightly dazed, he barely kept himself from stumbling as she shoved him away, vanishing at nearly the same instant as Grimmjow's attack.

Ichigo blocked the wild lunge, feeling his strength surge back, his wounds no longer ached. Countering the Sexta's blow, he flexed his fist marveling at realization that each and every wound had healed.

What did she...how?

Grimmjow spat blood out. "Che..that jackal.." teal eyes swung to the east. "Nnoitora!"

Stunned, Ichigo spun to face the same direction, sensing a faint trace of her reiatsu along with a much larger one set for collision. Dammit-! He prepared to set off only to have a rough palm smack into his face and plunge him down to the far ground.

"Have you forgotten, Kurosaki!" The Sexta roared, "you're my opponent! And I'm not gonna let you go until yer' dead!"

...

The Quinta.. Kei raced through the desert, swiping both arms out, shoving Kido off at several high-velocity bursts to form an impenetrable wall. Up ahead, a white blur sped across the sky heading straight for her. Kei bit her lip, swinging Getsu-ten back as she angled down. The blade began humming with the velocity of vibration. One hand remained gripping the hilt as she passed directly beneath Nnoitora, flipping her sword up and shearing across his chest in a smooth controlled arc. The Espada gasped, shreds of white cloth fluttered in the air along with a spray of blood. Kei elegantly side-stepped the splash, her eyes fixated on the one-eyed Arrancar's thin long face suddenly lift and focus on her silent arrival.

"You-! The Erementar of Fire!" Nnoitora hissed, reaching for his weapon.

"Yes..." she smiled cavalierly, "have you come so I can behead you and mount the mantis on the wall of my office?"

"Puta."

If anything her smile widened. "How about it? I'll make it as painful as possible."

He slashed out at her only to have her rippling image appear in a taunting stream until her sword bit across his throat, her arm crooked over his shoulders. "Now, tell me Nnoi-Nnoi, what is Aizen planning with this oh-so subtle capture of Inoue?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, pet?"

"Yes, I would!" She purred quite unlike her normal tones, sliding Getsu-ten's blade deeper into Nnoitora's skin. "I would appreciate your cooperation, Nnoi-Nnoi. For if not I will gut you from the head down-"

"Hah! I'm not 'fraid-"

"Of me?" Kei finished, releasing sworls of crimson and black reiatsu. Nnoitora sucked his teeth on the verge of a spitting retort when a sizzling sound was emitted in the tense air. The Espada's single onyx eye traveled down to the crescent -like scythe in his hand. The blade had begun to ripple, the form itself wavering as intense heat struck it.

"You-what the fuck-"

"If the howling wind cuts then I with the gilded fire of the sun smelt my enemies to ash."

"What the _fuck_ are you?" Nnoitora screeched, stabbing wildly behind. Kei caught the cutting edge of his weapon, twisting it sideways and ghosting Getsu-ten through the black staff.

"An enigma."

Nnoitora watched as his weapon was cloven cleanly in half.

"Or perhaps your darkest fear come to life." Kei leveled her sword at him, "it's your choice."

A droplet of sweat beaded on his forehead. Nnoitora clenched the two halves of his weapon together, reattaching them with a burst of reiatsu. "Fine! I'll tell ya! Aizen plans on destroying that little shithole yer boyfriend's always tryin' to protect!"

_Karakura town? _

"-Anyway, Aizen's gonna open the portal to the King's realm-"

Her eyes widened. _He's still telling them that? With Hakuya...but no. Why lead them on like this- what can you be thinking...Aizen?_

...

"Worried about your little bitch?"

Almost caught off guard, Ichigo went for the swift offensive, leading the Arrancar to cackle joyfully.

"So it is! Never thought you'd be that kind!" He grinned maliciously, running his palm along the jagged surface of the blade. "Grind, Pantera!"

Ichigo watched in disbelief as the Arrancar's spiritual pressure exploded in a massive burst, the air itself turning gritty, thick with the residuals. Though he didn't want to do it, he knew he had to...it wouldn't last long anyway. _Don't think I'm a monster, Kei_...

Swiping his palm over his face, he felt the familiar weight of striped black and white bone form then abruptly shatter into a million fragments. "What the-what the hell is going on?"

Above, the transformed Grimmjow Jeagerjaques let loose a rippling throaty laugh, angling his feline-like body down, "ya can't even Hollowify! You're a weakling, Kurosaki! Come, now let's end this!" Grimmjow's claws raked the atmosphere in a shrieking torrent, Ichigo skated back, sweating profusely.

_What the hell...am I going to do? _

...

Kei sensed it in the distance where'd she come.

_A residual of the Hollow_.

She spun toward the south, startled. He tried to-

Nnoitora also gazed where she did, scratching at his nose. "Kurosaki's a goner." Speaking her thoughts. "Aw..Grimmjow's gonna finish him off before I even get there."

Her hold tightened on Getsu-ten's hilt. "Get where, Nnoi-Nnoi?"

He stared down the point of her sword. "This was a waste of my time. Unless I get to kick the remnants of yer orangey boyfriend!"

Kei relented seemingly then, dropping her sword to the side.

Nnoitora smirked and moved past her only to have her sword shear through his back.

"You _aren't_ going anywhere. Second Phase, Tsukiakari!"

...

"Are you contented to just watch and stand by, doing nothing?" Gin questioned. In the shadowy recesses of the other's quarters, the screen displayed the only light.

"A few sacrifices are meaningless to glimpse perfection play out." Aizen murmured watching intently as a burst of black rainbow-colored light exploded across Nnoitora's increasingly beaten and battered body.

Gin gazed at the man's broad back and felt a subtle chill creep over him. "You mean...Kei-chan?" He supposed the Quinta had been unable to land a single blow on the Fire Element, though not for a lack of trying. She stayed spaces apart out of reach then vanished in a burst abrupt speed laying a fresh swath of red in the Arrancar with the hardest Hierro's body.

"Guess it is a-mazing." Gin shrugged with a smile that felt forced.

"Yes...how is our guest doing? Ulquiorra handed you his report did he not?"

Gin wondered at the change of subject but decided to let it drop. "Ah, that he did. Astute as ever, Aizen-sama. You know of all that goes on behind closed doors..." the meaning was implicit. "And empty hallways."

"She knows of the Kurosaki boy then." It wasn't a question.

"Of course," Gin dismissed, "she was crying her little heart out. Ulquiorra," he changed his tone. "seemed to be on the verge of sympathy."

"Hm. Did he now?"

"That's not surprising to you?" Part of Gin's smile drooped the tiniest bit. More to his surprise, Aizen laughed quietly, a soft resounding sound of dry amusement that echoed and rebounded against the stone walls.

"Given his history, I haven't a doubt there's something vaguely familiar in Inoue-san's personality that...deceives him."

"What do you..._mean_?" Gin had dropped some pretence and most of his smile changing it into a slight frown of confusion.

"Not a thing, Gin. Not a thing even you won't fail to see once _she_ and Kurosaki reach the fifth tower."

...

"Had enough?"

Nnoitora breathed hard, his once immaculate domed hood uniform and v-collar jacket ripped bearing diagonal slashes that bled deeply from being cut to the bone. But, he never cried out, she respected him a little for that. Nnoitora bore the pain, letting it fuel his rage to a finely honed state.

"Bitch!" he spat, charging in again. Kei moved to the left, leaving a stream of mirage-like images behind then above as she sensed his trajectory change, angling sharply upward.

"I'm not gonna lose to something like you!"

She met his curved half-moon weapon with Getsu-ten's blade, blocking the lower half with her scabbard. "Someone like me?" Kei questioned, frowning faintly. Nnoitora gritted his teeth and pulled off away from her. Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he sneered, "yeah! Something not even human! Ya weren't even human to begin with!"

Her expression flickered. Something passed over it like a shadow then it was gone and she laughed in his face. "Of course not, fool. Because a normal human could never attain my level!" Shoving back at his handhold with more than just physical force, Kei flipped Getsu-ten up and her scabbard down, slicing through Nnoitora's body like it were water.

The Espada roared in hatred, overpowering the center of gravity controlled by her complex sword move. "Think you can best me! I am the most powerful in all the worlds! I will crush you!" He screeched, blood ran down his long oval face.

Kei flicked her thumb across her cheek, smearing a trace of his blood like warpaint. In the distance she could Ichigo being pummeled by Grimmjow's resurrección. I have to end this...he won't last much longer. Urgency compelled her to turn back and sneer, her lip curling. "*Pajero! Mas que nunca sus cajones!"

(referencing weakness and a lack of balls)

"Pray, Santa Teresa!"

She had pushed him to the edge.

-TBC

AN: Thanks for reading :) am working on a small AMV to accompany the fic think- character showcase!

No flames!

Reviews loved! :)


	86. Dance of Blades

_Love and darkness and my sidearm_..

* * *

ShiKai CH.79: Dance of blades

"Nnoitora-sama!" Though the alarmed cry was faint, her glance pinpointed the blonde Arrancar far down below among the rocks and...

Inoue.

Kei favored the girl with some surprise that slowly changed into disdain. "I suppose you brought her here to heal Ichigo?" she guessed as the dust cloud surrounding the Arrancar dissipated to reveal platelets of bone on his body like armor and most startlingly, six thin arms with curved claws.

"Hmm, mantis?"

Nnoitora smirked, raising his crescent-moon weapon to jab in her direction. "I'll show ya...I'll show ya I'm the best!" and charged in at her, sweeping low. Kei remained expressionless as she simply evaded then found his speed had increased drastically. Nnoitora leered in her face as his clawed hands raked just inches above her skin. Kei twisted away, at the same time, changing her stance to slash diagonally across the air. Nnoitora leapt back then in a flurry of shredded cloth. Her right arm stung, warmth spiraled down in thin rivulets.

_Guess I'll have to be more careful_... She caught Nnoitora's smirk. Tension gathered in his legs, in a quick spring he was upon her again, yet this time she didn't let herself get caught at unawares.

"Fifth Phase..." She murmured, turning her sword in a half clockwise position. Black and silver detached, separating into segmented chain and a half discus of a crescent moon at the end, six other circular blades depicted the moon in all its phases along the silvery links. "Gessekai."

Nnoitora watched at first warily but then broke out into a raucous laugh. "That's it? I don't detect a change in your reiatsu, Soul Reaper!"

"You..wouldn't." She tilted the blade down, catching the chain with her free hand. "Gessekai is the name of my sword's true shikai. Understand. You were fighting against an unreleased weapon." Nnoitora paled beneath the blood and bruises then passed his tongue over his lips, suddenly excited.

"Yeah? So, you won't die easily then?"

"No. Not I.."

The chain chinked softly as she begun twirling it faster and faster until it became a blur of molten silver echoing a ripple of vibration in the air around it.

Kei let it fly sharply forward.

Nnoitora smirked, _stupid bitch_. Easily evading the straight path. She then changed the trajectory mid-flight, angling it upward in a sideways slice. He felt the sting, then an overwhelming rush of pain as the chain of moons sliced through the bone, severing his leg from the knee down.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGH! YOU BITCH! YOU FUCKING WHORE!"

"That was almost too easy." She remarked, flicking the chain back with a perpendicular jerk of her wrist. "Put up a better fight! You're disgracing your rank and the rest of the Espada!"

Though his reiatsu flooded the wound, regenerating the lost limb, the humiliation was greater than anything Nnoitora had ever experienced before. Twisting his weapon in his hands, a sheen of red obscured his sight the longer he gazed up at her above.

"I'm gonna rip out your guts and strangle fucking Kurosaki with them!" He screeched; her impassive face loomed foremost in his mind's eye. _She knew he couldn't do it. She knew she was stronger than him...but she wasn't, no one was!_

With those thoughts running rampant through Nnoitora's mind, he raced across the sky after her, slashing and clawing at the air just inches from striking her. She was faster, always one step faster. Nnoitora's eye became bloodshot, he strained to the limit of his speed, at the same moment an explosion in the distance caught her attention.

Nnoitora recognized Grimmjow's ultimate attack.

_**Desgarron**__._

_Even the atmosphere rippled with the force of the shockwave, reaching them from the several miles across the stretch of desert. _

_Kurosaki was finished_.

Her expression changed. Dismay. Worry. Nnoitora thought with a smirk, _I'll be sending ya to join him if ya miss him so much_. In the last absolute second before he rippled her heart out, Kei spun to face him roughly, her face taut with anxiety.

"Sorry. I've got to finish this."

_Wha...wait. What do you think you're going-_

She covered the distance between them as if to meet him head on, yet Nnoitora felt no blow, nothing save for the musical chink of chain and the coldness of metal wrapping tightly around his torso crisscrossed to his wrists and ankles. Tightly bound for even a second, his eye bulged wildly in its socket, rolling madly around.

_Where-where was the bitch!_

Then it alighted on her back, standing several feet away, her arms outstretched, the chain and sword in each hand. In the last seconds he realized he had been trapped. Each slicing disc slack against his throat, arms, wrists and legs.

Kei suddenly crossed her arms over her chest, pulling the slackness on the moon chains, _tight_.

"It was interesting while it lasted, but I have somewhere to be right now." she murmured as a rain of blood and guts fell to the ground below. Tesla shrieked Nnoitora's name unintelligibly over and over, Kei paid it no heed, gathering up the loose chain and racing across the sky.

_Please be alright, you idiot_.

The interminable desert was gone in the blink of an eye. Soon they were in sight, Grimmjow's beastly form batting the barely recognizable head of orange hair, through the sky. Kei gritted her teeth, timing it just right to phase downward, the moon chain trailing behind like a silver stream. An twist of her wrist and the tail end swung up, slapping around Grimmjow's furred middle. The startled Espada felt the jerk of her pull, gravity suddenly defeating him as he fell after her, tearing at the chain trying to free himself.

"Nnoitora's no more, eh!"

Kei ignored his question, pulling sharply up, away from the ground coming close. She soared past the Espada, leaping off his back to get the most momentum then as she spun about in midair, plunged the sword in her hand down, piercing him through the abdomen.

A shower of blood and harsh gasp preceded her determined bound, catching Ichigo seconds before he crashed into a rocky outcropping. His bloodied body landed heavily in her arms, her gait slightly unsteady, she jerked her wrist sideways, muttering, "Tsukisasu!"

As Getsu-ten's blade in the distance flew out of Grimmjow's body, a lance of explosive fiery moonlight pinioned him to the ground. Kei breathed a sigh of relief, carrying Ichigo to the outer palace wall, slumping down in the sand.

"Why is it..you're always catching me...when I fall?" He asked hoarsely.

"Because you're an idiot." She said with a derisive snort, hovering into his line of sight as a light-colored blur. The touch of her fingertips followed, pressing into the bruised area of his cheek, despite the throbbing pain, he leaned into her touch as best he could.

"Looks like you have blood collecting in your cornea."

"Oh...is that why I can't see you?"

"Probably." Her voice echoed from somewhere to the side, the pressure of her fingertips lifted yet the disappointment was brief as the pain eased, his sight clearing with it.

"How do you do that?"

"Hmm?" Her hand passed over his chest, hovering inches above his breast yet as Ichigo focused on her, he attempted to sit up, grabbing her wrist. "Are you-" _She was covered in blood_.

"It's not mine." She answered shortly, thinking but not adding. _The majority of it is yours_...

"Oh." He let her push him back down. "Guess you're really high level then." He tried to hide the disappointment lacing his tone. _I can't protect you the way I am now_..

- _**"But you can."**_ - Said the voice, whispery soft.

_Why should I listen to you?_

- "_**'cause..through me you can wield a power great enough to protect her."**_ -

"-go? Ichigo?"

He resurfaced from the darkness and the suggestion of the smile within a mirror. "Yeah?"

"Do you have a concussion or something? I was talking to you!" Her hand had returned, probing the crown of his hairline and frowning.

"Well, what were you saying?"

"Nothing much."

She checked his temperature.

"Hey...do you think we were together in our past lives?"

"I didn't know you believed in reincarnation of the soul." She sounded mildly surprised.

"Dunno...just sayin'." He muttered, grasping her hand and leading it down to where he could nestle against her palm. "I feel as though I've known you for a real long time. Maybe I was...that guy you _loved_."

"Don't be silly!" she tried to pull her hand away.

"It's not!" He felt vaguely offended she had shot him down quickly without even thinking about it.

"Then you believe in Lord Yuèlǎo's red string...the one that ties soul mates together?"

Dimly he recalled the piece of Chinese folklore, shrugging with effort. "Do you?"

"No. Besides, only the elementals are drawn together throughout their reincarnations."

_Then, what about that guy-? Do you still love him at all?_ Of course the thought was irksome to Ichigo, who wished to have her undivided affection to himself. He thought of something else then.

"I wish..."

"Hmm, what?"

A geyser of sand and a feral scream erupted behind the rocky formations to the south.

Kei half-turned, reaching for her sword, "I have to go." She stood quickly, feeling his sharp tug on her wrist.

"No, don't-"

"I can take care of myself, Ichigo!" She hissed in exasperation, seeing his expression she gritted her teeth, swinging her gaze around then finally reaching up her free hand to tug the ribbon out, freeing her hair in a rippling wave. Placing it above his wrist, she quickly looped it around and secured it with three knots.

_I wish __**I were him**_, Ichigo thought, watching her go.

He didn't know how or why he was so sure of it.

_She didn't love him like she had that other guy, she loved that other guy with all her heart_. Ichigo couldn't help but feel jealousy with those thoughts. He had never wished anyone dead until then, never longed for anyone to stay in the grave of memory, yet he did _then_. Lifting his aching arm to rest across his abdomen, he stroked the ribbon with the other.

The voice was ever so silent now.

...Tsukikage Castle...

Hana slept fitfully that night, rising early with dark circles under her eyes. She wasn't the type to normally worry, but perhaps it was just the fact that Kyou was going along with her into the heart of battle, made her feel slightly tense. Anxious. Though many times she reassured herself throughout the morning that it was for Captain Namaiki and...Captain Yamamoto.

_..."Promise"..._

Hana shook her head twice to clear it.

"Are you feeling well, Retsu?" Rizu inquired, noticing the girl's actions.

"Y-Yeah. Sorry, I'm just-" she cast about her mind for a plausible answer and came up with a weak laugh. "Nerves, you know? I'm just nervous and I..." Hana pressed the papers in her arms tighter, shrugging. They were alone in the office, Kazeatari had gone out to give instructions to the gatekeepers.

"...don't know. It feels like I've made a promise to the Devil."

Rizu gave her a faint sympathetic smile, setting down the heavy books she'd been carrying, down on Kazeatari's desk. "Sure, seems that way, doesn't it?" Rizu adjusted her horn-rimmed glasses. "The devil wearing a cruel smile and a promise to make it all better."

Hana closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly from side to side. "Thing is. The devil kept up her end of the bargain. Maybe it's just time to fall from grace."

"Hana," Rizu began somewhat sternly. "Remember, we aren't the ones in the _wrong_."

The girl forced a smile. "You're right. Sometimes I just can't believe we've come this far."

"You and I both..." Rizu murmured. "Let's keep it this way then. You and your brother take care, I've no doubt that we will see each other again, this from your second-in-command officer."

Hana nodded, feeling her eyes prickle. "Yeah..." then with a spontaneous burst of emotion, she launched herself on the Lieutenant, whom though surprised, awkwardly patted her on the back. "Oh! I'm going to miss you, Lieutenant!"

"You mean not miss your duties." Rizu said, reaffixing her askew glasses.

Hana giggled.

...

Three figures clad in white converged in Fourth's silent office. Kagami entered tardily after seeing that Aki was fine in issuing a standard drill routine out on the lawn. "It's five thirty sharp," he said, glancing down to the wrist computer he had borrowed from Takara. "I just wanted to run over a few details of Las Noches' basic layout."

Hana fidgeted with her elbow length black gloves, Kyou bit his lip nervously but flanked the two women as they crowded around Kagami. Only Zoe remained impassive, serene.

He leveled out the double screens side by side, pulling up a schematic of the massive compound in a linear map. "Be aware that the walls can shift anytime leaving you in a different set of corridors, or area of the Espadas palaces. I had talked it over with Gin and later Takara had spoken with him as well, that if needed you would be directed to your opponents, he would be in the central control room and would help you unseen."

"And that still holds true?" Zoe questioned.

Kagami sighed, a stress headache was threatening to pound. "As far as we know, everything is still going according to plan. Somewhat tardily," he conceded, "but otherwise, yes. Now, I'm sure you will not fight Kurosaki and please, please, I cannot stress this enough, do not go into his sight. It is imperative that you stay away from him."

"I think we can manage that." Hana said with a nod, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kagami's phone rang suddenly, interrupting anything else he was going to say. Handing over the computer to Zoe, he motioned for them to study it while he took the call. Seeing it was from Takara, he excused himself and went into the next room.

"Taka-chan, what is it?"

The Lieutenant's voice came on staticky, taut with worry. "Captain Nanatsu, we just received an urgent message from Seireitei, seems like Aizen's on the move. A number of Gillian foot soldiers have been seen peering into the skies above Karakura, no one can engage them for they remain strictly in the Hueco Mundo dimension."

"Kind of like, _peekaboo I see you_?" He muttered grimly, "Trust Sosuke to begin with cold war tactics."

"What answer should I give? They wish to know if we're prepared for battle?"

He smiled bemusedly, his glance slanting to the partially closed door and the murmurs of the officers in the main room. "You wish for my wisdom rather than Kanzaki's...somehow I find that amusing."

"Being unable to reach Captain Yamamoto, you're the second logical choice." Takara responded perfunctorily, losing her lighthearted demeanor.

"Maybe." He slightly mocked himself. "Intelligence being of a different kind, I guess the only thing I can tell you to tell them is, we're on standby and can move out at anytime starting within the next ten minutes."

"Alright, I will." Takara affirmed then hesitated on the other end, adding after a short silence. "Kagami-san, is Toya going to be alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"He...he's acting like a different person ever since this morning when he and Keiko-san spoke on the stairs. I was down below at the time and only saw them embrace lightly as friends. When I went to ask what Keiko-san had said, Toya deliberately flash-stepped past me. I haven't really seen him since and...I guess I'm just worried I'm going to lose him too."

He caught the faint sadness at the end of her sentence, feeling a rush of affection for the girl. "Takara, please understand. Toya isn't going to be himself from now on..."

_Maybe he was never truly himself before...__**a man ready to die for revenge**__. _

_Maybe he was just a wanderer whom stumbled into a dream of a life._

_A life of belonging, of warmth, friendship, a place to call home. _

_It's time the sleepers woke up and saw everything how it truly is._

"..and please don't feel sad about it. Don't give Toya a hard time. I know you're a strong girl whom can take care of her officers." _Alone_. Kagami attempted vainly to soften the blow. Takara still absorbed the implicit meaning. In the next room, it had become silent.

It was past six.

Kagami hesitated even then to close the door on their communication. "Takara, I have to-"

"I wish..." her voice came out soft, quiet. Almost in a whisper that he had to strain to hear her. "Everyone could be friends, in a place of laughter and smiles...a party every Hallow's eve."

That brought a smile to his face.

"No war...no revenge..."

It faded.

"No pain." Takara finished, ending with a question. "Why does it have to end? Why can't we stay sleeping?"

Kagami lowered the cell from his ear as the line disconnected.

"Because...it's not reality." He answered her question.

It was time to open the Garganta.

...

The scrap of paper was weightless yet meant everything to the former Kido corps agent _now Captain_. Toya sat back on the smooth stormy grey coverlet, his fingers clasping the paper. After Keiko had left him, he'd gone directly to the Russian doll on the mantlepiece in the library.

Within of course, was the paper he held now. One bearing coordinates to a specific spot within Karakura town. Avoiding Takara, he'd gone to the closest computer and entered the code into the digital mapping system, gaining a newly printed sheet of a road map detailing downtown Karakura. _Just like Akemi St. _

_It was perfect_...

Unable to suppress his smile, he closed his eyes, ignoring even Kage's prodding.

_Soon...soon.._he promised silently, laying his closed fist over his left breast. Beneath the cloth and imprinted on his skin was a faded black tattoo of a phoenix eating its own tail. It was the mark of the Yotogi, a few brave souls whom had tried to fend off the Hollow menace before the Juppongatana came together.

_I will avenge you, even if I have to give up my worthless life for it_.

...Black tower...

"That idioticus is ignoring me!" Kage muttered, stamping his boot heel on the metal stairway step. The entire structure rattled from the action yet he paid it no heed, continuing on the winding flight, gazing with a scowl at each and every new window appearing in the tower's circular wall.

"Well, guess someone's happy." He stopped to peer out the nearest one, still seeing the same landscape of dark ash and stormy red skies. "Not that the view has improved any. Damned fool, can't see past his own vendetta, though I 'sppose it is sort of justified." Kage nodded to himself, used to speaking his thoughts aloud to echo in the black tower in lieu of real company.

"Granny was real nice to us...gramps too." Kage slowly lifted his wrist to his mouth, biting the edge of the white glove, he peeled it back over the heel of his hand revealing the same mark of the Yotogi that Toya had on his chest. He had been so proud that day long ago to be among the Arcadians, to be part of their only defense. To finally do something right..but why had everything gone so wrong?

..._ever so nice_.

...Hueco Mundo...

"How fucking sweet!"

Grimmjow was more of a berserker fighter than Nnoitora had been. Kei had to move slightly faster to evade each lunge of his three-inch talon like claws. His mouth however was the most irritating.

"Maybe if you'd stop flapping your gums, you'd actually land a blow!" She snarled, racing upward in a fiery stream of irradiant fire. Getsu-ten's silver blade glided through the air upwards and over her head. Kei brought it down in a streaking whoosh, "Tenma Gokasho!" Grimmjow's grin vanished beneath the furred arm he threw up over his face. The flames gusted around him then past him as he raced up, lunging again with the piercing screech of Desgarron.

Kei leapt away, skating back. She had felt the hairsbreadth of the shockwave ripple in the air, Getsu-ten still rang hollowly with the deflection she had used it for. "Aren't you getting tired of the same old trick, Grimm-kitty?" She challenged, covertly glancing from the corner of her eye to the wall of the palace where Ichigo lay.

"if it's old then how come you fell for it?"

She turned, eyes wide as she had barely caught the sound of his Sonido and found his leering blood-streaked face inches from her own. Kei tried to bring Getsu-ten up to counter his blow, but his hand had snaked up, crudely grabbing her hair, wrenching her head back. She gasped in soundless pain, glaring at the Arrancar with tearing eyes.

"Does Kurosaki like to run his hands through your pretty hair?"

She clumsily swiped at out him.

Grimmjow guffawed, twisting her around until she was facing a rocky outcropping far below.

"Or maybe he likes your pretty face? Let's smash it in then!"

They streaked down to the barren rock.

Kei struggled, forcing her palm back into his face, "Shakka-"

"No, you don't!" Grimmjow snapped, shoving her down into the stone formation. The rocks cracked in and caved around the outline of her body. Within seconds, Grimmjow had kicked off into the sky, swiping his palm out, he cackled, "you'll see your punk soon! In Hell!"

Blue exploded in a crackling wave.

Bruised all over, her chin turned, the light of the Cero silhouetted Grimmjow's feline form streaking toward the far palace wall and...

"_Ichigo_."

Kei ignored the pain, flipping over onto her back and up, catching the cero with a suffusion of Kido. "Jikanteishi." She whispered, the glowing aura of light around her hands increased in size warping into a containment cube of space itself. It was a forbidden spell, one she had rarely used. Any stirrings of conscience were immediately replaced by deadly fear.

Leaving the containment cube behind, she raced through the cold desert atmosphere, her one thought consumed by Ichigo remaining wounded, defenseless to the Arrancar.

Forcing herself to move faster, she covered the distance with only a second left before Grimmjow reached him. She saw the stunned look on the Arrancar's ruddy face, the light of electric blue kido forming like an aberrant halo around his aura.

"Here, a little present from me to you." She shoved her palm out, calling sharply, "Kukanten'i!" The containment cube of frozen space enveloped the Arrancar immobilizing him in his tracks. Ichigo had risen halfway up with a groan, reaching for Tensa Zangetsu. Kei closed her fist, mindful of his actions.

The frozen time of the cero vanished, the light of the cero consuming Grimmjow's form, his scream was silent, trapped within the cube of energy. Kei turned to the stunned figure of the boy, smiling.

"Ichigo, close your mouth please. You look like a fish gaping like that." Then at his face a moment later, she lightly giggled behind her hand. "Just kidding!"

"Keiko...you're-"

Spirit particles blew away in the dust, the cube disintegrated.

Kei's gaze swiveled back to Grimmjow's hunched over form. "You're still alive? I don't really want to kill you." She murmured. Blood ran down in rivulets from burnt patches of skin on his torso, his jacket was frayed and in pieces. Half-dead, he still stumbled forward with a hoarse growl.

"Pity! I want none of 'yer pity."

"It's not pity." She said, watching his lurching approach.

"Oh?" Grimmjow's teal eyes widened, his teeth baring a feral grin. "Then do you just want ta spare an _ally_?"

Her gaze narrowed, her hand rose, two fingers curling toward herself. "Shibireyubi."

Grimmjow stiffened, the kido spell paralyzing him completely.

Kei made a slashing motion with her other hand, crossing her wrists. "Tanma Otoshi!"

Teal eyes rolled back in their sockets. Unconscious, he slid to the ground as Ichigo questioned, "ally? What-"

"Shh."

Kei turned to face him, dropping to his side. "Grimmjow just said it to goad you."

Somewhat unconvinced Ichigo nodded anyway to placate her.

But she didn't believe he had thoroughly dismissed it. "You do trust me, don't you, Ichigo?"

His gaze searched her impassive face. "Of course I do! You saved my ass twice! If I weren't so-"

"Don't say it." She sealed his lips with a finger. His skin tingled with subtle contact, a vaguely erotic thought intruded into his consciousness, pushing aside any trace of the suspicion. He wanted to suck her fingers into his mouth...

- _**"..better yet your fingers between her moist lips."**_ - Finished the voice for him. Ichigo flushed beneath her questioning gaze, his eyes slanted away almost ashamed to be having such thoughts when Inoue was most likely frightened and alone somewhere in a cell.

"I hate feeling like a burden to you."

"You aren't, dear."

"But, I can't even Hollowify!" He had the feeling she was only saying nice things to make him feel better. To not feel so useless as he did in the moment when he saw her defeat Grimmjow so easily. Kei slid her hand down until it rested over his heart, just a gentle reassuring pressure. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Ichigo. I've been forced to protect others just the same in the past, it matters little whether or not I fight while you stand aside."

He scowled, he didn't like it.

She sighed, shifting herself on top of him. Surprised at the sudden weight on his lower half, not to mention the pain from his injuries flaring. Ichigo stared up at her in confusion. "What're you-"

"Let me put it to you this way." Her hand slid down until it was nestled between his legs. Her look made him feel heated and a little nervous at the same time. _Predatory_, was the only way to describe it. "I haven't taken your innocence." Ichigo gazed up at her slightly wide-eyed. Her lips curled, her hand squeezed almost painfully, cruelly. Despite himself, he was getting turned on by the sliver of sadism she showed.

Kei leaned down close to his ear, removing her hand and slipping her knee to rub against the growing bulge. "I haven't sucked your penis between my lips like you want me to..." he turned scarlet. _How could she have known about his previous thoughts?_

Her knee pressed particularly hard upward, pushing his erection at an awkward angle. Ichigo felt all the pain from the sensitive member being abused so but was unable to stop the soft hiss of pain smothered pleasure. "You dirty boy," she murmured, smiling gently, fondly down at him. Barely able to rise out the fog he was slipping into, Ichigo's eyes cracked open, "please..._stop_."

"Why?"

" 'C-cause...I want you to." He had never imagined anything could feel so good. Not the mixture of pain thrilling his senses, not the way his penis swelled until it was full, almost unbearable as it throbbed against her knee. "We-we have to find...Inoue."

"Don't worry about that." Kei said dismissively, flippant as her hands slid upward and clasped his face. "And...are you sure you want me to stop? Your body insists otherwise."

"Don't tease me like this."

"Who says, I am?" She leant down and pressed her lips to his. When they broke apart she whispered, "when this is all over, I want to _have_ you."

"Kei, I...you...you mean it?"

She was sure he did not understand the meaning of her sentence. Forming a smile of genial amusement at his naiveté. She brushed her fingertips down his cheek in fondness. "Of course. Now, Ichigo, you and Tensa..." She stood suddenly, shoving her palm down, still smiling. "Inemuri."

His shock was evident as her kido hit him full force. Eyelids drooped, closing glazing amber orbs. Deep within, she sensed Tensa fighting the kido's permeating influence but eventually fail and fall to a dark puddle on the side of a building. Kei kept it up until she was sure it would last for a while then formed another gesture, pitching a Kyomon over Ichigo's slumbering body then turned to Grimmjow's battered form, placing the same kind. It wouldn't do to have the Arrancar awaken and attempt to attack Ichigo while she was her hands off with a sigh, Kei recalled Getsu-ten to its sheathe, leaving its many chain links of moon wrapped around the black scabbard like a second covering. In the distance she could still sense Tesla and even weaker, Inoue in a paroxysm of fright yet otherwise unharmed.

_Stupid human_, Kei thought, drawing her fingertips over the atmosphere of Hueco Mundo. The dimensional walls slid apart to the dull skyline of Karakura. Crossing through, she marveled at the silence as none of the ant-like residents of the town were crawling around their pitiful lives.

_Apparently_, her eyes narrowed as she swept the north and south with her eyes. Darting down to the ground swiftly as a black-robed figure patrolled the west. _The Shinigami had gone ahead with their plan for a fake Karakura town_. Frowning faintly, she evaded several more patrolling lower class officers and made for the heart of the downtown district, sealing off the four-way boulevard with a powerful Kido barrier then began the complex time warp, burying it shallowly in the ground over and over in each direction until the tendrils of it snaked up the shops and dome of the outer barrier. Kei lifted off slowly from the ground, slipping out the top of the barrier, focusing her entire will on the centermost point of the asphalt where the spell had begun.

Within seconds the entire perimeter had been sealed, the energy vanishing in a ripple of air. Satisfied, Kei smiled down at her handiwork. Now no one save for Toya and his opponent could enter the space and become trapped in the time warp continuum.

_But, it was what he wanted_...

She wore her smile still even touching down on a nearby building half a block down from the town center.

"You know you're not supposed to be here." Isshin's voice rumbled from behind her. Kei wasn't surprised to find Engetsu's familiar reiatsu emanating from a shallow point at the base of her neck. Isshin held the cutting edge closer, almost breaking the skin.

"Where's Ichigo? What have you done to my son?" His voice had a rough note to it that amused her. "In Hueco Mundo, what _do_ you think?" She asked scathingly, reaching up a hand to lightly push away at the tang of the sword held to her throat.

"Why are you doing this?" He sounded terribly aggrieved, probably imaging the worst. "I am the one who killed you- I am the one who should bear all your hatred and malice not-"

"Now what are you talking about?" She shinsoku'd away from his sword to his startlement. "I don't _forgive _ you. But." She faced Karakura's skyline then spun around palms up to the firmament in a shrug. "But I _don't_ hate you either."

Isshin had regained his Shinigami powers as evinced by the set of black robes he wore. On one shoulder a scrap of white from a haori coat remained. He scowled at her, reminiscent of his son. "Then why did you target Ichigo when he was four years old?"

She stayed silent at his accusation.

But, he remembered it all too clearly.

...

_It was rare that I was able to spend time with my family in those early days of my practice. It was especially warm and beautiful that day in the park. Masaki was distracted and Ichigo whom had always been good not to stray away from either of us, wandered off into the thickets. I blame myself for it, it shouldn't have happened but it did. We naturally panicked and begun calling for him and searching the nearby play area but he wasn't there, it was just when I was going to leave and get help, I sensed a Hollow._

_Foul creatures they are, it was voracious for any ounce of spiritual pressure and zoned in on the park. I of course had no power and thought to shield Masaki away from it...yes perhaps I was selfish for a moment, wanting to protect the woman I loved then parental instinct took over._

_Masaki was crying, telling me to find Ichigo. _

_Find our son._

_Some distance away, I could sense the Hollow deeper in the trees. I tossed my pride to the wind and started to head off for the treeline when the Hollow's spiritual pressure vanished as cleanly as if it were cutoff. Not caring because of my wife's tears, I took three more steps into the path and stopped. Masaki had followed me, seeing the same thing I did._

_It was you- a slender built girl in a black camisole and a skirt. Your hair was down, rippling in two waves around your face and down your back...and Ichigo holding your hand, chattering away happily. _

_I had never seen him before talking so happily to anyone._

_Not to a stranger with blood spatters on your face and shoulders._

_Not to anyone save for us. _

_Beside me, Masaki cried his name and ran forward before I could stop her. In that instant when you noticed her- me, I believed you would do it. Burn my beautiful wife and son to ashes before my eyes. I thought you would do it for revenge._

_But Ichigo saw Masaki and let go of your hand. _

_Mother and son met in an affectionate embrace. _

_I was unable to move, barely breathe for the fear I felt for you._

_Masaki and Ichigo turned to you, the blood-stained savior whom looked no more than a teenage girl. I knew it was you then whom had destroyed the Hollow. But even as my gaze rose to follow theirs. _

_You were gone._

_Out of our lives for twelve years._

_Why didn't you stay away?_

...

"Ichigo was terribly disappointed."

"I don't think he remembers that time." Kei said shortly. _I barely do as well_.

Isshin shook his head slowly, appearing to be tired. "Why didn't you do it?"

"What?"

"Not take everything from me then?"

She let out a noise of exasperation, "would that I do it _now_, perhaps you would cease acting like a martyr and I the tormenter." Kei gave him a cold stare. "I am not the monster you portray me to be. If I wanted," she crossed past him in the blink of an eye. "I could kill you right now. I could blame it on Aizen and the Arrancars, but first I would destroy your home then your children and make sure you're conscious enough to see their tortured bodies."

Isshin's grip tightened around Engetsu's hilt.

"I could do it all...but why when my hate for you has dulled with age?"

_I once hated you so much I wanted to destroy you. I wanted to plunge you into a veritable hellish despair, how I felt when you're coming forced me to destroy Kagami_.

"Then, what about Ichigo?"

"What about him?"

Isshin met her eyes pointedly, reminding her uncomfortably of _him_. "Do you care for him at all?"

Taken aback, Kei's gaze slanted away. "I...don't know."

"How can you not know?" Isshin demanded roughly. "he's my son, dammit! Do you love him or not?"

His tone irritated her. "I don't know alright! I don't..."

Isshin stared at her coldly. "If you love him at all then let him go."

She remained expressionless.

"He's young. He deserves a human girl. Someone who can live out a lifetime with him, someone he can grow old with and cherish."

It was like a slap in the face without the physical pain.

Kei refused to show any emotion at all. Turning away from Isshin's coldness, and opening a separate portal to Arcadia. "Take the girls and yourself to this address." She withdrew from her sleeve, a tiny bound scroll which she tossed to him. "Stay there until the battle's over and we come back."

Hueco Mundo's desert was a hole in the skyline of the false town.

Before stepping through, Kei halfway turned back to him. "I'll think about what you said. If I do...choose to let him go, know that your son will live eternally with a broken heart." Her smile was gone, replaced by a harsh mask of cruelty. "For I will never let him forget."

His face was hard, absorbing reality. "That may be, but why are you doing this now?" He meant the scroll in his hand, the portal of real sunlit in the beautiful fourth world filtering in.

"I'm doing it..._for Ichigo_." The Elemental of Fire answered, leaving into the night.

...Tsukikage castle...

"Take care." Kagami said because there was nothing else to say. He had been deeply troubled after the brief conversation with Takara on the phone but endeavored to hide it to a certain extent to the other three waiting.

Zoe dipped her head slightly in acknowledgement. She carried herself with graceful dignity, something that remained undiminished in the white halter top and flowy slacks. Stripes of black accented the form-fitting silhouette. Her straight shoulder-length hair was bound up in a chignon.

He couldn't help himself. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

The caramel-skinned woman paused with a tiny smile. "Please do not worry on our accord, Kagami-san, if fate wills it, we shall see each other again with sweet victory all around us."

"If you say so." He said as Hana skipping happily, dragged Kyou through the portal after Zoe.

_I just hope we're not making a terrible mistake_.

...

Takara wiped her tears away as the door opened, turning when the figure stepped hesitantly inside.

"Ma'am? I hope I'm not intruding." It was Mai. not who she had hoped it was. Takara swallowed her disappointment well and went forward, smiling welcomingly. "No, not at all. Was there something you needed help with?"

Mai had never been at ease in the cheerful Lieutenant's presence. She tried to hide her discomfort, shrugging, "not for Kanzaki. I know I should've brought it to Captain Amakusa's attention first however I can't help but notice he's preoccupied of late."

"Yes.." Takara managed with some difficulty. "He hasn't been down to the office yet. I think he has a lot on his mind now. As do we all," she said quickly, trying to cover up her slip. "It's not that he's incapable or anything..." she trailed off awkwardly. Mai shifted from foot to foot, realizing that something _was_ bothering the Lieutenant but she wouldn't admit it.

"I'm sure he will." Mai said a moment later more confidently then she felt. "Anyway, the reason why I came is because a few days ago during the first day of your trip to Seireitei, a data stream came directly to our servers. It was from the Research and Development Division. I took the liberty of unencrypting the information and dividing it up into several compressed files for our perusal later on."

Takara nodded, relieved at the change of subject.

"Except," Mai went on carefully, "I noticed that some of the files were missing. Karasu nor I believed you would've done it intentionally and now it seems that earlier in the activity log, there was an unclassified probe into where our server is based."

"What?" Takara said softly.

"Yes. I was unable to tell exactly where it came from, but as you know, cyber hacking is fairly common-place in the living world. I doubt somehow though that any mainstream personas would target us. The threat seems more calculated. More _insidious_..."

"Something designed to put us on edge yet lacking a direct attack of malware infestation."

"Yes, I thought it would be better to run it through your opinion first." Mai sheepishly smiled, "rather than recite what sounds like techno-babble to a non programmer."

"I know what you mean." Takara shared a laugh and a companionable smile. "Toya acts like I've started spouting Latin!"

"Hah! That's nothing! You should see Karasu's face when I go on about bad sectors and virus scans!" When Takara laughed, Mai joined in, almost surprised at the sound of her own laughter. How long had it been since she had laughed?

They both sobered after a few minutes.

Takara waved behind to the main console. "We'll take a look at the data stream again and also show me the network probe from earlier."

"A-Alright," Mai said, her feeling of unease vanishing.

...Fake Karakura town...

Kisuke knew they would come. Three Taichous, and three Fukutaichous.

Yamamoto's old order was still in effect.

Kisuke couldn't help but wonder as they passed through the temporary portal he'd created to Hueco Mundo; _if she had calculated on this? _ _Would she be angry? Or thankful for the assistance?_

Her mind was something he couldn't predict as well as he wished. Once the black and white robed Shinigami had vanished and the portal resealed, Kisuke went and joined Yoruichi in one of the back rooms. She reclined against the wall, legs crossed, casually dressed in a camisole and skintight black pants. Beside her on the floor was a picture of Nanatsu Kagami, worn with age.

"I'm surprised you still have that." Kisuke said conversationally.

"Soi Fong took it from Keiko-san's effects when she helped her runaway. She was going to destroy it when our orders came to deploy off to Assiah and hunt them down."

"You were very close then?"

"She was. I think Soi Fong admired him to a certain extent, cared for him and _her_ in a lot of ways."

"That's why she felt so betrayed when the truth of what they were came to light." Kisuke interposed, seating himself down on a floor cushion. Yoruichi lightly touched the photograph, her gaze downcast. "Yes, Kagami _respected_ me. He, from what I could tell then, saw Soi Fong as a sister, something more than a friend or a comrade."

_But, doesn't it hurt when a person you see as your family betrays you?_

_Doesn't it tear you apart to have to fight them?_

"Soi Fong's already seen him. I'm sure made some kind of peace with him." He looked at her pointedly. "You haven't. In the battle coming up, you're going to be on the same side, on the same field...what are you going to do then?"

"I'll say the first thing that comes to mind." Yoruichi dismissed, sending the ball back to his court with her next sentence. "And what are you going to do with that?" Her yellow-green eyes darted to the black scabbard recently recovered from a storeroom resting on a nearby table. "Kagami doesn't know you took that sheathe from the sword he called _Hakuya_. You took the integral part of the weapon away-"

Kisuke smiled, tipping his hat to her. "For a purpose, Yoruichi-san. All for a purpose. I don't believe that weapon will work at all. At least not for the objective it was created for. I'm almost positive as well that Yamamoto Kei-san doesn't even know I switched the scabbards."

Yoruichi couldn't repress her smile and shake of her purple ponytail. "You're so devious, Kisuke. What'll happen to you when they find out?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing. If they're truly our allies a little deception won't matter and I'll just give it back..." his mild gaze swung to her. "If not then I've deprived our enemies of a very malevolent weapon."

"Hmm...then what do we do now?"

"We wait. We wait for the march of the end to begin." Kisuke answered, settling back.

...Hueco Mundo...

The moon shone coldly down on the perpetual desert of night.

Unohana remained silent, Isane taut with nerves.

Kurotsuchi motioned to Nemu, grinning with irrepressible excitement. "Interesting, interesting. Oh-ho! The reiatsu levels are huge here! We'll find lots of specimens to take back with us! C'mon, Nemu!" with that, the scientist and his daughter made their way to the massive compound, leaving the others behind.

"Freak." Kenpachi muttered, tapping his large sword against his shoulder. Yachiru was perched on the other, a bright smile on her tiny face.

"So, this is Hueco Mundo..." He laughed aloud suddenly. "Maybe it'll afford me a good fight!"

"Yeah!" Yachiru seconded, pumping her tiny fist in the air. "You show 'em, Kenny! You're the best fighter in the whole worlds!"

...Las Noches...

The step echoed softly in the darkness of the cavernous room.

"Tia Halibel?" Zoe questioned, searching the shadows.

A tall muscular woman with straw blonde hair and swarthy skin stepped forward. Four shadows lingered behind her. Zoe picked them apart by strength, discerning three were Arrancar and one, the taller of the small group, was a Shinigami like herself.

She hid her surprise well.

Dipping her head in respect, clasping her hands against her stomach. "There is a Shinigami Taichou approaching. He and his Fukutaichou will be here I estimate within a few minutes."

Tia Halibel's watery aqua eyes lifted and searched Zoe's.

"And what are you going to do?"

Zoe gave a soft, mysterious smile.

-TBC

AN: Thanks for reading!

No flames!

Reviews loved! :)


	87. The Joke

_No more fear, cause I'm getting closer now._

* * *

ShiKai CH. 80: The Joke

Kei sensed them when they arrived. A shift in the atmosphere, a treble lacking note. They had entered from the other side and were across the massive compound. Even then, she bristled subtly.

_Kenpachi Zaraki._

_Retsu Unohana._

_And Mayuri Kurotsuchi. _

_All with Fukutaichous in tow_.

For a moment she wondered if she had miscalculated. _Misjudged somewhere and everything was heading for ruin?_ Then she forced her negative thoughts away. It did no good to second guess herself when the combatants were so close to each other already. She couldn't freeze time and reverse it to six hours before.

Kei settled down near Ichigo, leaning against the cold stone wall of the palace. _No, she just had to have faith_, crossing her arms over her chest, she let her senses drift, attuning herself to the battles about to begin within Las Noches.

...

Time had stopped moving.

With anticipation racing through her veins, a deathly calm resided in her soul, her expression a mirror of her emotions. It was not arrogant belief that made her stand so surely in the shadows nor false courage. She believed in many things and in their course with all her heart.

So, she stepped forward.

Between Zaraki's challenge and Tia Halibel's reticence. Halibel's palace was the closest with the highest amount of spiritual pressure. Zoe could see the bloodlust emanating from the giant of a man, hear the tinkle of the bells hanging off the long spiked ends of his dark hair.

"Who the fuck are you?" Zaraki called rudely across the floor. His rough voice bounced and echoed an uncouthness that dismayed her. Zoe placed a hand over her breast, inclining her head slightly. "I am the fourth Fraccion of Tia Halibel. You may address me as Zoe."

"Fraccion, eh? Kind of like underling? Well whatever you are, stand back!" He hefted the jagged broken cutting edge of his sword up from his shoulder and jabbed it crudely behind her. "That bitch is the strongest out of all-"

Zoe caught hisses from Tia's other fracciones.

"-and she's mine!" Zaraki cackled, shunpoing past her. Zoe sighed, averting her eyes sideways, picking apart his blur from the ripple of movement. "I think not." She murmured, drawing her sword out swiftly, slashing deeply sideways, streaking the floor with a spatter of gore. Zaraki moved fast for someone so large and in an instant, had turned around wickedly grinning, aiming his sword for her un-protected side.

Zoe changed the angle of her swing and brought it back in a downwards arc up. Metal met metal with a clash of sparks and harsh clang.

"And I thought you were a joke! Such little reiatsu for such a strong cut!"

Her arms began trembling under his weight, leveling it off with her own, she soon thrust back, sharply slapping the tip of his sword aside with her scabbard. "Never underestimate the appearance of an opponent, " she responded as he skated back, never losing his mad grin.

"This is great! So, great! You were able to cut me!"

She observed his joy, never losing her soft smile yet her thoughts inside were of deep confusion. _He is...happy merely because he was dealt a slice? How unusual_. Zoe could tell he was a different breed of fighter than the norm. _Perhaps he lived for...battle?_

As the pink-haired child she had noticed before, leapt off his shoulder and rambled off to watch from the sidelines, Zoe's smile grew more pronounced. "While I enjoy a more refined approach to battle, a fight with the utmost grace...I also admire lust for battle as you have shown."

Zaraki's grin slipped into one of vague surprise. "Aww, you sound like that nut Yumichika! All going on about beauty and frippery shit!"

"Non, I think it is you whom misunderstand. Fear not. It is unimportant whether you grasp the concept of elegance for this site will be your resting place, Taichou of Eleventh."

"Ya think, woman?" He angled his jagged blade at her.

Zoe changed her stance to an offensive one, her expression resolute. "Yes, it must _be_." With a quarter turn of her wrist, she slid her scabbard out from her sash, turning it perpendicular to the plain tang, "Kunrin, Shirahime!" Cold frosted light exploded outward in a blazing corona of frost-bitten air. From the icy veil, she stepped forward, the glow receding into a long slender short staff crowned by a fleur delis carved ice crystal, the tang of the sword remained crossed over the scepter, diamond-shaped sheets of ice glittered coldly, refracting trapped rainbows.

"An ice sword, eh? How boring!" Zaraki cackled, charging at her, sweeping high. A momentary look of surprise clouded his face when his sword met a sheet of blue-tinged ice. Zoe had lost her faint smile when he had moved so abruptly but regained it as he futilely slashed at the frosted pane.

"What the fuck is this! So kind o' reiatsu-based attack? I hate this type of shit!"

As he spoke, she uncrossed the two weapons, holding each on either side of herself, she moved forward suddenly, letting the ice cave into itself. Zoe met Zaraki head on, slicing through his shoulder blades and torso in an X-shaped pattern. Finally stopping across the room, Zoe knelt down, the sword scepter crossed over her chest.

"Muhyo-Getten!" She breathed, blood dripping from the diagonal slash wound he had dealt her to the stomach. She had little hope such a weak attack would take down the fierce giant. His reiatsu alone surpassed Kanzaki's and way crushed her shikai to a median level.

Ice exploded from the ground upwards around Zaraki's stunned form.

Zoe turned slightly, glancing over her shoulder to hear the cracking sound of ice and whistle of compressed air warping around a large bulk. Zaraki's mad grin towered over her. "Ooh, chilly!" The sight of his blade bearing down on her was reflected in her startled light brown eyes.

Time started moving faster.

...

Hana couldn't stop staring at the pink-hair of the Arrancar.

"Is that your natural color?" She pointed. Szayel reaffixed his glasses, frowning slightly at her impertinence. "Yes it is. Now pray tell me who-"

Kyou on the other side of the room, stopped sweat-dropping long enough to spin around, startled. "Two of them! One Taichou and Fukutaichou...they'll be here within ten minutes."

Szayel glanced to the boy who seemed ordinary enough. Even with his hierro, he had been unable to sense the Shinigami so close...was this the strength of the Juppongatana Reapers? If so, he eyed them calculatingly. He would like to examine their cellular structures more closely.

Hana instantly jumped up and made her way around the counter, leaning in close to her twin's side. "How strong are they?"

"Very." His eyes slid closed then reopened, "you take the Taichou, his name is Mayuri Kurotsuchi, his Zanpaku-to is.." Kyou frowned, probing something far away with his extra sensory perception. "Ashisogi-Jizo. I think its main weapon is poisonous effusions."

"Oh, like poison gas?" Hana rolled her eyes, glancing to the doors of the main lab. "Greeeat."

"Yes, I wonder..." Kyou's frown disappeared in a wash of curiosity, he dipped in his hand into his pocket, withdrawing a purple glass vial. Hana's eyes alighted on it as he held it up, gazing at the swishing contents. "Where'd you get that?"

"This shadow guy gave it to me."

"Kyou! How many times have I said not to be talking to friendly strangers!"

"Hana, never mind that. Just drink some of it."

"Wha-"

_"This is from me indirectly from a person whom should be your friend right now, but isn't. Forgive his lax idiocy, that idioticus. It's the purest compound from a healer's weapon that neutralizes poison. Mind you, it was very difficult to mimic." The thin shadow said, holding out the vial in a gloved hand. "I'm almost positive I know whom your opponents tomorrow will be, little scanner." _

"Please just do it." Kyou ordered tiredly. His twin scowled but took the bottle anyway, uncorking it and raising it to her lips. To both their surprises, half the bottle melted into disseminate mist that was a violet-blue color. Hana swallowed by reflex, nearly choking on the passage of energy into her body.

"Wha...what was that?" she questioned, Kyou eyed the aura surrounding hers and decided there wasn't enough time for chitchat. Taking the vial from her wordlessly, he downed it in the same manner, sensing Mayuri and Nemu two rooms away.

"You know, you're unique, boy." Szayel commented from behind the counter. "They're just about here, but I bet you could sense them about to leave even in the next dimension."

Kyou's gaze slanted away. He was used to being shuffled aside behind the stronger officers of Fifth but to be called _unique_ was something he balked at. Hana noticed his unease and clapped him hard on the shoulder, turning slightly to address the Espada.

"Of course he could! Kyou's reiatsu abilities are far more advanced than even the Elementals! Now, pinky, just stay quiet and back there 'cause they're here."

"Pinky!" But the twins ignored Szayel.

With an ear-splitting crack, the doors caved in, a slender young woman in a short black kimono retracted her arm, another clad in a white haori clapped, yellow eyes sliding around the fringes of the lab with obvious interest.

"Well done, Nemu! You've brought us right to their door and-" Mayuri faltered, his look of glee changing to a scowl, "who are these children?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hana retorted snidely.

Mayuri scratched at his nose. "Why bother. Nemu get rid of these pests."

"What did you call us?" Hana's voice was softer, her hand tightened around the purple-hilted weapon stuck through her sash. Kyou sighed, drawing his sword and as the Fukutaichou's slender hand angled up, vibrating like a saw-

"Yes, Mayuri-sama." The Fukutaichou intoned, setting off in a crackling blur of speed. Kyou swiped his sword out, its form changing from silent command. A chain of energy cast brief shadow, clanking through the air before twining around her slim waist. Hana raced past him, toward Mayuri's haughty sniff.

Kyou had little time to watch his sister's battle and hurled Nemu into the far wall. Switching hands, he tossed off two of the gold discs forming the base of Reiki's guard. The discs whizzed through the air, shimmering a pale golden hue. Kyou stopped short of several feet from the body-shaped dent in the wall.

"Where-" He muttered, catching the sudden fluctuation in the atmosphere behind him. Throwing himself forward, Kyou heard the whistle of Nemu's short sword cut the air. Hana meanwhile across the room clashed against Mayuri's unreleased blade.

"Hmph! This is insulting! having to fend off children-!" The scientist complained, breaking off with a grimace as Hana expertly hurled her dagger-sword into his face. Mayuri scowled, twisting to the side. Hana retaliated by wrenching the dagger and chain far apart, ripping the Zanpaku-to from his hands.

"...Such a bore. I suppose I must teach you a lesson then." The scientist looked severely displeased yet unworried as his sword fell through the air. "Kakimushire, Ashisogi-Jizo!" Light exploded from the weapon warping over it to become a deformed golden trident like blade.

Hana saw the blade's arc as it flew through the remaining distance, piercing her through the chest. Kyou fought off Nemu, slashing at her arms and legs with focused determination. The Fukutaichou uttered no cries of pain, only a tiny frown creased her forehead.

His sister slumped over, her hair hung over her face hiding her smile. Mayuri smirked, walking forward with a shrug. "Children should know their places. You.." his blue-nailed hand stretched forward to the hilt sticking out of her chest. "Aren't even worth further examination."

Then, she started to laugh quietly. "You're so strong, Mayuri-san."

The scientist eyed her bowed form with a frown replacing his smugness. "That shouldn't be. You should be paralyzed with poison! How-"

Her hand reached up and wrapped around Ashisogi's hilt, gripping it tightly as a resounding crack split through the ashing up blade. Hana flung the residuals away as it became dust once it hit the floor.

"Hmph! Perhaps I miscalculated somewhere."

"Maybe you did." Hana smiled at him, her eyes sparking with a strange light. "You're a Taichou, show me. Show me the limits of your power!"

"Impertinent child! I do not-"

"How's this for impertinence?" She inquired quite innocently, blood splotched the air in a fine spray. The scientist sighed, "What a pity children now adays don't know how to respect their elders."

"I agree." Szayel commented mildly behind the counter, with two important compounds in glass beakers in his hands.

Hana scowled at him, "hey! Be quiet now, pinky! Don't be agreeing with this freak!"

"Freak, you say? I am merely a scientist to whom everything and everyone is an object to be studied, including you, little flea. In fact my Superhuman drug should be taking effect any moment now. I'm glad I took the liberty of adding a drop to Ashisogi-Jizo's blade!"

"Huh?" Hana muttered, her eyes widening, "I don't feel any different. You know that's cheating to lace your blade with poison!"

_Superhuman drug?_ Kyou wondered, deflecting the Fukutaichou's attack. Piercing her vital organs had little or no affect on her, not being well versed in scientific research Kyou quickly deduced Kurotsuchi had to have replaced her organs and most likely his own with something non-destructible. _How to get around it...?_ While he worried about Hana, he began probing Nemu's reiatsu field, finding her strength most concentrated in her arms and legs.

_Could it be-?_ He thought of Atrix, one of Keiko's officers, and decided to test his theory. Focusing entirely on the muscle that contracted during the recoil and lunge of her motion, Kyou began to see the thick threads of her energy fueling the punch. Seconds before it connected to Reiki's shining blue blade, Kyou screwed his eyes shut tightly, forcing the strands of energy to tear. He was able to hold it for only a moment, clumsily launching a brief offensive slash that severed her arm from her body.

Shock was a fleeting emotion on the automaton's face.

"You're a mod soul in an artificial body!" Kyou exclaimed, immediately he diverted part of his attention to the scientist across the room, indolently marking something off a paper scroll he had retrieved from his haori coat. _Was Kurotsuchi-Taichou also one?_ From what little Kagami had told them about the man, it was more likely he had done modifications to his body which would also explain why regular cuts and slices did nothing.

"Hana!" Kyou yelled, "I think his body's mostly fake. Try taking his head off-"

Kurotsuchi glanced up with a frown, "I think I'd prefer to keep it on just the way it is, boy."

"-and cut the rest of him to many pieces!"

"What uncouth fleas you are." The scientist said unconcernedly as Hana flash-stepped behind him. Kurotsuchi turned at the same instant, reaching up a blue-nailed hand to one of the gold cones covering his ears, pulling out a rope-like ligament with a curved scythe blade attached to one end. Quite skillfully he countered her stronger blow, sending her off balance when she leapt back.

"Physical strength coupled with evasion tactics. I must say I'm disappointed." Kurotsuchi commented, flash-stepping after her, wielding the kusari-gama expertly. The rattle of colliding chains resounded in the air, Hana grimaced, barely holding her ground.

"You're both so inept I'd rather deal with that fine Arrancar specimen over yonder."

"Don't you dare go near Szayel!" She cried with a vehemence that surprised her twin. Even Szayel, the subject of discussion, reaffixed his glasses with a curious look on his face. "You won't lay an ugly fingernail on him!" _Szayel was once Kagami-san's friend. Kagami-san she was sure wouldn't want his old friend to become experimental fodder for the man that called himself a Taichou in front of her_. _It only proved how inhumane Soul Society was for them to allow Mayuri Kurotsuchi amongst them! _

Kyou would've face-palmed had he been less occupied with Nemu's one-handed furious fight; _isn't it a hand on him?_ He did notice vague snatches of concern fleet through her impassive expression whenever Mayuri spoke. _Maybe he could use that to gain an advantage?_

He was too late seconds later when blood spliced the air in a sickening red wave. Kurotsuchi withdrew the dripping kusari-gama from Hana's torso, spattering the floor heavily with ribbons of torn flesh and guts. Kyou felt the pain bite deeply into his psyche and was momentarily stunned by it. Nemu took the brief opening and dove forward with the intent to kill. Only to have a floral-hilted sword block her strike.

"Tsk, tsk. That's not very nice is it?" Szayel smiled at Nemu's blank look. "I mean I've always been curious about the link between twins and here you are trying to kill two perfect specimens of them before I even get a chance to study them." He waggled his finger in her face. "Now, that isn't very nice is it, Kurotsuchi-Fukutaichou?"

Kyou swung up from below, ramming Reiki's blade up to the hilt in her stomach, pressing his hand against the end of the pommel, "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens!" He chanted swiftly.

"Ne-" Mayuri began, his yellow eyes bulging in their sockets.

Hana's voice joined her twin's. "Hado 73! Sōren Sōkatsui!"

Blue light exploded all around from the doubled blasts.

...

_Inside, Las Noches, Zoe had released Shirahime_. Kei sensed it dimly, leaning back against the wall of the palace. Scenes from only hours before went through her mind like a distorted slideshow of faceless voices.

_"Do you love him or not?" Isshin._

_"You love me, don't you?" Ichigo on the verge of desperation. _

_"If you love him at all then let him go."_

She covered her face lightly with her hands. "Even if I do, you won't be at peace. No one will be once I've finished everything I've set out to do." With a sigh filling the silence in lack of response from the unconscious boy, she shifted position, crawling forward to cup part of his cheek with her palm.

"Could you ever forgive me if you knew what I wanted?"

...Las Noches...

_The twins seemed to be doing alright_, Zoe thought, her gaze slanting off a little to the side, perceiving past the layers of the building, their duels.

"Forgettin' about me!" Zaraki thundered, though he towered over her, she turned to him unafraid, blocking the unrefined wild swing aiming for her torso with her scepter, aiming her sword for the unprotected sliver of flesh of his throat.

"No, Taichou." Shirahime's blade sliced deeply into his main arterial vein. Blood splashed a vibrant red hue through the air. Zoe pulled back across the floor, polite with a smile as always. "I wouldn't be so remiss to neglect our battle with mere distraction. Suffice it to say, that eye-patch you wear..." she tilted her head at a questioning angle while Zaraki grimaced, bracing a large hand to the cut spewing blood.

"Conceals half your real spirit pressure, does it not?"

"Yeah! But, I doubt you'd be able to handle it, girly!"

"Really?" Zoe murmured, a look of pure curiosity stealing over her features. "But, your reiatsu is supposedly fearsome yet it's nothing more than a tickle against my skin." It was true that she felt barely anything from the barbarian-like Shinigami, knowing secretly though that she had Kagami's oleander tattoo on her side to thank for it. It was his newest development after the shell pendants to reduce the impact of massive spiritual pressures against the weaker officers. Zoe was glad to see it worked yet knew she had limited time in which to prolong the battle.

She had to get his eye-patch off.

_She had to take Zaraki Kenpachi down no matter what!_

…Tsukikage castle...

"What I don't get," Kanzaki commented conversationally leaning against the rail of the veranda. Kagami sipped at the mug of tea he had brought with him, gazing out over the spacious lawn and milling officers. "Hmm? What?"

"Is why Hana had a paper among those Amakusa brought from Seireitei." The Quincy made a face, "it said something like non-sentencing verdict found guilty-?"

"Oh." Kagami smiled faintly at the other's perturbation. "You don't know, huh?"

"Know what?"

"Hana's a murderess."

Kanzaki went saucer-eyed. "Wha-what! You-you mean our little Hana k-killed people? I don't believe it!"

Kagami shook his head slightly, "I thought maybe you knew or at least suspected. I mean on the whole, she's a pretty normal kid. Considering what I heard at the time, was that the Shinigami had been cut to ribbons. It was a bloodbath coming close in sheer physical violence to _Slaughter of the Innocents_. Her Zanpaku-to though is fascinating …its power grows exponentially when she's enraged, like a berserker's weapon.

"That's interesting and all, but who—what and why?"

"It started in the district she and Kyou-kun were placed in after they died. Understand, I learned what I know from creating Hakuya, the blade showed me what happened. I dare say, Kei knows too after all she's the one whom harvested their blood. But, anyway, the villagers believed that twins were unlucky, the male side especially. They used to torment Kyou very badly yet treated Hana almost kindly. Well…one day there were trainees from the academy visiting the village. Hana was distracted helping the women with the wash and lost sight of Kyou. I suppose she can't be blamed for it, it was the village women whom diverted her to the riverbank."

Kanzaki paled, a hand crept up to his mouth. "You don't mean…?"

The water elemental sighed heavily, "Kyou was taken and raped in the surrounding forest. I don't know for sure but one of the women let something slip and Hana left to go find him. When she did that is…Kyou was…psychologically and physically broken, that's why he gets so uncomfortable receiving any little bit of praise; it was truly ugly what they did to him. Hana blames herself secretly for what happened."

"But, to see him, he's-"

"That same night Hana's dormant spiritual powers awoke. I don't have all the details but I think her sword helped her seal up his memories."

"Oh, I see. But then when did she-"

"I'm getting there." Kagami muttered irritatedly. "Hana took Kyou away from the village and eventually they made their way to the academy."

"I know that part-"

"Just shut up already then and listen." The water wielder grumbled. Karasu opened his mouth one more time then abruptly shut it, frowning clearly insulted.

"Anyway. The twins were in their second year…when in Seireitei for some reason or another, Kyou ran into the same graduated group of former students now full-fledged Shinigami. They were a brutish lot, backing him up into a corner and asking if he remembered what had happened and…I'm sure you can imagine the next scene."

"She slaughtered them…?"

"In an alley way of a deserted block. The thing is," Kagami smiled slightly, "there are those whom kill out of necessity, never taking pleasure in their crime. But, Hana was the other kind."

_Preliminary autopsies reported that the five men had been tortured slowly, their flesh peeled away, their organs twisted and ripped out while they still breathed_._ Supposedly a minor barrier of energy had given her a cocoon of silence from their screams reaching the outside._

Kanzaki shuddered, looking revolted. "I just can't believe it of her."

"Everyone has a story, Karasu. Either as a murderer, a victim or simply the guilt-ridden." Kagami said philosophically, "the good and the bad. Everyone's suffered here. Even Zoe."

"Huh? What about her?"

"Do you know why she hates Kurosaki?"

"Well, I thought she more disliked him but I guess it could be delving more into true despise." Kanzaki said with a frown. Kagami ran a hand through his hair, rubbing at his forehead with a shake.

"Her mother was a slave before the Civil War in America. Her father was a plantation owner somewhere in the South. Well, the underground railroad was operating big time back then and Zoe's mom took a chance and ran away to Canada with another slave she was married to. That's where Zoe gets her accent from, the French settlers whom helped them settle in. It couldn't have been easy raising a daughter whom wasn't his, I suppose that man might have loved Zoe's mum a lot to do it for a period of years until...the slave owner tracked them down-"

"What? To take his property back?"

"Not really. You see a number of years had passed and Zoe was I'm guessing around ten or eleven. The Civil War had just ended with the unconditional surrender at Appomattox, reconstruction was a distant dream and the owner- Elbe, wished to take Zoe and her mum somewhere else in Canada...somewhere to build a life together. You see, I believe despite the differences in race and other things separating the colored folk from the whites, Elbe really did care for them. When he spoke to Zoe's mum, it just so happened that her husband had returned home and heard everything just outside the cabin wall. Atypical of a heart filled with the opposites of jealousy and love, there was a terrible fight after Elbe left. Zoe's mum had said she would consider it and ask her husband if he would let her leave the bounds of matrimony. But as you probably understand by now, he refused and...rather than have his wife that he loved dearly leave him for another man; beat her to death in front of the daughter he had raised for years thinking she was his."

"How awful..." Kanzaki breathed. Kagami nodded faintly, "it was. For after the heart had stopped beating in his wife's chest, he turned to Zoe, the offspring of the former slave owner and desired to kill her too."

"What happened then? Was that how Zoe died during her previous life?"

"Uh-uh. In a lot of cases when extreme emotions are rampant and or their lives are most at stake is when the latent spiritual powers manifest themselves. I heard of that in a lot of cases. Like Hana, hers was fueled by anger, fear and probably hatred. She was a little girl whom had just seen her mother beaten to death by a man she called _papa_, is it so surprising that Shirahime awakened and called out to her master?"

_"Trust in me and I will take away your sorrows, your pain. Take my hand-take it now and call my name without fear!"_

"Shirahime's _ice world_ swallowed up that isolated spot on the banks of the river. I don't quite know what Elbe thought when he returned the following morning to find everything a frozen viscera and Zoe alone amid the ice without a single trace of frost-bite on her. It was summertime then, I'm sure it caused a fairly large fright among the few settlers around there when the lake stayed permanently frozen. Maybe that's why Kei chose Zoe to fight Zaraki Kenpachi."

Kanzaki looked momentarily confused. "What do you mean?"

"Zoe has it in her to defeat Kenpachi. If she pours everything she has into her final attack, the one that almost killed Keiko back when we first met... only if she chooses _Inferno's chill_ does she stand a chance at victory." Kagami concluded, a brief gust of wind whipped their robes, lifting strands of his pale hair to flit across his face.

Karasu gazed at the faintly smiling man beside him and realized he was leader in name only. Kagami and Keiko pulled the strings, he simply danced at their command...But, somehow it didn't anger him as much anymore to be used.

He wasn't entirely alright with it, yet could see that as far as the end result came about, it was something that had to be. Something that was inescapable like fate.

"You said we would be ready to move out in ten minutes, right?"

"Yes, that was what I had Takara tell Seireitei."

"Next time please refer her to inform me so it will be a joint decision."

"Of course," Kagami smiled even broader. "Of course, Kanzaki-_Soutaichou_."

_(*Kanzaki carries the same rank as Yamamoto in Seireitei, however is invariably referred to as Head Captain or simply Captain like the rest. Kagami is merely poking fun at the other's officiousness_)

-TBC

AN: thanks for reading! Almost freaked out with electrical problems here at the house (tried to do speed posting) but as far as I can tell, CH.81 will be here next Friday! I was thinking of doing a filler!Halloween 2011 oneshot except this time the Shinigami are invited/crash the party, but dunno yet. For now the storyline will continue with the battles. :)

No flames!

Reviews loved :)


	88. The Kill

_What if I laughed it off...laughed in your face?_

_What would you do?_

ShiKai CH.81: The Kill

Zoe felt breathless but at the same moment fully alive in every sense. Kenpachi was overwhelming her defenses. She dripped blood from dozens of cuts, bruises mottled her arms and legs. Climbing up to her feet from the sand where he had hurled her through the wall, she wiped a reddish dribble from the corner of her cut lip, tasting grit on her tongue.

She spat, catching movement from the corner of her eye.

"Muhyo-Getten!" Zoe snapped, slashing Shirahime's blade sideways. Zaraki was relentless. _Like a beast thirsting for blood_. The wind off the ice thundering up from below, cooled the sweat on her brow. Zoe had one second in which to glimpse the hard plains of Zaraki's craggy face before the ice erupted between them gaining a seconds' respite.

Soon it shattered, _too soon_, she realized; fending off his heavy blows. Zaraki had showed little signs of tiring, indeed he took each slice with joy and eagerly went for more.

_He lacked morals, courtesy and only lived for the thrill of battle_.

She deflected his high swing with her scepter and aimed for his legs, meaning to slow him down. Instead, in the seconds breath of twisting down, she felt the stinging slash of his sword cut through her back. Zoe howled in pain, unable to hold it in. As she fumbled in the last seconds to catch the sword falling from her hand, he finished the strike, cutting deeply to the bone.

...

Kei felt the plummet of her Lieutenant's spirit pressure.

Her eyes opened, narrowing.

"Zoe..."

...

Zaraki snorted, prodding the fallen woman with the tip of his sandal.

_Nothing but a sack of meat now_...

He sensed a vague energy radiating from her hand but decided it wasn't worth investigating. The woman had given him a fairly good warm-up, but that was it. He turned around toward the hole in the palace wall where Yachiru sat on the debris, beyond that the steady reiatsus of the Espada and Arrancars remained.

Hefting his sword up to rest against his shoulder blade, Zaraki began walking away eager for a new fight.

He did not see the fingers curl in the sand and claw at the hilt of the sword.

...

_The voice echoed hollowly in the dimming consciousness._

_"Fight. I'm ordering you now to get up and fight!"_

_Zoe didn't know where she was. The ground beneath her was no longer gritty but hard, solid made of blackness. Briefly she wondered if she was dying, it hurt to move so much. _

_"C-Ca-Captain, I can't." She forced herself to respond, it was very rude to not answer a superior officer. "He-He's much too strong for-"_

_"Stop making excuses!" Keiko barked out harshly. "You said you wanted to kill me now get up and do it!" Startled, Zoe bit back the groan of pain it cost to lift her chin and gaze ahead. The blackness was lifting to reveal a frosted plain of ash. _

_**It's as if...**_

_Her gazed dropped to her own torso and saw the worn black shihakusho. _

_**The future one-hundred years haven't happened.**_

_Keiko Yamamoto loosely grasped her two-bladed tachi in one hand, waving it forward. She wore tattered red hakama tied at the waist by a large white bow and a ragged sleeve white kimono on top. It was the uniform of a student. _

_Zoe found she could stand. Her spine hadn't been cut in two. As her vision cleared, she gazed around the familiar plain from memory. Everything had been reproduced down to the last ice crystal patch glittering on Keiko's cheek from a scratch dealt by Shirahime's blade._

_"You brought me here now finish it! Fight me to your last breath like you claimed you would!"_

_"You..." She felt like a mantle over herself. Her old self and present self layered over the same body, the same hand wearily tightening around her sword, the same sardonic smile she had first given to Karasu when she and Dani had knocked out the leader of their survey team so he wouldn't report the criminals' whereabouts. She'd just been looking for an excuse...any offering of freedom from the stares and emptiness of serving a cause she felt nothing for._

_Dani had been the same._

_Maybe Keiko too._

_"You talk too much." Zoe said; the girl's scowl faded, replaced by a tiny smirk._

_"That's the spirit of the enemy I want to defeat." Keiko affirmed, bracing her dual-bladed Tachi. "Not some witless fool whom can't even summon up enough strength to grip their sword properly."_

_"Oh? Was that an insult, erementar?"_

_"Yes it was, Shinigami." _

_They smiled at one another as enemies possessing mutual respect for the other. _

Then, the Lieutenant of Fourth's eyes snapped open.

Ice spread over her wounds.

Her hand gripped the cold blue hilt.

Yachiru whom sat on the rubble, tilted her head slightly to the side and raised her tiny arm pointing behind Kenpachi's stride. The giant stopped and glanced over his shoulder, barely feeling the razor-slash crisscross his back.

"Where do you think you're going?" The voice possessed a hollow ring to it like the rime that grew at the edges of ice lakes. Hard, cold, deadly.

Zaraki's thin lips split apart in a shit-eating grin.

"You can still cut!" He threw his spiked head back and laughed long and hard. Zoe snapped her blade and scepter over her head, pivoting her body over him and down, driving the piercing points of each weapon through his knees, pinning his legs to the ground. Twisting out of the way, she evaded his blade just barely, swiping her hand across her own stomach, she sheared off a jagged crystal shard that had been growing out of her flesh wound.

The ice tainted red glistened innocently in the moonlight.

Zoe gripped it tightly getting to her feet as she lunged forward with all her strength, slicing across his eyepatch with the ice dagger.

The fabric sheared away.

She glimpsed a smallish orb deep set in wiry flesh before his reiatsu was all around. Thick. Heavy. Stifling. Zoe felt her legs tremble at the force swirling around her then recalled her weapons back to her hands. Slashing down through the force of gravity, ice erupted in vibrant black-tinged crystals, leveling off the stronger force with her own, Zoe was finally able to breathe.

"Let's go at it one more time." She said, standing straighter, refusing to show any weakness from the fierceness of his spiritual pressure. Given a few more minutes to gather the maximum amount of her scattered energies and it could all be over.

Ignoring the screaming of her muscles, she held onto that one thought.

_I can end this- for Captain Yamamoto, for our comrades, I cannot let him leave this battle alive-!_

...

"Well, that was a close one." Szayel commented, hovering over the smoldering ruins of his laboratory. One under each arm, the twins eyed each other sheepishly.

"You know you're going to owe me a new lab and specimens to study."

"Oh, pinky!"

"My name is Szayelaporro." He said patiently.

Hana rolled her eyes. "You still have pink hair. Anyway as long as that freak and-"

"Hana!" Kyou interrupted frantically, pointing down to the billowing cloud of dust and spirit particles below. Szayel's nose twitched, his glasses were a little askew and both his hands were full. "Ah, as I suspected. I would've been severely disappointed had he been snuffed out with such a little blast."

"Mayuri's still alive!" Hana said sharply, disbelievingly. The dust cleared around his disheveled form. Scorch marks in his haori coat had come from shielding Nemu. The Fukutaichou lay on her side, stunned, staring up at the form of her father.

"M-Mayuri-sama?" She questioned, sounding unsure.

"You're a pain to fix, don't think it's anything beyond that." The scientist said curtly, dusting off his haori. After a long moment she ducked her head down.

"Yes, sir." Nemu murmured, reattaching her arm.

Hana stared at the pair, her eyes widening, "dammit! They're acting as if our attacks were nothing at all!"

"Well they are Taichou and Fukutaichou. I'm not too surprised their levels are way above ours." Kyou said, unable to suppress a smile. "Really though that's what'll make it more cool when we beat them."

"Kyou.."

"Hey, girl, weren't you wounded?" Szayel asked, glancing down at her back. The white cloth bore the rip in the unmistakable shape of a sword slash yet the sliver of skin was smooth, unmarked.

"Not a thing, pinky." Hana said perkily to Kyou's sweatdrop. Szayel switched glances over to the other twin, remarking, "I see, I see. Is that part of your bond?"

"Not really." Kyou replied sheepishly. Several cuts had scabs of dried blood sealing them up while Hana's were almost completely gone. The Espada nodded to himself after checking both out then suddenly shifted them back then pitched them rapidly forward. Kyou wide-eyed, managed not to give a small shriek like his sister as they both plummeted down to the ruins of the lab and the Shinigami.

"Szayelaporro! You ass!" Hana cried, tucking her body like a caterpillar and springing free just before hitting the ground. Kyou did the same, managing to cling on to the broken column at the edge of the rumble.

"Finally you address me by proper name!" Szayel reaffixed his glasses. "Now if you don't mind adding- sama-"

"Hell no!"

"Hana, maybe we should-" Kyou began, hands in the air, motioning to her. Kurotsuchi shook his head at such a ridiculous display.

"Finish them, Nemu, Their voices are stunting my genius."

"What?" As his sister turned, fairly shrieking in indignant anger, Kyou rubbed at his forehead tiredly thinking maybe Kurotsuchi had a point. _But even still_...he felt Nemu's reiatsu-laced speed take off lightning fast, sword withdrawn from somewhere, glinting in the light, aiming for the kill.

_I can't...let that happen._

_Hana's protected me._

_So, it's my turn to protect her_.

Then, he forced himself not to think anymore. Nemu's body was nearly indestructible but she could still bleed and be cut. Just in many pieces. Kyou forcibly channeled energy into his legs reminiscent of Hakuda but while moving, at the same instant whirled the chain of light above his head. He saw Nemu had prepared for it, sending off a point blank blast of crackling lightning type Kido. Kyou recognized it and allowed himself a tiny grim smile.

It was weak.

No matter the caster was a Fukutaichou, he was still able to entrap it with a sharp jerk of his wrist. There was a moment of pure surprise on Hana's face as Nemu appeared only inches away, her blade a tip from sinking into her side then Kyou barreled into her. The kido blast sent awry erupted in a bluish tinged light over their faces.

For a split second he hovered, a small incipient form beside the taller female; the complex set of moves racing through his mind. He adopted Keiko Yamamoto's stance and caught the other end of the long slippery chain.

_**"Six-successive strike Rokuren or wheeling sword dance is primarily an offensive move. However as I am going to demonstrate with this ice, you will see how you can modify it for defensive postures in a pinch."**_

To the right.

Kyou hurled one end over end, slamming the hilt of the ring into her shoulder joint.

Left.

Nemu's mouth opened in a soundless tiny o of pain.

_**"Now, pay attention. Eyes, ears and listen closely as each strike cuts the air."**_

_Keiko was beyond elegant at that moment. Showing a beautiful display of grace and deadly power. I can never hope to imitate that level...forgive me, Captain Yamamoto if I am inaccurate in my recollection_.

Sweep.

Catch. Strike.

_**"Rokuren can be utilized in defensive postures, as I stated before. The resulting application I speak of, is paralysis of an opponent's primary joints, locking mobility for an easy defeat."**_

He hurled the Fukutaichou into the rubble. She crashed heavily through it, stone fragments and dust filling the air. Hana blinked at the rapidness in which she'd barely escaped death.

"Kyou-"

"See!" He said, trying to catch his breath. "I can prote-"

A thin sickle-like blade sliced across his throat.

"Hmph!" Mayuri snorted, retracting his kusari-gama. "You'll pay for this, boy."

"K-Kyou?" Hana asked quietly. There was a moment of little understanding in the twin's eyes. It was like then, that time too. That glade of cool forest, the torn white robe and blood...blood then smeared on his legs...now pouring down his throat. Like then she didn't know what to do. Orochi's voice was silent and there was no one to help her.

_What do I...do?_

"You're next, girl."

Hana twitched, eyes filling. "Ban-Kai." She said, trying to muster anything other than the deep well of hopelessness flooding her insides full. "Ban-Kai...Ban-Kai!"

Kurotsuchi watched her narrowly, a smirk on his painted face forming. "You girl have achieved Ban-Kai? Such an incipient little worm like you? Hahahahahaha! You've provided sufficient amusement for me for the last hour, now just lie down and die." He moved then, slicing her hands off. Hana was too shocked to scream at the bloody stumps, the pain washing over her in sickening waves.

Down below, Kyou twisted on his back, trying to staunch the bleeding from his throat.

"Ha..na!"

"You shouldn't laugh." Szayel advised, still hovering above. "Their levels may not splice directly into anything much however scientific evidence has proven that even a microscopic bacterium can kill a larger host body."

"Perhaps." Mayuri shrugged. "Then, the boy would make a fascinating subject still alive of course to cut open and examine."

_Examine...? _

Her sword had fallen and lay in the sands, still clasped by her bloodied hands. Tears streamed from her eyes, unable to stop them, she thought of everyone she would never see again then finally of Kyou.

_Who would...protect him from the ugly, cruel world if she was gone?_

_No one...is saving me now. _

She threw her head back and screamed as the razor-edge sliced through her.

"BAN-KAIIIIIII!"

...

"Wonder what that freak's up against?" Kenpachi half-turned toward the south where Hana's spiritual pressure vortexed. Zoe felt the girl's desperation as palpable as sorrow and pain. She had not been aware of the female twin reaching the second stage..._had she for some time?_ _Or been forced to awaken it with the force of her emotions?_

Not that it mattered.

Zoe stiffened, the plate of ice fusing her back together a frigid coldness that rapidly sapped away at her strength. She'd never been forced to use so much of it on her body, a fact that testified to the might of the giant. She recalled vaguely Hana's mixed-up story about David and Goliath...the sling and a stone against a giant. She smiled despite the pain. Shirahime counseled it wouldn't be long until it was all over.

_Shirahime-san...if I die, will I go to Heaven with ma'mere?_

'You will.' The spirit said, invisible to all except for the bloodied, ice-covered Lieutenant. A tiny hand laid itself over the darker-skinned one. Together as sword and master, she called without hesitation:

"Ban-Kai!"

Zaraki smirked, "now you're talking, bitch. Come at me with everything you got!"

Ice spiraled up a frosted mist, swallowing her up in a jagged crystalline structure. Zoe felt the coldness seep into her veins, swallowing the cries of pain threatening to burst out. _Her Ban-Kai was second in beauty to the moon sword Tsukuyomi_; _they were perfectly matched as Captain and Lieutenant...Fire and Ice_. The sword in her hand lengthened, silver melding into a narrow spade-like blade with a protrusion of a fleur delis, a long staff formed as the scepter melted away reforming as a huge blue fleur delis crystal on the end.

Zoe swiped the glaive out decisively, the mist gusting away from her aura. "Suno-Shirakisaki." She pronounced crisply. Zaraki remained immune to the beauty of the crystals glittering dangerously under the moonlight.

"I see! A polearm weapon 'spose that shoots out more ice for me to cut!"

"Yes..." she knew it was imperative that he realize nothing. "That's right. Sneer at my weapon...at my home here and seek to destroy it all! You and the rest of the Shinigami are empty beings! Mindless creatures seeking to protect a rotted system with corruption at its core!"

"Eh?" He scratched his cheek, smearing blood. "Not me. I don't care about the rest...I just live to fight! So quit talkin' fancy and show me what you got!"

She smiled coldly, clasping the slender staff in both hands, adopting a different stance one she hadn't used since the great battle.

_Please...mama. Be watching over me now_.

She took a deep breath then raced forward, vanishing into the light refracted by her ice blade. Zaraki never felt anything as she passed through him save for the brush of icy mist against his face.

"Inferuno's chill." Her form flew back together from the white mist, holding the glaive sideways as a great wall of ice exploded in a sheath behind her.

"Kenny?" The pink-haired child murmured, expressionless.

"Inferno's chill..." Zoe spun about, her eyes blazing. "A unique move that freezes an opponent's reiatsu to sub-zero temperatures plummeting the living in a complete frozen tundra of unbreakable ice! Your strength is what defeated you, Kenpachi Zaraki! I..." she slumped down. Mist wafted from the black ice encasing the Shinigami Taichou.

She laughed chokingly. "I did it! I won...!"

The pink-haired child hopped off the rubble and dragged her sword through the sand, still staring at the ice boulder.

"Ken..ny?"

Bleary brown eyes flickered to the child and the gold plaque fastened around the tiny arm.

_Fukutaichou-!_ Zoe's dimming mind registered startled.

Yachiru touched the ice then recoiled sharply, her fingertips blistering from the intense cold.

"You..."

Zoe snatched at her glaive from the sand, bringing it up in a defensive arc.

"-killed Kenny." Eleventh's Fukutaichou pronounced in a deathly calm child's voice. "I don't forgive you."

Silver flashed through the air, blood spattered the sands a moment later.

...

Light exploded around the chain sword, lengthening, screaming with the echo of Hana's shriek. Mayuri's glance flickered down, dismissing it at first yet his yellow eyes widened a moment later when a lone serpent's head shot up, sharp needle-point fangs shearing away half his torso.

"O-Orochi?" Hana gasped, blood flecks dotting her ragged clothing and teary face.

Szayel ascended higher in the sky, peering closely at the beast. "Remarkable. It seems similar in structure to a different Zanpaku-to of the Shinigami."

Mayuri sliced away at the hydra's purple-blue scaled hide, roaring in frustration. "You fucking little insect- you asked for it! I'll devour everything of you! Ban-Kai!"

The Octava raised a pink eyebrow. "Oh, my." Then slipped his hand into his pocket finding a tiny glass vial deep within. "Ah, good thing I reserved this." Szayel darted down, past Hana, ignoring the thickening coils of red reiatsu twisting around Kurotsuchi's blade and finally to the ground, scooping up the barely conscious boy.

Hana hardly noticed, her eyes were fixated on the massive creature crushing everything down around it. "It's so...so...freakin' ugly!" She wailed, as the massive shadow of the caterpillar-like creature fell over her."Yuck!"

Kurotsuchi attempted to staunch the bloodflow from his wounds, his heavy makeup running in white streaks down his face. "Eat her!" he screeched, eyes bulging madly from their sockets. "Grind that little bitch's bones to dust! Go, Konjiki Ashisogi-Jizo!"

There was a second as she stared helplessly into the void of the giant baby's teeth-filled mouth, then she vanished inside, torn apart by champing teeth. Szayel raced to a distance away, propping Kyou against his upraised knee, uncorking the vial with a quick flick of the wrist.

Kyou felt the double sting of his own wounds accompanied by a fresh wave of excruciating pain through his connection with Hana. He gasped, unable to cry out anymore, tears weakly streaming out staining his cheeks with pink rivulets.

"Shush. I commend your valiant efforts however they are wasted on one such as me." Szayel said calmly, tapping droplets of the purplish fluid along the gash. It was worse than he'd originally thought, wondering even then how the boy had survived so long."I am a killer, boy. Don't forget that."

"The-then why-?"

"I don't know. That's the one thing I don't know." Vaguely amber eyes rolled upward then down thoughtfully. "For some reason when I saw you and your sister, the one thing I knew I couldn't do was fail something...I despise that I cannot define it myself."

It was getting easier to talk, breathe, Kyou found. His voice still cracked. "That, Szayel-san proves that you aren't some soulless killer!"_ Kagami-san knew him when he was alive. When he was human...he was a doctor whom died with great guilt that devoured his heart_. _Maybe it still lives on-?_

"Don't push your luck, boy. You're not even good research material!" Szayel groaned.

Kyou's mouth split into a shaky grin. There was pain from Hana's absence but there was also a will to carry out what his sister had died for. Debris skittered down from the pile where Nemu Kurotsuchi lay. Szayel glanced to it with a frown, "oh my. They just won't stay down will they?" He tched quietly. "Such an inconvenience." He shifted Kyou down, rising from the crouch and reaching for the flower hilt of his sword.

"What're you-" Kyou scrambled to sit up.

Szayel pushed his glasses up his nose with a finger, frowning. "You stay there. My styptic compound will take longer than any other to seal up your wounds. Just stay-" the Espada sighed as Kyou got to his feet, "must you be as obdurate as the girl?"

Kyou grimaced, pressing a hand to his throat, the other tightening to a firm grip around his blue and gold hilted weapon. "Hana and I said we'd protect you." He stood straighter, watching as Nemu unburied herself from the rubble. "Your enemies are our enemies. I don't know myself how you felt when you died...not your pain nor your guilt-! I can't judge that for you nor can I ease it! I can only do what I can for the present and that's good enough for me!" His searching fingers tugged the torn collar around like a ragged scarf.

Szayel looked at him for a moment longer then sighed even heavier reminding Kyou faintly of Kagami. "Very well then, I don't see what the fuss is about seeing as you can barely stand on your own two feet."

Kyou cracked a tiny grin then. It was true he was in terrible pain and his vision unsteady yet when Nemu Kurotsuchi fully stood, body bloody and bruises blossoming up in great sick yellow skinned patches; Kyou laid his palm on the fist wrapped around the blue hilt.

_He hoped they were still there...please let them be there-!_

Gold flashed.

One hovered above her head, barely visible in the moonlight. The other below her next step which Kyou anticipated as her slip back into shunpo. Nemu would attack straight on. He knew it as energy gathered in her legs.

At the next second, he called sharply, "Sanmai!"

Shock registered briefly on the mod soul's face. The emotion quickly vanished into an unending scream as her energy split apart, gushing in waves upward and downward like a curtain of haze.

Mayuri glanced up from his clipboard as she cried out one last time; "Mayuri-sama...I'm sorry!"

...

_It's dark here._

_Warm too_.

What was left of her nose crinkled.

_Squishy and damp too_. _**Yuck. Where am I?**_

Hana felt apart from herself, part of then not. Dissembled yet vaguely conscious of places where arms and legs were. _Oh, that's right!_ She tried wiggling around and felt nothing but the same spongy flesh all around her. _Mayuri released his Ban-Kai and it was really ugly..But. WhereamI?_ Her thoughts were slowly distorting.

_Who am I?_

The pain was insistent now. She hadn't been aware of it at first but slowly it grew worse. Throbbing needles. Champing. Boiling pockets of liquid splashed over her every few seconds. Hana opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out.

_WhoamI?_

Her eyes were the only things left.

Staring wide at the belly of the beast.

_Who was I supposed to protect?_

A face swam before her consciousness. Keiko holding the shikai chain state Gessekai. "Your weapon is unique but you need to learn how to wield it. I'll teach you!" Her face and voice from memory.

_I'm sorry, Keiko. I can't seem to remember what you taught me._

Keiko frowned, vanishing. An older woman surfaced, streaming mocha brown hair around a long angular face and strange eyes glittering like a cat's. Hana dimly knew the face, trying to reach out to the apparition. _Captain Na-Namaiki_... She was the one person Hana had never wanted to disappoint.

So brave, so strong and brassy! ...she was unlike Keiko's polished warmth. Hana couldn't even shed useless tears. _But, I can't even be of use to you anymore-!_

Kazeatari looked away then back, her face twisting into an angry snarl. "Fool! Don't think of me! Think of your brother! Are you going to just sit there and cry useless tears or are you going to get up and fight!"

Hana twitched, flesh sprouted over muscle fibers. Her fingers clawed the ground. "K-Kyou?" Her voice echoed in a throat that felt raw.

"Yes!" Kazeatari barked, her fan shaking in one fist. "Have you forgotten? You said you would protect him and not let anyone harm him again! So get out there! Get out there and fulfill your promise to him!" With that last yell, Kazeatari faded away. Hana wiped the back of her hand across her face, rubbing away the tears. Her hand searched the acid puddles in the stomach of the creature but found nothing, recoiling away with a grimace.

"Eww! Can't believe I let myself get eaten!" She muttered to herself, scanning the floor of the underbelly for her sword. Within seconds she'd found it just below a massive carriage of ribs. As she'd thought, it had resumed it unreleased state. Dimmer beyond the thick wall of flesh, she sensed Kurotsuchi, could almost see the clipboard fall from his pasty hands, his fury palpable as the great beast of his Ban-kai shuddered and moved at his command.

_Oh, no you don't!_

"Return!" She yelled, swiping her palm down far above the underbelly of the creature. Hana rocked unsteadily on her feet, almost falling over as Konjiki Ashisogi-Jizo lifted from the ground for a lunge. Her sword at the last possible second shot up through the thick hide and past her hand as she commanded:

"Ban-Kai!"

She wasn't sure of anything when her sword revolved through the air, splitting apart in furious bursts of purple-black tinged light. Hana could barely stand as the drain on her energy magnified by a thousand, her senses suddenly screaming in pain. The wet, fleshy cavern of the caterpillar's body exploding with the hydra's deafening roar.

A wave of acid and blood splashed through the air, Hana threw up a fast kido shield, spilling forward from Konjiki Ashisogi-Jizo's wide open mouth. Reaching deep within herself for a last ounce of energy, she raced forward, her Ban-Kai already flying apart. Kurotsuchi was almost upon Kyou; astonishment on his face as he half-turned toward the remnants of his Ban-Kai.

He might've said something, but she didn't care, bringing her chain sword end over end in a spiral which she let loose at the last second. "It ends now!" She cried aloud, catching the hilt of the dagger and bringing it across his throat.

"Hana-!" Kyou fell back, stunned. Szayel frowned at the blood droplets that spattered his pristine white hakama.

To her surprise, Mayuri chuckled in a gurgle.

"I'll show you, girl...think it's over? Hah! Not by a long shot!"

She leapt back as his body melted before her very eyes. Liquefying into a greenish mass which his voice still emanated from.

"I'll tell the Shinigami! ...you're Juppongatana! All the filthy little traitors are going to die!" His voice ended on a shrill high note. Hana's grip tightened on her sword with a suddenness of motion, she thrust the blade down through the center of the escaping liquid. "Think again, asshole. Senshin!"

His spiritual power was absorbed by the short blade.

Kyou falteringly stepped forward, "Hana?"

Her grim expression never wavered until the last of Mayuri Kurotsuchi's spiritual essence had vanished inside her Zanpaku-to. Hana let out a sigh then collapsed down, shakily grinning.

"I...we...we did it!"

An unwilling matching grin broke out on Kyou's face.

"See...I told you we would."

Szayel hid his smile. _What was it...why did he see two others...twins too when he looked at them? But a curly-haired boy, distraught...screaming over the body of a dark-haired girl and on her upturned palm was the mark of a flame_.

The vision faded and it was the tw- _Retsu_ twins, he recalled their names now. The Octava's gaze narrowed. _Who were those others? Test subjects? - no, their clothing was human-like but old...very old_. A sharp pain lanced through his skull, a strange burning accompanied it in his chest almost like his skin was on fire.

Hana looked at him curiously, noticing the fleeting distress. "Szayel? Are you alright?"

"I...yes." His gaze went to the gore-covered girl, his nose wrinkling distastefully. He cleared his throat, lightly thumping his chest, the sensation of flames licking at his skin eased. "Perhaps you should get yourself cleaned up? One cannot wander around Las Noches wearing the remains of one's last opponent, can they?"

Hana snickered, "oh, Pinky! You're so prissy!"

"I am not. Your person is merely offensive to me right now." Szayel said business-like, picking his way around the rubble carefully. Kyou shook his head at their bantering, sensing something at a distance aways inside the palace.

"Lieutenant Elbe!" He halfway started forward; Hana glanced at him sharply, "what's wrong?"

"It's-this spiritual pressure! It's Eleventh's Fukutaichou! C'mon! We've gotta hurry!"

Szayel sighed, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "Are all you Juppongatana officers like this?" He sonido'd back to them, scooping up one under each arm. "So foolishly unselfish?"

Hana and Kyou grinned in unison.

...

"Hana..."

The girl's spiritual pressure had been swallowed up by the larger one of Ashisogi-Jizo's bankai. Kei hadn't a clue as to what it looked like yet from even the far distance could hear the rumbling of the ground beneath some immense weight.

Then, as she reached for Getsu-ten's scabbard lying in the sand, she sensed Kurotsuchi move. Turn his sights toward the other twin, a kind of sadistic glee radiating from his aura. _Evil_, she thought, getting to her feet quickly.

_Everything was falling apart_. She began to see it had been a severe lapse in judgment to send the twins to fight the scientist and his daughter.

_'Eebil and crazy as a mad scientist is right, wielder.'_

_**Oh ho. The bird has spoken! Where in the hell have you been lately?**_ Kei questioned silently, annoyance in her mind's voice. She would never let it be known how much she missed the bird's irritating opinions.

_'Oh, here and there.'_ A wing flapped nonchalantly from the tiny castle's throne room. _'Getting my feathery buns recuperated. I'm ninety-nine percent raring to go, wielder.'_

_**I didn't know you had 'buns'**_, Kei tapped the scabbard against her hip, fingers sliding upward and around Getsu-ten's hilt. She knew she had to make it fast, kill Kurotsuchi then head off to Halibel's palace were Zoe was valiantly if not barely holding her own against the Eleventh Company Taichou. She wondered how everything had gotten so out of hand?

_Had she misjudged Seireitei's Taichous?_

_Or maybe gauged the strength of the Juppongatana officers too high?_

Either way, thought was meaningless now.

_She needed to move fast-_

"Kei..ko?"

She cursed him silently.

Behind the rustle of cloth then the clink of Tensa Zangetsu's chain as Ichigo picked it up followed. Sand crunched heavily beneath his step.

"Where are you going?" He asked suspiciously.

Kei forced herself to seal away the irritation and the anger rising up as Kyou was about to be slaughtered by the scientist and she had to deal with the idiot before leaving. It wasn't as though she _hadn't_ reversed time on his memories, calculated to only about ten minutes roughly so he would think he had simply passed out from the injuries dealt him by Grimmjow.

"Just out to patrol a little." She said with an easy smile.

He took in her smile, but his emotions were too easy to read on the surface.

Suspicion.

Doubt, that she couldn't understand its source.

"I'll go with you." He said unhurriedly, slowly. Kei could literally feel the reiatsus in the distance, little Kyou's fear, Kurotsuchi's sick triumph. _That bastard!_ Her fingers tightened to a painful point around the bound hilt. Even Touda was silent, waiting for what her decision would be.

_Kazeatari will kill me if they all die- nevermind that I will hate myself for being the superior officer and letting them fight against such overwhelming opponents_. It all raced through her mind in a single pain-filled second. Then, she gathered strength into her left arm, preparing to strike Ichigo down, even though it somehow pained her to have to do so.

..._maybe I can still save my Lieutenant._

_It's over for Kyou-ku_-

Then, Hana's reiatsu returned.

Kei froze, halfway in the act of raising Getsu-ten's scabbard, partially shocked, the pain in her chest a tight ball. Ichigo didn't halfway even understand, getting a curious look on his face.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you-"

_Doesn't he sense it? Can't he sense their battle?_

_'Not half as well as you can, doll.'_ Touda commented wisely.

Even as Kei wondered about it, the reiatsus changed. Hana's grew stronger in a sudden surge, cutting cleanly through Kurotsuchi's in a refined wave. Kei felt weak with relief. Liquid glistened in her eyes. Surprised, Ichigo was slower than usual to wrap his arms around her back when she stumbled against him, burying her face in his chest.

_Oh thank the Gods...Oh Gods!_ She almost wept with sheer joy.

Ichigo misunderstood as always for that she was grateful for.

"Keiko, I didn't know you were that fond of that nutjob Kuro-something or other."

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri," she corrected, hiding her smile. Seconds later, Ichigo's attention refocused elsewhere. "Kenpachi! What the hell-!"

Almost simultaneously, she sensed the coldness of winter descend on the bleak world.

_I remember this...this feeling of breathlessness in the ice-tinged air then the neverending crystals encasing everything in permanent cold. Inferno's chill...so she finally used it_. Kei's thoughts were interrupted by Ichigo's exclamation.

"Who in the hell would be able to take him down! Dammit!"

_My officer...my dear second-in-command_.

His arms tightened around her, "we'll probably be facing whoever it is! In fact..."

She put up a reiatsu-block, dimming his senses. It was still too early for him to find out.

He trailed off unsure, losing the feeling he had recognized it as vaguely familiar. "Well, anyway, I'll protect you...okay? So just let me, will you!"

"You're so..." she pulled back a little to look up into his face. "Silly!" and swatted him across the ass. Like before, he jolted, immediately becoming flustered and red-faced.

"Hey! What'd you do that for?" His ears flamed.

She snickered, "'cause I wanted too and..'cause this ass is mine." For emphasis, she gripped the seat of his hakama possessively. As expected he choked on nothing; it was an amusing show. Then...she felt it. The approach of another.

Kei released him, turning toward the edge of the rock formations where a heavily breathing figure in white stumbled out, throwing a bedraggled figure to the side. Kei noticed the blood and guessed Tesla had taken his rage out on Inoue.

Ichigo of course started forward first. "Inoue!"

She was irritated at his immediate concern for the human. "Stay back," Kei motioned, sliding Getsu-ten over her shoulder and clasping the hilt.

"No!" He yelled stubbornly. "It's my job to protect my friends and-"

"And shut up!" Kei snapped, rounding on him furiously. "Tesla wants to fight me! He wants revenge from me! I'm the one who killed Nnoitora!"

Ichigo broke off, staring at her strangely. "How did you-" _know that Arrancar's name?_

But, she wasn't paying attention anymore. Stepping in front of him, she motioned him to stay back. "You'd better lie down. Your injuries, I'm sure still pain you. I can handle this..."

He didn't want to let her go.

_What if I don't...see you again?_

She turned back and flashed a grin at him. "Just _trust me_."

Then he felt bad for his previous thoughts, realizing he owed her lot for suffering all his shit (_and never leaving him like he was afraid she would_)

"Hey..." he called after her as she started to stride away.

"What?"

"When are you gonna let me be the hero?" He meant it as a joke.

She laughed with a smile he would never forget.

...

Gin wondered about the sanity of the man sometimes.

_What was the game the Juppongatana were playing?_

It was confusing sometimes like with Aizen, just to discern their true motives.

Gin's thoughts turned to Takara and Rangiku. He'd never meant to harm either of them but had never been able to make it right, it seemed to either. Now, he questioned whether he had chosen right in leaving Takara with them- the elementals. One of which, Aizen watched over obsessively. The powerful, enigmatic Fire element.

Not even he could understand what she was doing?

_Who were friends and who was the enemy?_

The lines had blurred too much for him to tell anymore.

A knock resounded on the large double doors behind them.

"Ulquiorra, entering." Responded a flat, emotionless tone.

Surprised, Gin glanced from Aizen's impassive face to behind as the pale Arrancar walked in, stopping a respectful distance away.

The Lord of Hueco Mundo spoke then. "Ulquiorra, I presume you know by now that Inoue Orihime is on the verge of being recovered by the intruders?"

Gin watched Ulquiorra from the corner of his eye.

If the Espada was bothered by the silky tone, he didn't show it. That too was a reason why Gin wasn't fond of the Arrancar. He was too ..._detached_.

"Shall I retrieve her?" Inflectionless as though it mattered little.

Keiko Yamamoto flashed into the eye of the camera, smiling cavalierly, _dashingly_ had she been a male. Gin caught the tiniest flicker of something in the Cuatro's expression. But the emotion or whatever it was, was gone once Keiko Yamamoto flash-stepped behind Tesla Lindocruz's resurrección.

"No. That won't be necessary. Rather..." he smiled. "The greater prize is Kurosaki Ichigo."

"But, hold on, Aizen-sama! That wasn't what Kei-chan and Nanatsu-kun agreed-" Gin began, though it wasn't for their sakes that he attempted to intercede.

"Gin, perhaps you feel some confusion. This is war...and in it there is no rules save for winner takes all. Now meditate on that for a while and all confusion will vanish."

He sensed the dismissal, humbly smiling, "of course you're right, Aizen-sama. Of course..." he went around Ulquiorra's stationary form, the green eyes hardly blinking to dispel the illusion of a statue.

"Aizen-sama, may I kill Kurosaki? He is trash and worthless to your ambitions."

Even Gin was surprised.

For the first time, Aizen truly frowned at the request. "No you may not, Ulquiorra. Ichigo-kun still has some use to us. You may incapacitate him as needed however to accomplish your mission. Disguise his reiatsu as needed with the bracelet that was used on the charming Ms. Inoue. I would like very much to see how Ms. Yamamoto takes to having to _rescue the prince from the tower_."

-TBC

AN: The Kill almost killed me! (lol) I slogged through writing this chapter like I slogged through the manga battles involving Nnoi-Nnoi, Tesla, and Szayel. I just am not a fan of Kenpachi. Urgh. Then writing Mayuri here, got me to do the unrelated one-shot for my Rukiax? collection. Memento reviews fuel the writer.

No flames!

Reviews loved C:


	89. Fight for all the right reasons

_Only the strongest will survive._

* * *

ShiKai CH.82: Fight for all the _right_ reasons

"Has your rage blinded you so much? Is that why you challenge me though you have not a chance of winning?" Kei spoke low, quietly. The blond Arrancar wiped the back of his fist across his face, smearing tears away then reached for his sword, a slender blade-like rapier with a curved length of scaled ribbing for the hilt.

His good eye stared at her hatefully, "I don't care whether you're a thousand times more powerful than I, Elemento...I will avenge Nnoitora-sama's death!" His sword flashed through the air. "Gore her, Verruga!" His lithe form vanished in a spiraling cloud of gritty reiatsu. Kei half-turned askance, strands of hair billowing across her face.

The shadow of a gigantic form towered over her.

"Interesting form." Kei remarked, tilting her head up at the huge wart-hog like body. She leapt back as his heavy fist descended, creating a large depression in the ground. Flinging Getsu-ten's sheath aside, she cut the air gracefully in a half circle, "I almost feel bad doing this to you. You're just lost..._afraid_."

His brown eye widened, tusks gnashing. "I don't want your pity!"

She blocked his anger-filled strike with her unreleased blade, shoving him back with only a half-heartedness. "It's not pity. I have no mercy within me to spare for you." Tesla stumbled a few steps back, her sword lanced across his chest, crimson splashed the ground in spattering drops.

He howled in pain.

She was aware of Inoue's large frightened eyes.

_This'll be over soon...we'll be on our way back to Assiah...the hardest part will be to make Ichigo see reason_. Her thoughts drifted over the next stage of her plan. She simply evaded Tesla's attack, dealing him a shallow slice across the arm. _Kagami would probably still insist Ichigo wasn't necessary_. She frowned, being clipped in the shoulder.

_But, he_-

Her senses were told her something was wrong.

Inoue was looking toward the palace, toward Ichigo. But, that wasn't strange. As Kei began to tire of endless blocks and slices, she changed her stance, switching to the upraised Rokuren, her gaze sliding to Inoue's whitened face unaccountably.

The human looked dazed, stunned more beneath the coating of blood.

"Kuro-"

_What did her eyes widen so at?_

Kei completed the first strike, half-pivoting about unable to stop her eyes from going to the far wall where Ichigo stood watching the battle. The shadows moved behind him taking the form of a slender black-haired Arrancar.

Her heart skipped a beat then clenched almost painfully in her chest.

A pale white hand exploded through his tattered black-clad chest.

Missing his heart, aiming for the blackness of unconsciousness.

"KUROSAKI-KUN!" Inoue screamed.

Kei spun fully about, forgetting in that instant her opponent, dropping her guard for a single second and that was all it took for the huge fist to slam her to the ground. Inoue spun toward her, crying, "Kei-san!"

"St-Stay away!" she choked, a large hooved foot connected to her stomach, sending her ruthlessly skating across the sands. Kei gagged even harder, blood spewing from her lips. Blurrily, her gaze sought out the palace, glimpsing only a second of Ulquiorra's slender frame vanishing, grasping Ichigo by the arm.

_Why is this happening-?_

Tesla's massive frame obscured her sight. His hoof pounded down on her spine. Kei shut her eyes against the pain, willing herself not to scream in frustration. It was her gift of staying calm, a mirror of implacability that gained her the advantage in battle.

_Why was Aizen doing this? _

Nothing made sense. She had planned everything down to the last detail! Oblivious to Tesla's repeated attacks, she hung her head hiding her gritting teeth. _Two Taichous and their Fukutaichous were dead-! Her comrades had done what they were supposed to do- so why capture Ichigo now?_

No matter how far she probed Las Noches' interior, she felt nothing from Ichigo nor Ulquiorra. _It was as if...they had both vanished_. But she knew they were inside the massive compound..._why must my time be wasted with this?_

Her hand sought the hilt of her sword, grasping it in both hands. Strength surged into her joints, fingers, solidifying her connection to the weapon. The edge of the tang bit into her stomach as she twisted around under his foot, slashing upward silently, cleanly. The Fraccion never expected it. Kei watched the two halves of his body slide apart, his last gasp echoing in the air.

"Nnoitora-sama!"

She loosened her grasp on the hilt, her normal energy surging back into her energy centers. "My skills must be getting rusty. I should've been prepared to deal that strike in a second." Her hands felt numb from the fingers down to the elbow. Kei gripped them lightly then got to her feet, straightening her back out last as a ripple of pain traveled up her cracked spine.

"Dammit. Shouldn't have let him get the jump on me like that!" she growled, glancing over to Inoue's crumpled form. The girl had her fists in her eyes and was rubbing them frantically, tears streaming down her grimy face.

"Idiot! Get up!" Kei demanded harshly ignoring the hiccough of tears.

"K-Kei-san?"

"Get up now, I said!" She had never hated the girl more at that moment, blinking stupidly at her, tears still wet from reddening eyes. When Inoue didn't move, Kei let out a snarl of frustration and grabbed a hold of her arm, hauling her to her feet.

"Stop crying you fucking idiot! Ichigo's alive and we have to find him!"

"You-you really think so?" It was pathetic the look of hope glimmering in the girl's eyes.

"Yes! Now, c'mon!"

* * *

...The woman was worse off than he'd thought.

Drying blood streaked her face and clothes; there was a deep gash on her stomach and an even worse one across her back that had nearly cut her in two. _How had she managed to defeat Kenpachi? _ Gin wondered, dusting his hands off from turning her over. Yachiru Kusajishi lay in a puddle of her own blood beside the frozen boulder of the giant.

He started to regret detouring from his room to the woman's fading spirit pressure. _If he recalled correctly Taka-chan had said her name was...Zuka? Zoka?_ Annoyingly, he couldn't recall. Just that Takara had mentioned the woman a few times. _Yeah...something with a Z_. To his surprise, her sealed eyelids fluttered, a ripple of pain spread over her face. He figured it had something to do with her Zanpaku-to being unreleased. The ice was melting on her wounds and they were opening up.

"I-Ichimaru?" A sliver of brown gazed upward.

He propped his hands on his hips lightly, sleeves rolled up to prevent them from being stained. "You're Zoka, right? Kei-chan's Fukutaichou?"

"Zoe." The woman replied, though pained when she spoke. There was barely a trace of accent in her quiet voice. Gin tilted his head at her then down at the nearest wound and pondered what to do. He had a styptic kit on his person but something more than mild triage would be needed to heal the serious wounds. "Hey, can I move you, Zoe-san?"

In his experience certain wounds were fatal if the victim was jostled too much. The dark-skinned woman seemed to think for a minute at least he thought she had, for her eyes closed but never reopened.

"Zoe-san?" Gin prompted vocally, not liking to prod her with his sandal for that was a rude gesture. When the Fukutaichou didn't respond, he sighed. If only he was sure someone would let Takara know he had tried to help one of her friends/comrades then and only then would extra effort be worth it. He sighed again, his smile on the more chagrined side now.

He couldn't just leave her there after she'd seen him. Given the chance too that the woman (though highly doubtful) would make it back to the Juppongatana and tell Takara that Gin Ichimaru had left her out on the sands...well, things wouldn't be rosy.

With a shake of his silver bob, Gin knelt down and eased one arm under the Fukutaichou's flaccid one. "Heave ho..." he muttered, taking on more of her deadweight, torso lifting, head lolling against her chest. The woman was truly unconscious. Depending on the state of the Octava's lab, Gin thought he could take her there and dispose of his burden...

Sonido crackled close by. Surprised that anyone would rush there, he glanced up to see the familiar gangly gait and pink hair of the Espada. "Speak of the scientist! I'm definitely glad to see you!" For emphasis, Gin let the woman drop back to the sand in a heap. Szayel let his bundles drop as well, being a pair of dark-haired kids in various states of torn, dirty white uniforms.

"You could've hurt the patient more, Ichimaru-san." Szayel chided, looking rather peeved. Gin let out a small chuckle, an even bigger smile twitching on his lips. "Eh, well..it's nothing good ol' Szayelaporro-san can't fix, huh?"

"Zoe-san!" The apparent twins cried. He glanced over at them, seeing their fret and little fists shaking. Though he'd been present at the meeting when Kei-chan and Nanatsu-kun and the other sour-looking woman had discussed terms back in August, Gin hadn't been paying attention _much_. So he jerked a thumb at them, smilingly, "these two were at your place?"

"Yes...the Retsu twins." Szayel answered, his gaze slanting away. "They defeated a Taichou and Fukutaichou as I'm sure you know by now."

In fact Gin didn't know. Aizen had been too preoccupied on the Fire element to observe Zoe or the twins fight. Therefore, Gin was a little surprised. "They did?"

"Surprisingly yes. By the way why were you going to assist this woman?" The Octava sounded suspicious. "Did Aizen-sama command it?"

"No, actually." _I was supposed to go to my quarters and meditate on despotism_, he thought with a smile. "I uh thought you know it'd be nice...uh to help our allies and something like that."

"Okay. Then you can carry her back to what's left of my lab if you're so inclined to be nice..." Szayel broke off, a frown crossing his features. With a flip of pink hair, he halfturned to the other whom walked up. "Hmm, oh hello, Ulquiorra. Is there something you required?"

Gin stiffened at the sight of the green-eyed Arrancar. In particular the body he dropped casually on the sand and slipped pale hands in his pockets. "Yes. I have need of the bracelet used on Orihime Inoue. It was given back to your care as its maker."

"Ah, yes." Szayel brightened, digging around in one of his pockets and finally withdrawing a silver circle. Gin watched it pass into the pale hand of the Cuatro, his gaze flickering to Kurosaki lying inert to the world several feet away. _Kei-chan's looking for him...Kei-chan didn't expect this to happen._

In all the mixed up lies and wrong things he'd done, he felt a tiny surge of pity for the Elemental wherever she was in Las Noches. Kurosaki was right in front of him yet he could nothing about it unless...

"So, where are you taking Kurosaki Ichigo?" Szayel questioned with a penetrating look, the very same question Gin had been on the verge of asking. "He seems to be injured, do you want me to-"

"No, that isn't necessary." Ulquiorra affixed the subordinate with a cold stare. "Kurosaki has taken Orihime Inoue's place. There is no need to fix him of his injuries."

"Oh." It was rare to see confusion in the Octava's eyes yet Gin saw it then. As well as the answer he'd been seeking. Aizen had mentioned a tower. Ulquiorra indicated that Kurosaki-kun would be in Inoue-chan's place...so that could only mean the fifth tower in Las Noches complex. Gin felt Ulquiorra's impassive green eyes pass over him and smiled (happily) like always to disguise the thoughts under his mask.

Ulquiorra's gaze lifted from him (warningly) to the twins still hovering over Zoe-san. Again, Gin caught something, a strange something in the cold depths of the Arrancar's eyes. _What was it? Was it 'cause Zoe-san was Kei-chan's Fukutaichou?_ Then Gin dismissed it. _Why would Ulquiorra out of many years of being in Aizen's service finally notice something...count something as meaningful in Kei-chan?_

But, that wasn't the most important thing anyway.

"I will take my leave then." The Cuatro said quietly, retrieving his bundle now wearing the silver reiatsu-suppressing bracelet, _so Kei-chan couldn't find him with her senses_. The depth of Aizen's cunning was great, yet in this case, Gin felt little admiration and only sinking hopelessness for the elemental.

He knew where Kurosaki-kun was going to be kept.

But the question was..._how to get that information to Kei-chan?_

* * *

Kei thought briefly of questioning Grimmjow, but knew ultimately it would be worthless. The Espada had been out on the desert fighting them, not in a secret meeting with Aizen, so awakening him wouldn't be productive. She was only glad she'd reinforced the barrier around him.

"Are you sure you don't need to be healed, Kei-san?" For the fiftieth time it seemed since they'd entered the palace through the hole made during the battle, Inoue had kept asking the same question. Kei sought the grains of patience remaining in herself.

"I'm fine." Yes, her wounds hadn't been many above a few broken bones, cracked spine courtesy of Tesla, but even so they were only things that would slow an ordinary warrior, wounds that would need Unohana's care in the event that they couldn't be healed by themselves. Kei sighed, pausing on the upward tilt of the huge stone staircase. Inoue paused several steps down, eyes widening as the bloodstains vanished and torn uniform became whole again.

Kei shook her hair out of her face, finding a spare ribbon in her pocket to retie up her hair. "See? Now will you stop worrying?"

For herself, Inoue nodded hesitantly. Kei-san was truly powerful to heal and do amazing things like that...could she be even more powerful than Kurosaki-kun? Orihime had never thought before that anyone could possibly be stronger or more amazing than Kurosaki-kun.

Grey eyes turned up speculatively to the fair-haired Soul Reaper in black racing up the steps to the far arched doorway above them. Kei-san was different now. Intense, few smiles, with a hardness to her voice and movements. Orihime knew it was different than Kurosaki-kun's resolve. Even though her heart hurt (less) she begun to think Kei-san had maybe changed once Kurosaki-kun had been taken by Ulquiorra-kun. Orihime looked at the girl's slender back, slightly bent forward, hair bouncing with the pace of her step and sympathized with the pain Kei-san must've been feeling.

- _To not know whether your loved one is living or dying somewhere -!_

* * *

The girls were amusing.

Though he knew it was almost time to begin preparations for invasion, he would certainly miss the little drama playing out. A muffled voice interrupted his musings. A gurgling voice, unpleasant to most. Aizen however relaxed and bade the Arrancar to enter.

"What is it?" He sounded like an indulgent parent.

"Keiko..." The Arrancar rasped. "Keiko Hisakata...may I?"

He thought of what the Arrancar asked, surely it wouldn't do any harm to distract Yamamoto-san in such a way. Aizen propped his chin in his hand, watching the girls racing through one hallway after another, Kei alternately searching out for Kurosaki-kun's distinct reiatsu, it would disappear soon enough leaving them entirely lost.

_Besides_. He was aware of the strange note...the almost greed in the caressing way the Espada pronounced Yamamoto-san's name.

"Yes, entertain Ms. Yamamoto and Ms. Inoue for a while." He assented, knowing a little of the fire element's past from Kyokasuigetsu, he wondered how she would take to being coveted to the point of death by another?

* * *

The answer came to Gin after leaving Szayel. He could just manipulate the corridors from central command and lead Kei-chan and Orihime-chan to the fifth tower! He thought it was a failsafe plan. The room was peacefully empty, a check on the screens showed Aizen still in his quarters, various other Espadas milling about waiting for orders and there on the bottom left screen was Kei-chan and Orihime-chan, wandering about the upper floors of Las Noches.

Gin supposed Kei-chan had a superior sense of reiatsu-scanning as they'd avoided any direct confrontations so far with Exequias, Arrancar servants and the other Espadas in a manner that was fairly impressive. He quickly calculated the distance between them and the fifth tower, gauging the levels, judging them to be four floors and two miles of intersecting corridors away to reach their destination.

"Let's see..." Gin eyed the hallways they needed to pass through, his fingers fairly flying over the keys. The first of the dividing walls shifted upward, the side ones narrowed, form-fitting another space to connect to a staircase going down. Several Arrancar servants went scuttling away when the walls they were near shifted, nearly crushing them.

Gin chuckled quietly under his breath, the sound dying in his throat when the sharp edge of silver blade tapped his chin.

"What do you think you are doing, Gin?"

A fraction of his red eyes peeked upward to the top right screen where a motionless figure of Aizen sat.

_Kyoka...suigetsu_. He'd been tricked. Aizen truly was a dangerous man. "Eheheheh. Nothing, Aizen-sama. Just playing with the girls." Gin tried to hide behind an easy smile.

"Really? Then, look there to the central screen."

He did as instructed, seeing it was just a bridge, devoid of Arrancar.

Aizen was smiling too but not in a happy way. "Lead the girls there."

"Eh, but-"

"Gin, you did say you were just playing. Now, come on. Do it." The blade never moved. Only Aizen's tone was caressing, soft. Implying what awaited failure of the command not being carried out. Gin kept smiling, his fingers slower pressing the keys down to rearrange the corridors from Kei-chan and Orihime-chan's position to that of the central screen, a length of swing bridge high over the ground leading to a large doorway. _Why was it...familiar?_

Seconds later as Kei snapped something out at Inoue and raced toward the new staircase; he realized where he had been forced to lead them to.

"But, Aizen-sama, that's-"

"What is ever the matter, Gin?"

He turned slightly in his seat, catching the man's pleasant smile, it was like that of a viper ready to strike.

"N-Nothing, Aizen-sama." He felt a touch of fear then.

"Good. Now we must prepare for the invasion of Karakura town."

* * *

Twice she had to lessen her step. Normally she could've used Shinsoku to search the floors of Las Noches, instead she'd had to cut down to less than Shunpo to compensate for Inoue's slowness. By the second floor they'd searched, the human was breathing hard and showing clear signs of exertion.

Casting a deprecatory glance over the human, she thought of taking her to Unohana and continuing the search by herself. But, it was far between them and the fourth company Taichou, besides she wasn't even sure without punching a wall and circling the outer half, she could find a clear way out to their original entrance point. Kei pressed a hand to her forehead where a headache was forming. Las Noches was a confusing maze of hundreds of white high-ceilinged rooms. She'd had a clear fix on Ichigo's reiatsu on the floor below, started to head toward it only for it to cut off abruptly leaving no trace of where he had gone.

Tracing Ulquiorra was a second option, but she'd gone as far as taking them up one flight past a row of windows looking out over the dreary moonlit sky only to have his disappear completely off her senses as well. Inoue sat on the top step, trying to catch her breath. Kei looked at her then scowled suddenly, hating her uselessness.

She punched the wall hard, leaving a small dent in the stone.

Inoue flinched, twisting around, "Kei-san?"

Kei despised the stupid look on her face more and more. "You're so useless! You're just slowing me down!" Then she turned so she wouldn't see the girl's face crumple up. "I'm going to scout on ahead. Stay there!" She took off then, heading down the length of corridor and turning down the L found herself in an open doorway that lead down an expanse of swing bridge connecting their floor to a far tower.

Experimentally, she leaned out, her senses primed for any approaching Arrancar. Nothing...except..._there was someone_. There was a reiatsu in the tower, just one...stifled. But, vaguely familiar in the fuzziness she probed. Her hands fisted. Was it Ichigo? She couldn't be perfectly sure, but it was the first faintly solid lead they'd had since she'd lost Ulquiorra's reiatsu.

Touda's voice stopped her.

_'Something seems off here, wielder. Are you sure about going down there?' _

_**Why not? What if Ichigo's there?**_

_'But something...'_ the bird hesitated, an increasingly skeletal wing flapped for emphasis. _'Something just doesn't feel right, wielder. That tower...it makes my flesh crawl sensing the occupant inside. Not even I can tell you who it is.'_

_**Bird, you don't have flesh!**_ Kei scoffed silently, going back to Inoue.

_'I suppose that is true...hm.'_

She rolled her eyes discreetly, snapping her fingers to get the girl's attention. "Get up. I think I found us a new lead."

"Oh! So, you know where Ichigo-kun is?" Inoue hopped up to her feet. Kei frowned slightly, "I'm not sure yet. But, I think we might be closer anyway."

Touda became silent with their passage into the L-shaped corridor, together they stepped out onto the bridge, grey and violet eyes lifted toward the far doorway. "You're right, Kei-san. I do sense someone in that tower...but I'm not sure who it is." Inoue said softly. Kei took a deep breath, casting aside her trepidation, blaming it on the bird.

"Well, we won't know until we check it out, right?"

Inoue tried to be brave. "Right!"

She attempted to smile at the girl's effort, but her lips wouldn't curl past a grimace. Kei eventually moved slightly ahead, staying in the lead. While she was sure it wasn't an Espada, she didn't want to take any chances. The span of the bridge was long, the planks steady yet the rope ends still shook and quaked with their steps.

Disliking heights, Kei forced herself to keep moving.

_Slowly._

Until the bridge ended at a tiny step and the doorway loomed.

"I'll go in first, okay?"

Inoue nodded.

Kei crooked her arm back, fingers touching Getsu-ten's hilt over her shoulder. With her other hand, she pushed against the panel, it gave way suddenly, flooding a space of dark interior with illumination. She sensed the one inside withdraw deeper in the shadows. _Why?_ As Kei wondered it, she stepped in, her eyes sweeping the confines of the massive room running the entire length of the tower. The walls were columnades like the outside, supporting the high flat roof in shadow. Inoue entered behind her and looked around curiously.

"Did they get scared and leave?"

"I doubt it." Kei muttered, her senses told her to the left. She spun about accordingly, preparing to draw out Getsu-ten's blade. "What are you? A coward? Come on out where we can see you!" Her voice echoed and bounced along the resonant white stone. A taller, lithe figure in a white coat, the edges curved over a long white tunic and hakama stepped out. In place of a face, a large square sheet of white with tiny holes for air and sight sat.

_A masked Espada_...Kei's eyebrows drew together. _This is_...

"I don't like the brightness. Sorry if my inattention offended you, ladies." The man's voice issued from behind the mask. Suddenly Kei was sure she didn't want to see the face that belonged with it. Gloved hands reached up, clasping the edge and pulling it off.

Kaien Shiba grinned at her. "I'm especially sorry to Hisakata-san. I never wanted to offend you in particular." She sensed a meaning behind it, a peculiarness to his full sensual lips curved up in that smile. For a moment, Kei was simply stunned.

Inoue said it best, covering her mouth with a shaking hand, "Kei-san! What can be the meaning of this? This man...he looks exactly like Kurosaki-kun!"

-TBC

AN: Thanks for reading the next update will be on 10-21-2011

No flames!

Reviews loved


	90. United Front:Be my shield I your sword

_If love wasn't misery in a mask, I could have you_...

* * *

ShiKai CH.83: United Front: Be my shield I your sword

_The Noventa Espada..._

"You're Aaroniero Arruruerie!" Kei snapped, her senses coming back after Inoue's exclamation. The Espada's smile grew tauter, his hand courteously laid itself on his chest, a slight incline of his head polite.

"If you wish to be technical, then yes. I am the Noventa Espada of Aizen Sosuke's army." The blue eyes twinkled, "I hadn't a chance beforehand to ever say how pleasant it was meeting you again, Hisakata-san. But now, I-"

"Where's Ichigo?" Once she overcame her shock, Kei stalked forward threateningly. Her hand never leaving her sword. "Where has Ulquiorra taken him?"

Kaien smirked, shrugging almost comically. "How should I know? I don't even know who this Ichigo-kun is? Considering he's supposed to be as good-looking as me!" She glowered at his stupid act, charging forward suddenly, she grabbed a hold of his collar and shook him. "I know you know where that asshole's taken Ichigo! Now tell me! Where is he?" She breathed softly. Blue eyes searched her face, their look intense. It made her skin crawl. Slowly, he reached up, pressing his hands into her shoulders lightly, pushing her off. Kei stepped back, unafraid but still despising the way his touch lingered.

"Now, Hisakata-san. I'm sorry, but I'd like very much to help you...but I just don't know where Kurosaki Ichigo-kun is."

She pushed away his hands.

Inoue frowned, voice tentative. "Kei-san...I think he's telling the truth."

She didn't like the compressed feeling of claustrophobia present against her flesh. The room was huge, the space wide open but the feeling was there. Of something constantly pressing against her body. Was this what Touda meant about that feeling of the flesh-crawling?

"Alright then." She tried to shake it off, pretend every nerve in her body wasn't screaming for her to flee from the darkened palace. "We'll go back across the bridge and try another corridor." She began to walk away, "how's that sound?"

Inoue brightened slightly, "yeah! That's-"

Aaroniero- ne Kaien Shiba spoke behind her. "And just where do you think you're going?"

Kei turned around, bold as brass with courage she didn't feel. "To find Ichigo."

"Hmph. Thought so...what's he got that I don't?" He spread his arms wide. "I mean c'mon, Hisakata-san! Why don't you stay here for a while and catch up, hmm? How's that sound?" Kaien smiled winningly, a friendly grin that made him a popular Fukutaichou during life. Kei however broke out in chills beneath her black Shihakusho, glimpsing it.

"No, thanks. We have nothing to talk about, you and I."

* * *

She had forgotten the golden rule- or Kagami's rule, the one he had reminded her of when they had fought to prove their identities, of course then it had been Kosokuken's rapid sword that cut her not a mass of swarming tentacles.

"Kei-san!" Inoue cried in warning.

She felt the change in the air, half-turning, withdrawing her sword simultaneously to deal four swift strikes. Thick pieces of meat fell to the floor heavily, the appendages waved around his smiling figure. Kei skated back, swinging Getsu-ten over her head in a shining arc. "Inoue, get back! Get out of-" her words presaged the slamming of the door as the human girl spun toward it.

Inoue futility banged her fists on the thick panel, barely able to find the grooves of the door set in the wall. "We're locked in, Kei-san! What'll we do?"

Kaien answered her question before Kei could even formulate the words. "Do? Why, nothing, Orihime-chan. You see, both of you entered into my domain...and therefore neither of you are going to leave this place."

"Want to bet?" Kei swirled the air currents with the motion-flick of Getsu-ten's tip. The sword revolved faster than the eye could follow as she took the offensive, flash-stepping in a rapid multi-step. Kaien evaded her attack surprisingly gracefully, the tentacles vanishing into his back. Kei hid her grimace. He was more of a monster than she thought. _Was it truly not Kaien Shiba? _She swiped at his arm, meeting a slender unreleased blade in a clash of sparks.

It was hard to think that when his face, voice...persona was so much like the dead Fukutaichou's. Kei pulled back at the last second, still holding her sword in a defensive stance. "Just who are you really? Kaien Shiba or Aaroniero Arruruerie?"

He tilted his head at her in a manner that was..._familiar_. "That is for you to figure out, Hisakata-san." Kaien flash-stepped from her sight. Her eyes swept the shadows, searching for him. _Where_-

The air crackled behind her. For a split second, it happened once more. Her guard was down, she'd let the enemy get the drop on her. Kei had barely time to curse her stupidity before Kaien's voice sent fine chills to break out across her skin.

"Who is...this man behind the mask? Hmm, Hisakata-san?"

She twisted about, betraying her fear in the jerkiness of the move but had little time to regret her slip of composure. Getsu-ten's blade clove cleanly through the air where he had been, Kaien himself dancing back a few steps, Neji-bana's silver tang reflecting its master's smile.

Kei gritted her teeth, knowing he had seen it now. Her fear. Irrational though it was, he made her skin crawl, but it went beyond the facade of a monster he hid. She had faced many Hollows before, hideous, vile beasts like Ren's failed voracious eater of gluttony. _So, what was so different about the ninth Espada? _ She couldn't figure it out. Kaien watched her intently, a sudden shift from Inoue to the left, made his glance slide sideways.

The white fleshoid tentacles burst out lunging for the human a second later. Kei dove forward, her speed faster than them, Getsu-ten whistled sharply in six strikes, slicing apart the feelers. Kaien seemed not in the least displeased, clapping his gloved hands together quite happily.

"Excellent! I see your skills are as impressive as they were over a hundred years ago!"

Her eyes hardened. He was just playing with her, getting her to reveal her strengths little by little before becoming serious for the kill. Her grip tightened on her sword, her other hand wrapped around the scabbard slung over her shoulder. "Inoue, he's targeting you to get to me. When I move, follow my shadow." Kei murmured from the corner of her mouth. The orange-haired girl nodded, gulping nervously.

"O-Okay a-and, Kei-san?"

He was too far away to hear their whispers, but Kei knew it was only a matter of time before he chose to attack again. When it would come, she wanted to be ready.

"What is it?" she barely concealed her irritation. Maybe not so well for Inoue winced, creeping closer to her, falling into the place where her shadow would be. "I'm sorry for being a burden to you."

She thought of several responses which would've eased the guilt the human girl so obviously felt. But, Kei deep inside could only feel exasperation as she lowered her speed, synchronizing it to a wavering pattern. The butterfly effect was one of her least favorite as it allowed the enemy to clearly see her next move, despite it she counted on his falling for it and aiming for her blind spot behind her left shoulder, where Inoue was.

Kaien vanished with the speed of Sonido. Her eyes slanted to the left, sensing his sharp spiritual pressure pass by a hairsbreadth from her next step. "Get ready!" she called, clenching the scabbard and sword hilt. Inoue at the least second ducked down as she barked out, "Tsukisasu!" The sword became a shooting arc of glistening light, cutting through the empty darkness. Kei's eyes widened, "what?" She had a glimpse of Inoue's terror-filled eyes, mouth dropping open in a yell that never came.

Then, she knew.

No, realized... _you can read my every move like you know my mind...can't you, Kaien?_

His sword cut faster than she was able to correct her mistake.

A lock of fair hair flew through the darkness. Her eyes alone watched its descent. Frozen almost, she was trapped in a second of horror, an unremitting recollection of a blood-covered samurai, long chocolate brown hair and blood all around.

_'It's like that time too.' _ Touda said quietly, unhappily. _'That time in your second life...with Shukuchi.'_

Inoue was speechless behind her on the floor.

Kei saw him move back, felt the aberrance of his presence lessen with distance, watched as his fingers curled around the lock of cut hair, lifting it to his cheek in a caressing gesture.

_'He could've killed you.'_ Touda continued, _'but all he wanted was a lock of your hair.' _

She took half a step forward, her chest tight with suppressed fear. "_What_ are you?" Kei's voice was faint, evocative of all her beliefs suddenly vanishing in an instant leaving her floundering in an ocean of bitter memory. She was barely aware of Inoue's curious glance to her then back to the Espada as he suddenly laughed aloud, guffawing in great amusement.

"Who am I?" He lightly touched his chest for meaning. Blue eyes twinkled in malicious mockery. "Perhaps you should ask, who are _you_?"

"What do you mean?" She tried to force the challenging edge to her voice.

Kaien smirked, "are you ally of Soul Society, or enemy of the world?" He shrugged, "are you looking for absolution or retribution as the world burns to fiery ash?"

Kei was slowly coming back to herself. _Inoue!_ Her glance went quickly to the girl. _She can't be hearing this! _ The silver sword refracted a pure molten light, her stance changed. With one single-powered lance from Kosokuken. Almost sluggishly the energy tendrils snaked through her veins, flooding her fingertips with a resonant heaviness. Kei knew she had to end it fast. End it before Inoue realized anything, before the paradox could be shattered. She slid back into her old speed, vanishing from sight cleanly, angling the blade for a swift side cut. The form of Kaien Shiba smiled like he knew a secret no one else knew.

"Or are you Keiki, the one who sent her own brother to Hell?"

She heard though his voice was soft, meant for them alone. Through the silence of her speed, Getsu-ten whistled a siren's song of bloodlust. She had taught countless others how to wield a weapon expertly, precisely at that moment, her hands shook, her step faltered, her reaction a complex fuel of emotions. Kei regretted her burst of emotion, the suddenness of her attack surely doomed for failure with his anticipation of it. She had let loose Kosokuken a second too soon. She had been drawn in to fighting with her emotions. Kei sliced the air futilely, her eyes snapping around for his new position.

"Are you really trying to kill me?"

_Behind_.

"What's wrong? You looked shocked." his fingers curled around her chin, tilting it up to look him in the face. Kei saw herself reflected in the blue mirror-like pools. . .

* * *

...Tsukikage Castle...

Silence had lapsed between them out on the veranda.

While it was fairly pleasant, Kagami knew at any moment it could be broken. In the beginning he hadn't given it much thought, Toya's grudge had been a choice made on something he couldn't forgive for. Yet in that event, when they had learned whom it had been directed toward...Kazeatari had accused him (Kagami) of coldness, knowing Toya meant to someday destroy Shinji Hirako.

_My old friend_...

But, who was he to say that Toya's revenge was foolish? To stop their collision of fate out of some old sentiment? It had been infuriating that Kazeatari had never understood, Kei had a little, it being probably somewhere in her mind. That thought..._what if I'm forced to fight an old friend?_

He was sure she wouldn't want to come face to face with Lisa Yadomaru, after Aizen had so kindly assured them that the Vizards were very much alive. His thoughts turned to a certain blonde pig-tailed girl with a rude mouth and freckles.

_I don't want to fight...Hiyori_.

_She's the first one who cried for me._

"Something troubling you?" Karasu glimpsed distress.

"N-No. It's nothing." The lump in his throat was barely tolerable. Like the pain of a half-healed wound, it remained aching there in his esophagus trailing throbbing tendrils to the cold place where a faint organ beat tiny staccato beats. For the first time in a long time, he realized that he did in fact have a heart. Not just an apparatus that simulated, _pretended_ to be a heart in a tissue covering.

Kagami touched his chest lightly, switching hands with the empty mug as he did so.

_It hurt_.

_Interesting_.

Kanzaki glanced at him, brow furrowing. Like with many of the man's questions, Kagami preferred to cut him off.

"Hey, Karasu." _The sky was very blue_. "Do you ever wish the Quincy faction had won their war?" That, he knew hadn't been expected. Maybe it had been wrong, perceptible courses to the enemy or simply many mistakes when one couldn't afford any, but the Quincies had lost and been slaughtered to the barest minimum.

Kagami had little opinion on the matter himself save for a sort of gratitude toward the Shinigami.

The arrows of ether, hurt terribly after all.

Even unknowing of the questioner's thoughts, Kanzaki hesitated. The question was after all one that revolved around their present existence. He bit his lip when he got nervous which he did now (one thing that was similar to non-present Kei) crimson gaze slanting down to the grassy lawn spread out before them.

For a few minutes, silence again lapsed.

The eastern wind rustled and lifted strands of light blond, he didn't bother brushing them aside. His hair really was too long, past his chin already, longer in the back, just in waves.

"No." Kanzaki finally said.

"Why not?"

"'Cause then I wouldn't have met you three idiots."

"That's a harsh way of putting it." The strands of hair were in his eyes now, blurring the grey and green and blue sky into an amalgam of white-washed color.

"You're first with wasted intelligence." He said dully, glasses reflecting the graying sky. "You have the natural talent of being a leader of man but you pretend and say you're powerless. I have never seen you sustain an injury that was life-threatening. Why weren't you our leader?"

..._because I would __**never**__ let myself get hurt that badly, idiot_.

"Then, Kazeatari with her devil may care attitude. An abrasive nature to hide the sensitivity inside. She has the solid support of the warriors whom would lay their lives down for her."

"And...Keiko." That note he caught. Faint. Almost like a breath and a sob in one.

Almost stunned, he half turned to the other. "Karasu-? Are you-"

"She could never be...what I wanted her to be."

* * *

...Las Noches...

The box was tiny, innocuous-looking. Gin turned it over in his hands

_Why did it feel like betrayal to retrieve it for the man who thought himself God?_

Gin smiled when he handed it to Aizen, that advanced communications transmitter Taka-chan had entrusted him with. That day along with her innocent smile seemed so far away, he couldn't reach out and touch it anymore.

"Are you with me, Gin?"

He thought his emotions were perfectly masked.

The glow from Tosen's kido spell flooded their faces with light.

"Of course, Aizen-sama. I'll always be behind you." _Figuratively_.

Aizen slid Hakuya- that strange almost malevolent blade through his crimson sash, the scabbard fit perfectly against Kyokasuigetsu. Gin wondered about it...could his bankai stand up to the _White Night_? He had seen the bare tang once. Somehow even though it was indescribable, he felt there was something inherently _wrong_ with it.

The feeling came back strongly when a whimper echoed in the room.

Gin looked sharply to Tosen then to Aizen, his smile on the verge of cracking.

"What was-"

"_That_, Gin?" Aizen lightly touched the hilt of the horned sword, a gesture one might use to quell a child's fears. He realized then that the sound came from the scabbard, a most innocuous thing it was, soft sobs that filled him with skin-crawling horror.

He tried not to show it_; what kind of weapon did Nanatsu-kun make?_

Then, because he couldn't help it. "I thought that thing was soulless?"

A pause, slight hesitation then a faint smile so tiny Gin thought he had simply imagined it, for it lacked the fundamentals of cunning and malice. It was a look he had seen Aizen give to Nanatsu-kun. He looked almost...like a normal man.

"A soul, yes. It lacks that. But it is not deficient in the most important thing."

Tosen approached, "my Lord, it is ready."

Again that smile.

Why did Gin feel pity when he glimpsed it? _And what did...he mean?_

"Assemble the Espadas, numbers one through three."

"Yes, Aizen-sama." Tosen said perfunctorily, motions spare as he left the room. Gin hovered in the shadows, confusion in his soul as Aizen turned away, activating the Kido. Another breath, another trickle of sand into the hourglass counting down to the end and he spoke.

"Greetings, Shinigami of Soul Society, Soul Reapers of the Juppongatana. Esteemed interlopers as well, please lend me your ears..."

* * *

...Tsukikage Castle...

Kagami stiffened, he had been waiting for this moment it seemed for almost two hundred years. Yet it wasn't as he had imagined it.

He was standing with a stocky-built man in black over grey, a Quincy no less, on a long veranda outside a stone castle.

He wasn't beside Sosuke when he should've been, in white, in even whiter palace.

The reflection pained him somewhat.

* * *

...Las Noches...

"You have vanquished a few of my dear Espada, one after another. You have my utmost veneration. But from this point forward, all our aggression shall be focused on the incursion in the mortal world."

Kei's eyes widened minutely.

_Aizen-!_

Inoue covered her mouth with her hands.

Kaien smiled.

"Ms. Inoue's services are no longer required by myself and therefore no further attempt will be made to negate Ms. Yamamoto's success. We have another more...worthy replacement in her stead."

* * *

...Soul Society...

The voice echoed across the walled city.

Old anger lanced through Yamamoto's aged frame.

_Aizen's arrogance knew no bounds_.

A smothered laugh. "I'm sure the pencil pushing Bureaucrats in Soul Society were well aware of the implications of her special skills...that was the reason for my kidnapping of her. Ms. Yamamoto as well possesses talents that are beyond _magnificent_."

Sasakibe looked grim.

The Sotaichou banged his cane on the floor. "He calls her a superlative being when Keiko Yamamoto is nothing more than a monster?"

Ukitake heard the old man's rage from the other side of the door, his own sympathy growing. Aizen for all his cruelty had found something in the hated fire element, something like fascination, awe. As it should be. It was increasingly sad to him to see an enemy give praise when the one who was like blood to her demeaned her as something hideous.

He turned away from the door to Division one's office, reaching into his sleeve to withdraw a small scroll detailing Kurotsuchi's last report to the Research and Development Division before had had vanished in Hueco Mundo. It was meant to be passed into Yamamoto's hands.

Jushiro glanced at the broken seal, knowing he shouldn't have looked, should not have read it until the formal disclosure came from Yamamoto himself to the Thirteen Court Guards. But instinct had bidded that step. The parchment weighed heavily in his hands. _Murasaki_...

Aizen's voice droned on.

Light brown eyes shut tightly.

He crumpled up the scroll and walked away to begin preparations in his Division for their eventual leave-taking.

_Murasaki was just...confused_.

_He knew-! Just knew that deep down her heart wasn't bad_.

* * *

...Las Noches...

_Why...why is he going through such lengths?_

Her mind attempted repeatedly to rationalize Aizen's actions. He hadn't a need to enter the living world and create the Oken. Not with Hakuya...unless he means to destroy the Shinigami- it made sense in a distorted way. The man was a boaster, a showoff of his achievements. Despite the ease in which he could have had the throne, he still wished to take lives.

Kei barely avoided the lash of the tentacles.

Kaien smirked, knowing he had her on the defensive. Seeing it, made her blood boil, her grip on the hilt unsteady. Her next strike was terrible, compressed air whistling sharply lancing the ground in a jagged crack. Kei pulled back at the last second, too late he had seen his opening and went for it, slicing across her side with ease.

She didn't see it.

Only the wet shine of blood droplets splattering the floor and the sting that made her eyes water, a pain-filled sound muting in her throat. They were at opposite sides of the room now. She closer to the eastern wall of ribbed columnades, he closer to the sealed door, Neji-bana dripping blood to the pristine floor.

_Why was he so hard to take down?_

Tesla had been a matter of anger, a moment of distraction and she'd sustained injury when she shouldn't have. Nnoitora the same. Nnoitora and Grimmjow had been just a bit of play, knowing she could end it whenever things got boring. But, this...

She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.

_Why couldn't she get a grip on her emotions?_

Why was it everytime she was forced to look at him (at his face) she saw Ichigo overlaid over the Espada's smirking face?

"What's a matter? You look troubled, Hisakata-san. What happened to all your assurances...your assumptions that you could end this quickly?"

"Sh-Shut up!" Kei snapped, angry once again that he'd seen through her thoughts. Was her face so easy to read? What was it that enabled him to gauge her next move with ease, be able to counter it all without releasing Neji-bana? Was that it? She needed to use Gessekai to defeat him? Kei glanced askance at the blade tilted in her hand. Its surface gleamed beautifully, cleanly without a droplet of crimson staining it. Making a sudden decision, she twisted Getsu-ten clockwise, feeling the air currents respond to the vibration of her energy.

"Fifth Phase-"

He started moving.

She should've known he'd respond.

"-Gessekai!"

"Rankle the seas and Heavens, Neji-bana!"

Inoue gasped, throwing up a shield over herself as the two discordant energies clashed. Water and Fire. Kei felt momentary pity for not giving prior warning to the girl but shook it off. The Espada stepped forward from the watery mist flowing from the long silver trident poised for the kill.

"Impressive, eh?" Kaien grinned flashing those even too perfect teeth, striking a hero pose.

Kei rolled her eyes, "please..." his arrogance was starting to become irritating. Perhaps she'd been overtired, thinking there was more to it then there was. The chain clinked softly, musically in agreement. She grasped one end, twirling it in a silver arc. The trident had a long reach, the tines especially were dangerous yet once they were deflected, an opening could be gained.

Or so she believed in the first few minutes.

She moved faster than before, almost too easily evading his predictable sweep-stab, Gessekai's chain moved with her, a silent flow of delicate sharp metal curving up from the floor then around, slicing through fabric, skin until she revolved the blade in her hand to point downward at his throat.

Kei expected to feel triumph, relief at the victory she had so easily won. So why was he still smiling that damnable smile? Why was there a stinging, ripping pain breaking through her ribcage then out through her back?

It was getting harder to breathe.

She exhaled out noisily, blood mist flying from her lips outward, spraying the front of his immaculate white breast.

"It's alright, Hisakata-san." Kaien said softly, reassuringly though bound by cutting moon chains.

"It won't hurt for very much longer."

She bit her lip, her heart racing uncomfortably fast. Kei's eyes refused to accept what they were seeing. How had this happened? She had been within inches of victory. A single second away from cutting him to pieces but why had she hesitated?

The tentacles lowered her to the ground.

They retracted from her chest, Kaien stepped out of the slack chains, standing over her, fingers gently grasping her chin to lead it upward. "I never stopped wondering why you didn't _stop_ that day. Didn't you feel what I felt?" Kaien's blue, blue eyes weren't the ones she wanted to see, not that twisted caricature of Ichigo's face. He was close now, so close that she could feel the vileness of the Hollow just beneath his skin.

_What was skin? Nothing but dead cells knitted together in layers over the general bone structure. But, a name was an identity. A name should never be stolen_.

Kei felt pity then for poor dead Kaien Shiba. But not enough for her to pity the monster who wore his face. "Don't touch me." She spat with as much venom as she could muster. His lips twisted downward in a scowl. "I see, Hisakata-san. So, that is how it must be then. If you will not stay here willingly then you will not leave at all." He said very seriously, waggling his finger in her face, "after all that's only _fair_."

The tentacles shot through her chest again.

* * *

Kei-san didn't move anymore.

Orihime knew it had something to do with those fleshy-things, those ugly things that came out of Noventa-san's back. Noventa-san seemed pleased enough for them to simply stab Kei-san through the chest and twist in clockwise spins, weltering sounds of breaking bone and tearing muscle- wet sounds, blood gushing past the white onto the floor.

Noventa-san asked, "where is your heart?"

Orihime couldn't stop watching. She was afraid, terribly so, but even in some deep dark corner where the darkness spread tainting her pink world, she wondered if Kei-san was in as much pain as Kurosaki-kun felt when she hurt him?

It was a mean thing to think.

A mean thing to wish.

But, Kei-san had made tears in Kurosaki-kun's eyes.

She had taken Kurosaki-kun's smile and made it disappear, wasn't Kei-san a bad person then? Orihime loved Kurosaki-kun's smile. She wanted to see it all day along and hear his kindly (rough) voice telling her to be careful and that he would always protect her.

Kei-san didn't want to be protected.

Rangiku-san had said Kei-san didn't love Kurosaki-kun. Orihime hadn't wanted to believe it when she'd said it, for then how would Kurosaki-kun feel? He'd be heartbroken! Orihime pressed her fists into her mouth, tears springing up already in sympathy for the supposed moment.

"It-it's not yours." Kei-san's voice broke through the bubble of Orihime's thoughts.

"Oh really now?" Noventa-san propped his hands on his hips. "Will it be mine if I rip it still beating out of your delightfully living chest?" At his words, thin ropey lengths of ...the only thing Orihime could imagine they were, guts, started falling out- being pulled out inch by gory inch. Kei-san began screaming, a wet gurgling sound.

Then, she realized it with a kind of simplicity.

Kei-san was in pain.

Excruciating, terrible pain.

_Kurosaki-kun would be in pain too. He loved Kei-san and would hurt...hurt so much if she were to die. Kei-san was everything to Kurosaki-kun and-and what if Kurosaki-kun would hate her and stop even calling her 'Inoue' if he knew she had been there and hadn't tried to help Kei-san? She couldn't bear that!_ Orihime felt the tears slide down her cheeks, her fists fell to her sides. She couldn't do much but maybe..._just maybe..Kurosaki-kun wouldn't hate her if she eased Kei-san's pain even just a little bit._

"Koten Zanshun!" Her hairclips flew forward, Shun-ou providing defense while a black-winged one struck out toward the Espada. With a frown, he simply swatted the fairy aside, "what is this- gnat?" Then he scowled good-naturedly at her, waggling his finger, "you settle down now, Inoue-chan. I'll deal-"

Then something happened then. Tsubaki hit the wall, a minute crack splitting apart the stone. From there light filtered in. Splashing the dark confines with illumination. Noventa-san cried aloud, jerking away from the light. Orihime saw her chance then, darting forward and dropping down at Kei-san's side, she wasn't sure what to reject first. The gaping stomach wounds or the writhing tentacles still protruding from Kei-san's front? As her hands fluttered nervously, Kei-san lifted her chin and blinked dazedly, "I-Inoue?"

"Y-Yes!"

Kei-san might've smiled, grabbing her tightly about the arm, a silver sword flashed a moment later, slicing apart the tentacles.

* * *

The girl was overly jittery. Not that Kei could blame her _much_. The Noventa made _her_ skin crawl. Grasping Getsu-ten and slicing away at the binds, she pulled Inoue with her toward the crack in the wall. The girl instantly dropped to scoop up the damaged hairclip.

"Oh! Tsubaki-san, I'm sorry!"

Kei watched her narrowly from the corner of her eye. Though loath to admit it, the human had distracted him enough to let her gain a minor advantage. She speculatively eyed the wall then around to where he hid, chuckling quietly.

"You got me there, Hisakata-san. Why don't you come closer so that we can finish this rather than cower over yonder with Inoue-chan?"

A braggart as always. Kei felt her skin fuse together, the pain easing. She swung her sword casually sideways, tossing off a smile. "Who's a coward, Shiba? I'm right here. Come and claim the heart I won't give you."

She glimpsed his amusement fade and with that, a plan began to take form in her mind.

"Inoue...do you trust me?"

"Y-Ye-"

"No! Think hard on it." Kei instructed, her eyes darting around, taking in the main pillars which held up the roof. She quickly calculated how many strokes would have to fall in order to unbalance the whole structure. _Six maybe seven_...

Inoue went on a bit stronger, "yes. I do."

Kei gave her a quick smile, taking a slightly deep breath before going on. "You have to trust me absolutely on this. No tears, just do everything I tell you to do, got it?"

Inoue nodded, snapping her hairclip back in her hair.

She extended her hand. "When the time comes, put up a shield over Aaroniero."

* * *

She took Kei-san's hand firmly.

Orihime didn't ask why.

She chose to trust her._ Implicitly_.

* * *

Kei channeled the majority of her energy into her legs, the rest flooded her left arm. She grasped Inoue's thin fingers lightly then tighter with a mild squeeze, the next second they were moving. The torpor of air currents pressed against them at all sides, Kei cut through them however, Gessekai's elegant shadow cutting a swath through the compression, cleaving through the first pillar with an ear-shattering crash.

Kaien's roar echoed hollowly around them.

The next breath, she evaded the lunge of the thick white appendages, flicking her wrist in six rapid motions, cutting the writhing things to pieces. Blood sprayed the floor along with his howl of pain. Inoue threaded her fingers tighter, gripping almost painfully. Kei allowed the girl that much, phasing across the floor to a row of three, slashing them diagonally, powerfully one-handed. Crashing sounds came from all around them now, dust and debris choked the air.

Kei skimmed the limits of her speed, vanishing faster than the lash of Neji-bana, laying the final column bare with the x-shaped path of Goko-Juji. Then as the ceiling begun coming down around them, she glimpsed the Espada racing through the crumbling wreckage, desperate to find darkness to hide in.

One step.

One breath. She spun toward Inoue, barking, "now!"

The human girl's command was lost in the roar of the falling building. A golden shield erupted over the burning Espada. _A respite from a moment's death_. Kei shot a glance over to it to make sure her plan had worked then revolved her wrist, slashing apart the nearest debris, clearing a path for them. Inoue's hand was sweaty, clingy as they free-fell through the dimension warps. Before striking the ground, she twisted the currents around the shining blade, angling them sideways, skating sharply to a stop.

The last chunk of stone skittered to an ashen crevice, silence fell over everything.

Kei felt the dust settle over her, into her hair and felt more of it sift off her heart.

"Break it." She said tonelessly.

The glowing golden shield shattered to reveal an oblong glass tank and two floating skull heads screaming inside. "You bitch! You fucking bitches!" Bubbles streamed from the razor-teeth lined jaws. "We-almost-had-our-meal!" Before her eyes its body started to decompose, wither, flatten, the fluids drain away. Leaving Inoue, Kei strode up to the dying Espada, her sword poised for the final puncture to the glass tank.

"So...you are simply a monster behind the mask."

The skull marked with a black nine thudded against the glass, glaring up at her feebly. "No." It rasped. "It was that fool..Shi..ba! He-"

"Don't lie to me!" Kei spat, her rage pulsing shockwaves of heat down Gessekai's gleaming tang. "Kaien's dead! He's been dead for over fifty years!"

Incredibly the first head begun to laugh, a horrible gurgling sound of mirth.

Her eyes narrowed, she plunged the blade straight through the glass surface, snapping. "Go to Hell and rot there! Maouen!" Black and blue flames poured from the tang, incinerating the remains of the Espada in a cloud of billowing ashes. Inoue picked her way through the rubble, hands clasped to her chest. "Kei-san..."

Kei turned to address her, turning away from the charred creature, forgetting in that instant the nightmare she'd been reliving over again in the fallen tower.

"Ino-" as she spoke, it seemed a fainter voice, a familiar voice whispered on the wind.

_"Kei..ki."_

In the depths of memory, it lingered. Recollection. Dissonance. Knowing. She half-spun back, searching the ruined tower and courtyard for the source, only half recognizing the voice as the one who'd called out to her a hundred years before.

Kaien...Shiba? Though it was useless to ask, pointless to search for the blue-eyed man with a chip on his shoulder and a grin for the world, she still did not understand the echo.

_Why was it...so painfully familiar? _

She was on the verge of knowing, remembering who had spoken her name like that when Inoue whom had been studying her curiously for the previous minutes, prompted carefully, "Kei-san? What's wrong?"

Kei came back to herself with a frown. "Sorry, it's just I thought I..did you hear something-? A few minutes ago?"

Luminous grey eyes widened and a frown touched Inoue's grimy face. "No, at least I don't think so. Why? Did you hear something?"

Kei shook her head slightly, "nah. Just forget it. It was probably nothing. Anyway, I wanted to say...thanks." Why was it so difficult to get those few words out? She dispelled Getsu-ten's shikai, sliding it back in the sheath over her shoulder, extending her free hand to the girl almost hesitantly.

"Your intervention back there, probably saved my life."

The girl turned pink and became very flustered, "oh no, Kei-san! You're the one who did it all now- I-I mean you kept me safe and stuff..."

"Alright...we'll call it even then. Inoue, I've been thinking perhaps the answer's been there all along..."

"Wha-what do you mean?"

"Aizen said it himself...Ichigo has taken your place...he's in the Fifth tower."

-TBC

AN: Urgh. I slogged through this chapter... ;.;

No flames!

Reviews loved :D


	91. You and Me

_Look at what love gave us_

* * *

ShiKai CH.84: You and Me

The pain in slumber was blinding. Relief should've come from black oblivion yet there was none, not for the raw, aching sensation. In darkness behind sealed lids, she thrashed out at shapes without form and more than once a voice she couldn't reach called out to her, pressing her ever onward.

Awakening, gasping then a cry welling up in the slim arch of her throat. Small hands flittered into sight, holding her fast down. "Lieutenant Elbe! Oh, thank goodness!" _Hana_. The blurry form of the girl turned toward another she couldn't see. "Szayel! She's awake!"

"I gathered that." Interposed a light male voice that she didn't recognize. "Now would you please leave the patient alone?"

"Whe-re-where is C-Capt-" She tried to speak.

Hana turned back to her, coming more into focus. "Somewhere in Las Noches complex." In typical Hana style, completely ignoring the Arrancar. Zoe let them push her back down, the rhythmic tap-tap of a hyperdermic needle coming from somewhere close by. She listened to their chatter- more Szayel Grantz complaining in a mild tone about Hana and Hana responding by occasional giggles or fits of seriousness. Kyou was the only one who stayed quiet, holding her hand when the needle went in.

"It's a restorative drug." Szayel explained a few minutes later, depressing the burning liquid into her veins. "It was developed mainly for use on treating injuries on beings with high amounts of spiritual pressure. I have no doubt that-"

"So, what's it _do_?" Hana asked, hovering into Zoe's line of sight, holding the antiseptic pad.

"It super speeds the healing process. Forcing cells to multiply at several times the normal rate to boost bone and tissue growth." The Espada responded brusquely, with a note of pride. "A subject with this woman's injuries wouldn't have-"

"It's Zoe Elbe." Hana corrected testily.

Over Zoe, the scientist exuded skepticism. "Does it matter?"

Hana looked and sounded scandalized- ergo, meant loud. "Of course it does! We're still allies!"

"We are?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Hana..." Kyou groaned, "please be quiet. You're making my head hurt."

Szayel managed to hold the female twin back from doing too much damage, or so Fourth's Lieutenant noted hazily, her thoughts driftingfrom the influx of the drug.

_So it's not over yet. _

_Captain Yamamoto, wherever you are, please be safe_.

* * *

"Um, Kei-san, I was wondering something."

They had been walking for some time. From Inoue's vague directions and the remaining pillars pointing accusing fingers to the moonlit sky, she guessed they were headed in the right direction. She decided to give a small allowance to curiosity and not snap rudely.

"What is it?"

Inoue was just behind her, twiddling thumbs nervously. "When you were fighting Noventa-san and Noventa-san asked you where your...heart was...I was just wondering." The girl's voice ended on a quieter note. "Where it is?"

She sighed as they rounded another corner, a flight of stairs coming into sight. "I should think it would be obvious." Another heavier exhalation followed on the heels of the previous one. She sensed them even as well-masked as they believed themselves to be. Another hindrance to destroy when she didn't feel quite feel like herself yet. "My heart is...with the one I _love_. He holds my heart in his hand though I'm sure he doesn't know it."

"Oh! That's so romantic!"

Kei didn't think they would attack the girl. She cut off her silly outburst, nodding ahead to the doorway far above. "Inoue, look familiar?"

The girl crept forward, eyes fixated on the light spilling out. "Hm..yeah, I think so! We must be getting close!"

Kei lightly pressed her arm around her middle, giving a slightly chagrined smile, "can you go on ahead? I need.. a few minutes."

"O-Okay! Just leave it to me!"

Inoue passed right by them. Kei knew she had gauged their intentions right as the girl passed the midway mark and all but hopped up the remaining steps. If she had gone first they would've sliced Inoue to pieces behind her.

_'Wielder, your insides aren't in proper alignment yet.' _Touda commented_. _

_**Tell me something...I don't know**_, Kei thought, taking the first step. As one it seemed, the skull-masked figures flashed into sight then adopted an execution formation descending all at once. She ripped the sword from its casing of chains from her back and set her sights on the central most Arrancar, one with the mask of a bull. Rudobon.

* * *

Kei-san sounded tired, almost out of breath when she spoke. Orihime felt a surge of renewed concern for the elemental yet knew by then that her efforts at help would be rebuffed. So, she went on ahead as asked, skipping up the steps trying to wear a brave, cheerful face knowing she would see Kurosaki-kun again and with Kei-san's help...somehow..somehow everything would be- her rosy-colored dream shattered with the sound of swords clashing behind her.

Orihime froze and pivoted about slowly, the split ends of her tunic top flared around her legs, her expression caught in startlement and lack of understanding. A fleet of Arrancars in white were slashing and cutting at Kei-san. In that moment she realized why she had told her to go on ahead.

Kei-san had been protecting her again! Useless tears sprung to her eyes that quickly changed to fear and a scream burbling up in her throat. Kei-san was holding her own with a calculated spareness to her moves. Each cut punctuated by a swift red kido blast designed to cover up the patches in her defense. Orihime was enraptured by minutes at the near flawlessness in which Kei-san executed a multitude of rapid sword techniques. Alternating between a heavy-handed chain lash and spinning sword stab- the horned leader whom she clashed with, phased across, gaining ground, fathomless black eye-holes darted down and cast a glance upon her tiny form on the stair landing.

Burning red light formed in his palm.

Orihime only halfway understood what was happening. A Cero-a Cero and-and Kei-san was distracted with several cuts across her legs and arms. On a deeper level Orihime knew without the voices of her hairclips whispering tendrils into her thoughts that the Cero was meant for her and would destroy her before she even got a chance to release her fairies. She wasn't that foolish. The executioner had a perfect aim, she could see it even as the red beam spliced through the half darkness- half light, charging the air toward her.

_She was going to - die - without - seeing - Kurosaki-kun_.

* * *

Just a few words couldn't erase the subtle feeling of debt. Kei didn't like to be beholden to anyone whom was non-Juppongatana. In the same breath as Ichigo's over-protectiveness, she despised the thought of letting someone she was beholden to, die in her sight.

She didn't like Orihime Inoue in particular.

But. The girl didn't deserve to be cero'd to death either.

Carefully, Kei gauged the distance, flooding energy to her legs at the same moment of motion, creating a ripple in the air. The irritating Exequias noticed the change in her stance and moved in for the kill, slashing at the empty air just narrowly skimming the trail of her reiatsu. Kei streaked down, almost parallel to the path of the cero. She set her sights on the target, Inoue was shrinking down, wide-eyed immobile. Kei had to silently applaud that understanding of bleakness in the face of power. The Exequias leader wasn't nowhere near the level of an Espada, however against a human's weakness, he was immeasurably strong.

Inoue knew there was nowhere to run.

No place for her pink happy world.

Kei landed less than fluidly. Her stance was off, her limp perceptible when she lunged for the girl, dropping Gessekai down the stairs. The cero was so close she could feel the electrical heat wafting over her in intense blasts. From the atmosphere itself she drew out the long two-bladed tachi. Maouen had never felt so comforting in her hand then at that moment.

"Shut your eyes." Kei ordered softly, hooking her arm around Inoue's waist, spinning about at the same second to face the cero's almost blinding light. "And count to ten. Don't open them until you've reached one." Even with those words, sweat was breaking out on her skin, the intense heat washed over them, fusing her uniform to her flesh.

Kei smiled inwardly. When was the last time she had called something so close? And she had Rudobon to thank for that. Gessekai clanged on the sixth step down. She mentally probed the distinct separation of the two swords, interchanging the light and the dark for the briefest of moments. "Kagennotsuki!" She barked out, flipping Maouen's narrower, smaller tip out with a flick of her wrist.

"Rekka Shin'en."

Pure white flame exploded in a funneling column, devouring the cero. Her eyes stung from the brilliance of the light. The dying screams of the Espada faded away to nothing. Finally as the light faded to a grayish tinge, she released Inoue, breathing hard but satisfied.

"Are you alright?"

The girl nodded wordlessly then fell back with a cry, "Kei-san! Look ou-!"

She should've known it wasn't over. The main execution force had been eradicated down to a sole figure in burnt white. Rudobon let loose a feral shriek, racing through the smoky atmosphere. He was close enough for her to catch the stench of charred hierro, feel the compressed air from his swing before she dealt a swift undercut severing his arm from his torso. "It would take more than you to defeat me." Kei spat coldly, the long tachi blade revolving in her hand. Rudobon's cracked mask shattered completely, exploding in a smatter of bone fragments and brain matter. Inoue swallowed the gorge rising in her throat. Kei unshaken, withdrew the blade, shaking the droplets of gore from the pristine surface. The leader of the Exequias slumped down, bloody fluids forming a puddle beneath Kei's sandals.

"Shall we be going?" Her eyes swept over Inoue's face. The girl was pale, close to shivering uncontrollably. She supposed she had been on the violent side, a trait that no one seemed to appreciate; the weak-minded human least of all. Without another word, she spun on her heel and left the carnage behind. Inoue snapped out of her dazed state long enough to chipper up, "wait for me!" and trot after her through the long catwalk. Kei slowed her pace to let the girl fall almost in-step with her.

The path extended over a far open space of huge tubular proportions. Below was a mixture of shifting shadow and darkness, ahead only the narrow track of grey. Their footsteps echoed hollowly, Kei attempted to keep her gaze fixated on the far archway yet inevitably her eyes strayed to the reaches of open space around her. While she'd have preferred utilizing her speed to cross the distance, because of before she was rather worried about running into an ambush. Her thoughts ran in circles with that notion. It would be easy to traverse the length of the catwalk with Shinsoku...

"Um, Kei-san...is something wrong?" Inoue bumped into her. Kei started forward, a little irritated at herself. She'd been tuning everything out and had stopped walking. She gave herself a mental shake, reaching up a hand to rub at her forehead tiredly. "Sorry, it's just I...don't like heights very much. The openness, you know...bothers me."

"O-Oh! I see! Well, just look at it this way, if you don't think about it then you'll get through it faster!"

Kei sighed and forced a smile onto her lips. "Yeah, guess so." The human's simple logic never failed to exasperate her. How could she not think about it when the space was everywhere? The darkness of a fall preceded by horrific screams, the inevitable meet of earth shattering body, splintering bones- her eyes snapped open.

Her litany of terror ended.

She had sensed his - Ulquiorra's reiatsu.

She hadn't been wrong.

Ichigo _was_ ahead.

* * *

...Tsukikage Castle...

"Troops! It's time to move out!" All around Tsukikage various cries went up. Everyone knew what it meant. The war was beginning, Aizen had taken that final step. Swords were strapped on, offices shuttered and the mass of Tsukikage's residents moved out onto the lawn in somewhat orderly fashion.

Kagami glanced over the heads, mentally counting, stopping with a frown when he realized there was lacking an integral part of their tiny force. Breaking off from the main vanguard, he made his way up to the second division office where Kimiko knelt inside, hugging as he suspected) a large Venus Flytrap. Why it didn't eat her, he wasn't sure.

"Lieutenant Shimizu, you're expected up at the front. Best not to keep them waiting." It was his best commanding tone. It was like a game he had played with his seven sisters so long ago - a harmless children's game of war. He had been the ragtag patriot from the thirteen colonies, the girls Tories, their blood refused to play anything but loyal British. He remembered the feel of the rough stick in his hands clutched like a rifle - now a sword he slipped from the lacquered stand. Kimiko's sniffles more pronounced. "That's easy for you to say!"

He was surprised by the emotion in her voice.

"You're not like us..."

Kagami's motions stilled. The sword in his hand had weight to it, substance not like the bottomless feel beneath his feet. Like the floor had fallen away and with it any stability to his tiny existence. "What do you mean?" He asked it carefully, shaping the words slowly on his tongue before releasing them into the quiet still air of the office. It had been his refuge for one-hundred and twelve years suddenly it seemed confining. Just another cage to name what shouldn't exist.

"You and Keiko and Kazeatari...everyone knows they just act, they just pretend that we're all the same 'cause it's much easier that way."

He was hearing what she was saying, he just couldn't decide how it felt. How he should feel not why he could wear a smile and ignore the pain - _ah, yes the ubiquitous heart_. His realization on the terrace with Karasu had made him aware of its presence. Its unceasing, palpitating waves of hurt.

"Ah, so you're saying we shouldn't exist?" He asked smilingly. Like all who were confronted to the truth of what their words conveyed, the purple-haired Lieutenant stayed silent on the floor. He narrowly observed her bent head, tapping the Shichisei's scabbard against his palm, inches of shining blade were slowly revealed.

_Do you understand how much it hurts for someone you care about to say such a thing?_

Even if he spoke his thoughts it wouldn't change anything.

So, he kept his thin smile. The one he wore to the strangers that had once been his mother and sisters when he'd found them in the Rukon district. "Perhaps we are not the same." He said shortly, snapping the sword back together. Kimiko winced but didn't dare turn and face him. He smiled even broader at her cowardice, going over to the desk and selecting the thin sheath of the completed ninjato from among the paperwork littering the top. He flicked the sheath off neatly and grasped the longer strands of hair hanging around his face.

The blade's sharpness sliced through them cleanly.

Kagami cut them all until the strips hung jaggedly to his ears, a few fringing his eyes. When he was done, he resheathed the new weapon and stuck it in his sash making a mental note to give it to Toya later on. "I'm sorry," he said lightly, passing by her hunched over form on the way to the door. "I can't rectify how you've felt all these years...but you won't have to...suffer our presences for much longer." He had learned from Gin, the art of a smile to hide how one felt. It was irony at its highest.

But he couldn't bring himself to care.

* * *

The voices made Takara halt, her fist rising to knock on the door. She had wanted Kagami's opinion, his support on Toya. It was getting closer to the time of their leave-taking and he hadn't seen fit to report down to the office nor join the others out on the lawn. It was making her self-conscious, embarrassed even when multiple officers asked _where he was?_

She felt her cheeks hot and tried not to cry, balling her fists at her sides and walking past the grey clad figures milling out on the lawn. Deep in her heart Takara knew they meant well, there was no reason why - at least to them, that Toya Amakusa shouldn't be there giving the orders for Third, standing beside her strong and ready to guard her back. Takara felt strangely bereft, weaving through the trees to approach Second's office on the eastern side. She bit her lip constantly, absorbing the tiny shocks of pain into her system. It was better than crying her eyes out - better than dissolving from holding her own, standing on her own two feet and taking command. But she hesitated.

-"Perhaps we are not the same."

She wondered at what he and Kimiko were speaking of. Kazeatari had told her after being harried by Seijin Maru for the appropriate binding seals to implant on the gates, that Kagami had gone to find his Lieutenant. Maybe Toya hadn't been the only one to get cold feet at the thought of marching into war. Takara loathed it herself, missing Keiko's warm reassuring presence dearly.

Silence came from within. Takara still hesitated on interrupting the private conversation within. Then after a few minutes, five-she counted precisely like the ticking of a digital timer. Kagami's voice came again, closer along with footsteps as he moved toward the door. Instinctively Takara backed up, tightly suppressing her reiatsu.

"I'm sorry... I can't rectify how you've felt all these years...but you won't have to...suffer our presences for much longer."

Her heart lurched in her chest painfully. With seconds to spare, Takara forcefully phased from sight, rounding the corner of the small building to hide in the training grounds. Kagami walked through the trees, his gait easy. Takara waited until she sensed Kimiko stir inside.

A few minutes.

A rapid beat of an aching heart.

Takara flash-stepped before the ex noble and drew her hand sharply across the other's face. Stringy purple strands flew, red blossomed on freckled cheeks from too much sun. "You don't know what it's like to be them!" She spat, whirling on her heel before the other could recover. "You don't..." Takara dug her nails into her palms. "...know what it's like to be all alone in the world."

* * *

...Black tower...

Kage knew Toya barely noticed the windows. That light - hellish red light spilled in now dispelling the shadows. _His precious shadows_. Kage leaned against the lower curved stair rail, the hard edge biting into the middle of his back while he watched Toya rummage through a jumble of books at the base of the staircase.

Toya really was an idiot.

From a peek into Haretosora's playground, he'd seen the agitation born from his own idioticus wielder's absence. Takara _needed_ Toya. If only the idiot would see it.

Kage sighed, crossing his thin arms over his chest. The light slanted over his body, almost burning his shadowy form. "She's waiting, you know."

The dark mop of long fringe briefly glanced up.

"Yeah." Then he went back to digging.

"Then why don't you go and join her." Kage tried, tired of playing devil's advocate for revenge. Keiko wasn't with the Juppongatana group gathering outside Tsukikage and though he desperately preferred being able to see the elemental in sight, he would settle for guarding the wielder of the star sword knowing the elemental wouldn't be long in returning to them. He could sense Toya's answer even before it came.

"You know why."

"_I know why_." Kage repeated snidely right after him, a scowl twisting his mouth. Yes he knew why. What he didn't understand was why Toya insisted on doing everything alone instead of explaining his reasons for being stupid and asking for her help and that was the most infuriating. "I just don't get your stupidity."

"Kage." A long drawn out sigh of his partial name.

"Don't 'Kage' me." Snapped the sword irritably. "You're going to just go and get your fool neck cut and Taka-chan's going to be the same - alone and afraid and sad!"

The books Toya had stacked neatly, collapsed with resounding thuds everywhere. Toya's narrow shoulders heaved, he slammed the book in his hand down, clanging the edge of the metal first step. "It's my life! It's not hers- it's not anyone's but mine to do with as I please! I-"

"You're just stupid. I cannot believe I chose idiocy personified." Kage said with a haughty sniff. From the rumble quaking beneath his boots, a inner shaking from the core of black tower's connection to Toya's heart. His wielder's temper was fraying on the edges.

Fraying like so many different colored ties.

"You know what?" Toya's brown eyes flickered to the sword, jabbing his finger rudely in emphasis at him. "Just shut the fuck up! You're the one hindering me! You're the one who wanted me to join the Juppongatana!"

"Oh, so now it's the sword's fault, eh?" Kage responded, leaning forward on the rail, "when all I wanted was to carry out what she wanted - what Ilena would've wanted for both of us- to move on!" He yelled it, unable to disguise his growing frustration. "Not to wallow in our shit and petty revenges!"

Toya winced at the tone he had rarely heard the sword use. "Don't-.." he hated hearing it even then. Spoken so easily as if it didn't drive spikes into his rapidly beating heart. "...say her name to me!"

Kage smirked at his newfound ammunition. "Ilena Sumeragi. Ilena Sumeragi! Ilena Sumeragi the woman you loved!"

"_Shut up_!" Toya screeched, his face screwed up in anguish. His pain echoed throughout the cylindrical tower. Kage ceased for a moment, leaning forward on his thin arms, unhappy at the route he'd been forced to take.

"It's all the same." Gloved hands fisted around the metal. "You leave now and Takara will suffer the same fate as Ilena."

"Don't you dare compare Takara to _her_." Toya said hotly, acidly.

Kage sniffed, forcing a stiff smile. "Oh that's right. You loved Ilena and didn't want her to die. But you _don't_ love Takara so you won't care when she dies."

Toya let out a strangled sob. One of anguish, pain, and resentment. Tears swam in his sparking eyes, his hair hung lank around his face, the ponytail tousled and loose. "And what about you?"

"What about moi?"

"You act and act all high and mighty but I know how no one wanted you! You're the same as Shoukyaku! Kanzaki told me how it was- one of them, a _**jakunen-to**_! How everyone in the sword pantheon can't stand you and how none of the new souls wanted to wield you until I like a stupid idiot came along!"

(_**lonely sword- loner sword**_)

Kage's misty lips compressed tighter.

"Well, you know what?" Toya snapped, "I wish you weren't my sword! Maybe then-"

Kage moved back from the railing. "So, that's how it is then." He chuckled quietly. "Well Toya Amakusa, how about this. Since you said you didn't want to wield me as a sword then what say you face Hirako with your natural kido talents? You wanted the kido spellbook, right? It's behind the chair where I left it, oh and the spell you wanted..." he turned on his boot heel. "The Sacrificial spell. Itte Kaso. It's page 301. Tell gramps and grandma I said Hi." With that he simply phased from sight, vanishing from the tower stair.

* * *

Toya had memorized the hand positions. Had it committed to memory, sitting on the edge of the bed in the quiet castle, he let the silence of the thick stone warmed by the sunshine outside, wrap around him. He cracked his joints, knitting his hands together.

_I'm going to...face him alone_. The prospect should've been frightening, wouldn't filled anyone else with fear. But all he could remember was the crackle of energy, the tight coarse feel of the jacket hugging his arms, flaying with the heat of the clashing energies. He remembered sweat and blood, soundless cries. Hirako's bared teeth, Hirako had never been a bad person at least Toya had liked to think so before that day. The man was a Taichou, respected, friends with almost everyone and above all _**just**_. Hirako believed in upholding justice, protecting the weak. But there in that quiet city block, he had destroyed it all with a single bitten off sentence.

Toya opened his eyes, burning with tears.

The sound of footsteps quietly echoed in the hallway outside.

Toya was barely aware of holding his breath.

The footsteps stopped just outside his door, a square of white was pushed beneath the gap between the panel and the floorboards. It was from Takara, he was sure of it. Toya waited until the footsteps died away, until he was positive she wasn't there, then he got up and dropped down by the door. _Sure enough it was addressed to him_.

The handwriting was strictly legible though he recognized a loopy curve that was styled too much after Keiko's hen-scratch. He pocketed the missive, straightening. A brief check of the energies outside confirmed his assumptions. Everyone had gathered on the lawn- everyone but him and the officers in Hueco Mundo.

Takara was Takara - a brave, strong girl.

Toya purposefully strapped on the useless katana, recognizing that the implicit link between he and him was _cold. Dull_. He exited his room, carrying a knapsack of items. He'd left the haori coat on the bed, folded in a neat pile. If Kagami overcame his apathy long enough to check, Toya was confident the elemental of water would understand the meaning.

_I'm leaving this...all behind_. The lump in his throat shouldn't have been there. The almost regret in passing through the old stone shouldn't have weighed his heart down. Toya increased his speed subtly, avoiding the main area and going directly to the southern ramparts looking out toward the distant canyons of the fire thorn valley.

Toya forced himself not to look back, mounting the top of the wall and jumping, flash-stepping in a zig-zag pattern across the land.

* * *

...Las Noches...

The minor disturbance outside had alerted him of their very real presence. He'd have been disappointed thusly had Keiko Yamamoto fallen to the weak Exequias. But as before she had proven herself and continued on after a ten minute skirmish he calculated carefully.

A subtle murmur displaced his thoughts.

Ulquiorra cast a cursory glance to Kurosaki Ichigo's prone form. The boy had never awoken since being moved to the fifth tower, never stir except to utter once a most peculiar name.

_"Angel..ique."_

The name had confounded him as to the person it denoted. Kurosaki did not call for the trash nor for the Elemental. He gave it minor thought, confused as to why some part of him attached importance to the name. _Who was this Angelique?_

He considered the knowledge he had on Kurosaki's background finding it didn't fit any of the known factors in the boy's life. Emerald eyes lifted from the boy to the sealed doorway. Sounds from the outer carried past the thick silencing walls. Ulquiorra put aside the name for later consideration and stepped forward as the door burst open in a hail of shards.

His scrutinizing eye passed over the pale face of the one bearing the sword aloft. Dried blood spatters stained her hair and skin, careful eyes swept the interior, past him to Kurosaki. Ulquiorra glimpsed a flicker of anger replace the weariness - no, he realized he had wrongly interpreted the emotion. Boredom. Annoyance. Then wariness as her glance slanted back to him. He found the tears in her torso quite interesting. The black outer bore several ripped gashes synonymous of stab wounds. He was impressed to see that there was no evidence of actual wounding.

Again her glance slanted to Kurosaki.

Somehow he didn't like that.

"I'm sure you understand your position," Ulquiorra began hands in pockets, gauging her stance. The Elemental had proceeded a few steps farther in but held the Inoue woman back with a gesture.

"You are...a threat to Aizen-sama's ambitions-"

"And yet here I stand." She said with a hint of defiance. He knew she was calculating how to distract him and snatch Kurosaki while guarding the human girl. It was a feat he silently dared her to try, locking a cold gaze with dispassionate violet.

"Perhaps." He carefully acceded once he was sure she had seen the error of attempting to ignore his skill and attempt a meaningless rescue. "However.." he had her attention now. Such svelte ability seemed almost indolent, wasted in the existence of the female. She was for all intensive purposes wasteful of her talents, refusing to crush her enemies down. He had power too. Strength, agility and knew a form of despair worse than death. Looking into the mocking eyes of pure violet, he knew then with a certainty that he wanted to show her that level of the fallen, that utter realization of meaningless.

He wanted to see her drown in total despair.

_And Kurosaki was the key_ -

"What do you want?" She wasn't foolish. Like with her play of emotions that he read easily so she discerned like no other, the coldly calculating set of his mind. Ulquiorra was beyond impressed. She was a worthy opponent.

"If you will let Ichigo and Inoue go unharmed...you can do whatever you want with me." The elemental said with a resoluteness to her tone. As if to prove her intentions, she flung aside her weapon, a dangerous kusari-gama type sword, the silvery links coiling in on themselves in the far reaches of the room. Inoue couldn't suppress her sob any longer, "don't, Kei-san! He'll-"

"It's alright, Inoue." She cut off the babble of the frantic human. A half glance to the side, showing the start of a faint smile. "See to Ichigo, please." Her preoccupation with the boy was evident as was her continued defiance. Inoue didn't look at him, nodding tearfully, lumbering by him to drop at the trash Kurosaki's side. The elemental walked forward, only stopping when she was within a short space, less than a foot away. She was so close he could see the crimson pinpricks streaking the violet. They were thin, narrow streaks denoting her calmness. _They were violet_...by why did he suddenly think of blue streaked the same?

The thought belonged to the idle, the inconsequential that hesitance he felt seeing himself reflected in her clear eyes. He slipped one hand from his pocket and wrapped it around her neck. The elemental revealed little distress with the gradual tightening of his slender almost bony digits. Ulquiorra had never initiated contact with the flesh of the elemental prior, never by will lifted his hand and touched her skin, now he realized it was very warm. Beneath his palm, her pulse echoed strong, evocative of the organ in her chest.

The steady violet eyes gazed without fear, without any emotion but a sedateness. Complacency he realized that came of sacrifice. Instead of despair, she was willing to give her life for the trash. This - disturbed him in a way that logic didn't understand. His fingers squeezed, clamping down on the passage of air. A tiny sound escaped. The sound of strangulation.

He felt like a God then. One unto himself with the power to destroy the apathetic _near_ God-like creature before him. Unlike with the lies of her life was perched atop like a tower of arrogance, in this she was contented to let stand. She made no motion to preserve her life. No begging, no words. Just that smile...

_That smile_.

It perched, tugging on thin yet curved lips. They held a hint of rosiness despite the lack of air being cut to the lungs. Lack of sardonic resurgence seemed to lend a different cast, a different mold to the tilt of the eyes, the tiny nose and smiling mouth.

It felt like an eternity.

It could've been a moment, a second since his hand had folded around that thin neck. He had meant something else, a preferred wound to the throat. A beautiful gaping hole severing arteries, pouring blood to stain that lovely pale flesh - it was almost enough for a thrill to race through his veins. For deadened senses to respond to the titillation.

That thought of a beautiful, bloodied corpse, the life draining from those blood-streaked eyes.

Then, he saw something - someone - else.

Ulquiorra's logical thought processes struggled to fathom the apparition, that loss of a smile and instead a sadness, a shadow cast to light like sapphire eyes. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be real - she couldn't - exist - then he was aware of it. That other sensation as strong as when he'd first heard Kurosaki speak that name. That name that suddenly seemed so right, impossibly, tauntingly like the swollen moon above the desert.

With the visage of the apparition flooding his sight, poisoning it like something existent. A feeling of a heart of meaningless unless witnessed therefore made real by his eyes. That face - those lips parted on the verge of speech - they were real. His eyes verified it as so. They were as real as the strange white trees dotting the desert beyond the walls of the palace.

With that acknowledgement of substance, the subtle pinprick of pain - Ulquiorra knew he had no wound, fatal or otherwise, spread like fire. A deep sort of burning, of gaping emptiness somewhere that infected his whole being.

He did not understand.

It hurt.

The woman flickered on the edges.

He did not understand why he didn't want that face to vanish. Not when he had acknowledged it - _her_ - as real.

He hurt.

It took moments, by degrees of pained realization with a second's breath for it to click why he wasn't reflected in those sapphire eyes. Why he the meaningless one wasn't made real by the glassy reflective quality of liquid blue pools.

Ulquiorra's hand slipped from her throat, the perfect imprint of five thin fingers stood out against the flesh. Angry red marks. Vibrant red like the color of Kurosaki's anger.

The boy was tardy as always, a blot in an otherwise flawless scene.

"Let her go." A low growl preceded by the protrusion of a black sword. It hurt less than that other pain - that unspeakable pain. Had Ulquiorra been less wordless to describe it, or had the means of a thought to process the sensation anything to liken it to, he'd have known what it was. That all-consuming bitter aching pain. A burning pain quite unlike the simple rendering of flesh, tearing of cloth and blood staining his previously immaculate white uniform.

He was analytical at the moment, eyes fixated on the gracefully crumpling form of the elemental. There was a sense of elegance, undeniable power still to every line of her thin form. He had never given much thought to the hand that wielded a sword nor the lips that spoke a command yet in that moment he could hear - the memories - rather than see with his eye, her long fight with Kurosaki in the same palace. It seemed an eternity and a breath away from that time.

She fell on her side and barely breathed.

Ulquiorra registered that she _breathed_.

With life.

Kurosaki's stab wound hurt. The boy's grip was unfaltering, rage burning like a stolid hateful aura against his back. "Murderer." The boy hissed. The syllables penetrated Ulquiorra's consciousness, an inherent sense of wrong.

_Did the boy not possess eyes?_

She breathed, didn't the trash see that?

"You- _fucking_ - murderer!" Kurosaki ground out, voice rising to a near shriek. Ulquiorra could conclude with a swiftness that punctuated his rapid gaining of ground, the sword left his torso, his own hand that still bore a trace of the warmth from her throat, wrapped around the cold teal green hilt of the sword at his waist.

With a snarl and a heartbeat later, Kurosaki launched himself after him; Ulquiorra swung out, catching the boy's strike with less force than he'd thought necessary. Then, his body began to inch, pressured to back up in a subtle battle of weight.

Ulquiorra's eyes widened a fraction.

The trash's amber orbs - glittered - possessed flecks of shimmery gold unlike a Hollow's feral yellow. They were cruel eyes. _They were - familiar?_ While his mind struggled to process the change in Kurosaki's demeanor, he was forced to append his previous decision of using little strength and countered in a rapid flick of sword play.

From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a white flash, Inoue knelt at the elemental's side as flawed a creature as ever. Kurosaki dealt a fierce slash to his shoulder in his distraction, blood sprayed the walls and floor they were fighting near. The pain forced him to refocus, to notice that crazed glint shining in the gold.

There was instability present there.

An unhinging of senses.

Despite his cold reasoning of the world around him, Ulquiorra pondered the thoughts he didn't know, possibly wouldn't understand going through Kurosaki's mind at that moment. "You are a fool." Ulquiorra chose his words with care. In a clipped tone, a brusqueness to relate facts. The boy's hotheadedness had finally manifested as something unstable. It lent strength to the next swing, an uppercut that whistled sharply inches from Ulquiorra's chest.

"Shut up!" Kurosaki snarled, "just shut the fuck up!" Then to accentuate the threat, the trash slipped through his defense. An instant of black blade then a burning track across his face. Ulquiorra felt the slithery wetness of fresh blood run in rivulets down his face, appraising the boy's shallow breaths and vivid anger flashing in gold-flecked eyes.

"Tell me, boy."

Surprise flickered in that intense _almost_ burning gaze.

"Who is... _Angelique_?"

* * *

-TBC

AN: This chapter wasn't so bad (didn't slog through it) just got lazy to connect everything together. It was particularly fun writing Ulquiorra's view :3 and there is a reason Ichigo called Ulquiorra a _murderer_.

No flames!

Reviews loved~ )


	92. Me with:out You

_I'm with you,  
Whenever you tell,  
My story,  
For I am all you've done_

* * *

ShiKai CH.85: Me with-out you

"What the hell are you talking about?" As predicted the trash's infamous temper imploded in a hail of clattering soul cutters. Ulquiorra gazed at him impassively over the crossing of their blades. Kurosaki pressed on harder with his weight, teeth almost grating together, in that state he should've been easy to get an opening in or be forced to truly fight.

The latter wasn't much of an appealing option. He had no desire to waste energy combating the weak Kurosaki - besides. Gold flecked eyes caught the slant of his to the far reaches of the cavernous room. Inoue was trying unsuccessfully to coax the Elemental awake.

"Perhaps I shall question the Elemental _further_ on this matter." He pronounced in an even, quiet tone. A shower of sparks and the skating of his heels echoed. The wall shattered with the force of Kurosaki's strafe. Ulquiorra hid his surprise well. It was then that he noticed the wounds the boy had sustained previously were smooth unmarked skin. How had he healed? It was impossible to think that in the space of a few minutes that the Inoue woman had gone to the trash's side, she could've rejected time so fast - and silently. Ulquiorra landed on the narrow catwalk, his eyes lazily ranging in over the boy's torn shihakusho...it seemed to be restoring itself?

That also should've been impossible.

The aura around him steadily increased in size and strength.

The boy's reiatsu was almost at full strength, it was being restored as well.

How? His mind went over several possibilities while the trash ranted on over inane things. He had little _true_ interest in the elemental, however great her powers were claimed to be. Ulquiorra changed his stance, sliding into a defensive posture. He decided to cut off the boy's tirade, tired of hearing it. "Kurosaki, listen carefully. You may take the Inoue woman and leave this place with your life-" Kurosaki stopped speaking, the expression on his face denoted disbelief. Ulquiorra allowed him that, emerald eyes flicking back over his shoulder for meaning. "However, the elemental of fire remains. Her life was forfeited for yours. Do not attempt to reclaim her."

The boy bared his teeth, stabbing the air toward him in an overtly threatening manner. "Or what? Will that give you a reason to fight me if I refuse?"

Though he lacked the orders to do so, Ulquiorra was aware of the hesitation in his being to _relinquish_ the elemental. He had not forgotten that apparition of reality nor the fact that it- she was somehow connected to the elemental of fire. He could not rationalize his behavior during those few moments nor seem to dismiss it easily from his mind. Emerald eyes gauged Kurosaki's stance, he wished to have the time to analyze every second of that scene. With the trash riled up as he was and as obdurate as to not simply walk away from the elemental, he knew had little choice but to accept a battle as inevitable.

"Perhaps you did not hear me quite right the first time. Leave now and never return to this place."

"Like Hell!" The trash Kurosaki fired back defiantly, twisting his sword around in a stance Ulquiorra recognized. Black whorls of energy coursed down the length of black shaded silver.

"That attack has been proved useless against me." He stated, watching with faint surprise as the energy stayed wrapped around the blade, whistling cleanly through the air as Kurosaki charged at him yet again. _Speed backed by an enhanced swing_, he thought, simply evading the blistering slice. It was mildly impressive but not enough to countenance their differences in strength.

With that thought in mind, he missed the ripple in the boy's face.

The scowl flicker into a smile, then as some inner struggle asserted itself in the boy's mind, a mixture of both. It was this warped caricature of a frown-smile that met his gaze when he refocused upon his opponent.

"What are you waiting for?"

He noted the peculiarness in the boy's voice.

It was almost hollow, echoing.

Almost like two voices were speaking at the same time.

* * *

"Alright, bird. Where are we?"

"Search me." Retorted the skeletal winged bird from the sagging window sill. The glass which once must've been ornate, had melted into a discolored mass, jagged ends still hung from the corners, their tips warped. Touda shuffled uneasily, almost teetering at the last second when the rotted wood gave way. Kei made a face at the discordant crash. Touda hopped to the floor beside her, wings twitching nervously, clawed feet leaving three-toed tracks in the thick velvety dust.

"I'd say, wielder, it looks familiar. I'm just not sure why it looks this way."

"Speak more clearly." Kei snapped, irritated.

One bright blue flame eye watched her narrowly, not wanting to see the reaction evoked by the name. "...if you insist. ...Lemarchand house in the quarter of Rue de Auseil."

To her credit, only a brief flicker of something, a distant undefined emotion passed over her face. Touda whom was excellent at picking apart her moods and thought fragments, found that it fit into too many different shades. If the bird had to select one, it would've been three quarters _fear_.

"How do you know that?"

A wingtip pointed to the thick half pane of old glass in one of the bottom corners of the dilapidated window. "You scratched your name into the pane with your mother's wedding ring when you were seven."

She looked momentarily startled then, wordlessly, she wandered to the window and dropped down to a crouch, peering at the rippled glass. Touda knew what she would see. Kei seemed unable to stop herself from tracing a fingertip over the _two names_.

"Angelique...and Alexandre." She murmured, though her back was to the bird, Touda could still sense the underlying sadness in her quiet tone. "Wielder-" Touda began, feeling the shift in the air before fragments of crown molding flew upward. Jerking back, It flapped its wings, hopping in a complete circle taking in the sight of the rumbling, creaking noises erupting all over the old shell.

It was as if whatever spell the derelict hulk had lain under had been broken by Kei's voice. The elemental herself spun up from the crouch, reaching for Getsu-ten over her shoulder, an almost useless gesture of wariness as the room reformed around them. Touda hopped about anxiously, almost getting bowled over by a piece of flying sill. Kei evaded its arcing path, ducking sharply to the left as the dust lifted in spiraling clouds only to vanish from sight. Beneath her sandals, the revealed floorboards were charred, blackened panels. As her eyes took in the sight, Touda let out a strangled cry, flying upwards in a panicked burst of flapping wings. The bird collided into her chest, clutching on with desperation.

"The fire-! Wielder, we must-" Touda's squeak preempted her glance, her gaze absorbing the sudden appearance of a heavy baroque Canopy bed, gauzy drapes dripping tongues of fire. The floor steamed, the fire from somewhere below, roaring upward to consume the rest of the mansion. Kei started back, already seeing the walls cast fitful shadows of reddish light and in the distance- she could hear _screams_.

Something in her chest clenched.

Over the roar of the inferno, she couldn't make out the words, only the stark fear the truly damned felt. Gathering the prickly bird in her arms, she went for the door, pumes of black smoke thickening the air.

"Wielder! What are you doing?" The bird shrieked, a struggling mass of bones and sticky feathers in her arms. "The win-" Touda choked off with a rasping cough. "-window!" She barely heard it, the smoke burned her eyes, filling her nose full of acridness. Out in the hallway, she stared down the smoky length and then finally dragged her gaze to the midway mark where the landing of the sweeping staircase began.

The voice...was much closer now...

That voice-

She went for the stairs, recognition close.

That voice I know it-

On the top step, she stood above the black smoke flooded below floor, the fire had reached the bottom of the staircase, tongues of blue streaked brown wrapped sinuously around the banister. Kei froze as the call began then faded away.

She knew it- who it was.

"Mama!" Kei yelled, trying to see through the smoke. Heat wafted over her face, making her eyes sting and water. "Mother!"

"Your mom's long dead, idiot! Now we hafta-" Touda snapped, feeling the tilt of her body as she started down the steps. Deep inside, Touda knew what it was. Adèle Lemarchand had burned to death in the Library below. By some twisted turn, they were _hearing_ her last moments. The bird curved its long neck, nipping her sharply on the inside of the arm, beak clamping down on grey material. "Idiot! Let's get out-"

"Wait!" Kei hissed, freezing on the second step. "I see...see someone."

The change in her posture was palpable.

She was frozen, unable to move. Tension was rigid in her body. Touda's head twisted backwards, staring down the stairwell. Then Touda saw it- a slender slightly bowed figure carrying something - someone. Steps labored, slow up the lower flight then rippling at the edges, appearing two steps higher. Kei horrified beyond measure at this new apparition could only stare with wide open eyes.

It was closer now - close enough to catch the sickening scent of burnt flesh, charred hair and cloth. A fitful flash from the fire below illuminated such a ghastly scene that Touda was repulsed as well.

Part of the man's face had melted, flesh bubbled oozing in slow globs like a giant's tears down his strong jaw. Blackened ribbons of muscle and tissue worked beneath his cheek. He was crying.

Kei felt all the horror of that moment wrap around her in a smothering blanket of fear. She could barely breathe for the tightness in her chest, sweat ran in cold rivulets down her neck, welding her collar to her skin.

She stumbled back, almost catching her sandal on the top above.

With a resonant crash, the rail caved in on itself.

He reached the top step.

The sweet acrid scent of burnt flesh was more prevalent now.

She gagged, the sound eliciting a languid turn of a head, clingy loose curls fringed the upturned collar of the ruffled shirt. The - familiar - eyes fixated upon her while she a tiny cry of fright burbling up in her throat, finally saw what was draped in his arms.

A pale girl in a blue silk dress that was scorched on the ends.

Touda recognized his former master as his present master recognized herself.

A choked scream forced its way out of her throat as she took a simultaneous half-step back, her heel hovering the abyss behind. Touda knew of only one type of being that could sustain such horrendous injuries and still live.

He took one step closer.

Kei's weight shifted, Touda felt the loss of stability, the horrific scream echoing long and hard as they tumbled backward through the gaping hole in the burning floor.

* * *

Dizzying blackness.

Kei twisted around on the hard floor, her eyes fluttering open to stare at the beamed ceiling above. The sound of merriment filtered dimly through, the scent of wet ground and dusty vegetables filled her nostrils. Kei struggled to sit up. The rest of the room was in deep murky shadow yet she recognized the hulking shapes of the cribs lining the walls. It was the root cellar, the bins were filled with last summer's harvest from the Countryside.

The earthy smell of the potatoes was undeniably real...as were the tiny sharp bones and sticky feathers clinging to her arms.

"Get yourself together!" she hissed, glowering at the broken puddle of the bird on her lap. The main part of the skull detached from the vertebrae and rolled to a stop near her hip.

"Easy for you to say! You didn't get jangled into bits by that nasty fall!"

She glowered at the disembodied beak talking near her hand. "Shut up! If you don't get yourself together, I'm leaving you!" With that said, she rose haughtily, finding herself quite untouched by the flames from before. A piercing blue eyeball narrowed at her back.

"Such a cruel wielder!"

She rolled her eyes hearing the stretch and snap of sinews knitting together. Within seconds, the bird tottered on spindly legs up behind her, nipping her ankle in punishment. Kei scowled at the bite and tried to kick back only for Touda to hop a few feet away.

"Temper, temper, wielder."

She didn't dignify that with a response, the bird needed no further encouragement to trail after her heels as she ascended the few steps of the cellar to the aperture. The sounds of a party increased as she pushed against the rough wooden panel, it gave way to a large bustling kitchen where women in full Calico skirts tended to the fire in the hearth and stirred cast iron kettles. Beyond them was another doorway. One that Kei moved toward, unnoticed by the servants trapped in a time when they still existed.

"Do you...really want to see this, wielder?" Touda a second later flapped its wings irritably as its snake tail almost got stepped on. Kei motioned violently for the bird to stay closer as she tentatively pushed the door connecting the servants area to another short flight of stairs.

"This was my house once…where I used to live and to see it like this it's like a-"

"Dream?" Touda guessed her train of thought. Kei nodded vaguely. Ahead were shallow steps and another doorway. She trailed slowly up, the sounds getting louder the closer to the door. Once they were through that, a short dimly lit hallway lead to a candelabra filled dining room. Portly white-wigged men in waistcoats conversed and laughed, swigging goblets of fine red wine, a few others loitered near the overladen banquet table against one wall. Kei ignored them, drawn by the somber sound of _Nascent Lilies_.

The inner room was larger, a wall of windows overlooked a dark stormy sky over darkened grounds. Many people milled about, dressed the same as the ones in the dining room. In a far corner, behind a large chestnut instrument, sat a pale-cheeked girl, running her hands over the keys, hitting the right notes to create the melancholy melody.

Touda noticed most of the party guests were indulging in conversation rather than listening to the impromptu performance. Even a sharp-featured woman with her gilded hair upswept in a honeycomb, glanced disdainfully at the girl whom was her daughter.

Only one seemed to be paying attention, a tallish fair-haired man with a scant few strands longer in the back tied by a silk ocean blue ribbon. "Lovely," he murmured, inclining his untouched wine at the ivory keys when she glanced. "The original was a true work of art. Francois Couperin..Les Lis naissans?"

"Oui." The girl had always been shy, especially around the blonde doctor. Kei watched herself frown and peer up from beneath thick black lashes. "Your French, sir, it is …quite bad."

His smile faded, replaced by shock then a fuller smile. A happier one. He laughed quietly, "ah, it is, isn't it? Pardon, but I am from Angleterre."

"I know." She said, randomly tapping keys producing sonorous notes.

Touda studied the man, remarking, "I don't think I've ever seen him smile like that now."

Kei watched the two elementals – their pasts, exchange comments, halted only by the inevitable throaty cough and spray of red droplets on the girl's hand.

"Mademoiselle, perhaps the excitement of this evening has caught up to you? Do you require rest?"

She quickly shook her head, pasting on a bright smile as her mother swept up, heavy crinoline gown rustling. Adele cast a haughty look upon the doctor and averted her face from him, smiling too widely to her daughter. "Maybe a little too much to drink, Angelique? I'll thank Docteur Pembrooke's concern, but rest is not necessary…"

"What a bitch." Touda muttered, "the girl hides her worsening condition of TB all for appearances and Lemarchand can't even appreciate it. It's all about society and what everyone will think!"

Kei had been silent for a time, but spoke now. "You cannot blame mama. It was the times that made her that way." She saw her former self quietly look insulted, saying softly; "but I haven't had a single glass!"

"Mama was too willing to lay the blame on other quarters. She knew of my illness but for the scandal and storm it would've caused...why would a healthy young man want a wife who wouldn't last to produce even an heir to carry on the family name?"

Touda shifted from foot to foot, insisting. "_He_ would've. For you."

Kei closed her eyes at the bird's words. She thought she knew what came next, their last few minutes of being together, of relishing each other's presences. It was so precious, it had faded over time like a photograph blurring from too many reminisces. She knew why the candle-lit room begun blurring when the figure flanked by two men, one older, white-haired, the other with fine dark eyes and almost effeminate features – her father, Émile; entered.

She caught a glimpse of the two fathers- but not of the one entering quietly behind with barely a smile on his impassive features. The voices were blurred too. Touda finally spoke as the scene rushed by in a blur of color.

"So, it's true then. You really don't remember what he looked like?"

"Not even the sound of his voice." Kei affirmed, gazing on as the mansion faded to the room they had first found themselves in. The girl was at the window- the girl she wouldn't acknowledge aloud as herself, the girl knelt on the seat, ignoring the lance of light raindrops pelting the rippled glass.

Her lips formed a word. _Brother?_

Kei watched herself open the large window and clamber out onto the large arm of the oak, moving swiftly giving testament to the many times she had escaped through the window, evading watchful eyes.

"You know what's going to happen, don't you?" Touda questioned when Kei didn't move. "You saw Alexandre and couldn't resist following him. You followed him—and you saw them—"

"Enough!" She snapped, striding back without another look. Tension had stiffened her body, provocation had forced whatever emotions she was feeling deep inside. She placed her sandal on the sill, ducking beneath the counterpane and down, phasing to the ground with an inaudible crunch of scattered autumn leaves.

The grounds of Lemarchand house were deep and shadow-filled. The clinging trees rustled with night wind carrying the scent of rain. Kei quickened her step, following her younger self through the open space to the outer fringe where a high stone wall began running along a small trek of enclosed box gardens. Angelique slipped through the iron gate, a mere pale shadow in diaphanous blue, walking faster with the sound of faint voices carrying over the next boxwood hedge.

"-she has told me herself. She loves _me,_ not you."

A soft exhalation of impatience. "Such impudence, boy. Were I to hear these words from Angelique herself then I would perhaps contemplate postponing our betrothal."

The girl got caught on the brambles and tugged at her skirts, hopelessly entangling herself.

Kei slowed to a stop not five feet from _herself_.

"Postponing!" Scoffed the much younger male. "You are the impudent cur, sir! Have I not told you, Angelique loves me! Not you!"

The girl froze, cocking her head at an angle to listen.

A sigh, words carefully chosen to crush the hopes of the twin. "Then you are deluding yourself. She loves you…only as her _**frère**_ not as an _**amant**_."

(_frère-brother, amant-lover_)

A short pregnant silence.

One of soul withering pain.

The girl could seemingly feel it. Pulling even harder at the tangled fabric, desperate to reach them. Kei watched her motions still, lips part as the ground shook with the scream.

"Do you ever wish you hadn't gone?" Touda asked quietly. The sound of cloth tearing lost in the violence of the wind. The rumbling of the hard packed earth faded. Kei sighed heavily, "I'm not sure." _Was it better to see it with my own eyes? To feel the deep love turn to overwhelming pain only feeding the hatred between us?_

She couldn't finish her thought, for there was no clear cut answer.

She knew she had to see it through to the end.

By mutual consent, she ran ahead, Touda hopping after her heels.

The stormy night had become a standstill, frozen with her inaction. Moving again, everything changed. The whipping trees gave way to an inner wall, a partition where roses bloomed and a dry stone fountain. The girl had rounded the corner and stood aghast just a step in, Kei remembered what her seventeen year old self had seen and gazed upon it again to engrave the heart-shattering image into her mind.

Spikes made of solidified rock and earth protruding from the ground.

One through his stomach, one through the base of his throat.

He gave an unintelligible cry, one of agony as the blood sprayed far, spattering her face with the violence of the attack. It might've been her name. It could've been warning to her or damnation to his killer. Angelique Lemarchand never knew, only wrenching pain twisting through every fiber in her being leaving her breathless – aching – then her startling sapphire eyes lifted, finally taking in the sight of the young boy leaning heavily on a polished tortoiseshell cane.

"Sister?" Alexandre questioned, sounding like a lost child again.

_Confused_.

She clasped her hands to the sides of her head, tearing at her streaming hair, screaming.

Kei winced at the sound of her own throat-aching anguish.

"Why did you kill him!"

"Because! Because you said you loved me!"

She gasped, staring at him with angry tear-filled eyes. "Meurtrier! Meurtrier!" Spinning away from his outstretched hand, the girl ran, passing straight through her reincarnation. Kei stiffened at the brief contact, feeling the lightest brush of the girl's emotions touch her subconscious. Touda glanced from her to the garden lane they had just crossed.

"He gave chase."

Kei nodded faintly, finally finding her voice. "He had been lame in one leg since birth. Some kind of bone deformity." Alexandre hobbled past them, expression frozen with fear. The girl's longer stride had taken her almost around the short block.

"Mother hated him," Kei continued in a kind of dull voice. Touda watched as the boy screamed soundlessly for her _to come back_. "Maybe it was the fact that she couldn't stand the thought of giving birth to something that wasn't perfect. Because of that she started abusing him when we were five. She drowned the pet dog I had given him two years later, doing it only then once he had invested his heart and care into it."

Touda looked faintly disgusted as much as a black skeletal bird could look. "What a monster. There are other forms of life and other humans who degrade others for their own enjoyment, but for a mother to do it, is a worse sin." The bird swore. "I wish I had ferried her soul to Hell when I had a chance!"

"Don't say that." Kei murmured, trailing after the steps the two siblings had taken. "Despite it all, I did love mama, I always hoped back then that she would change- probably a fool's dream. My father never did anything about it, how could he? He was gone most of the time dealing with politics among the lower Nobles of the Court and tending business contacts from overseas."

"Yeah," the bird muttered grimly. "Èmile did look kind of like a pansy."

They were almost at the last stretch, at their closeness, the frozen cast had come back to life. A racing figure with streaming hair and terror alight in her features. In the treetops bordering the walkway, Touda glimpsed itself, flying sideways, telling the girl over and over to _remember who she was and to call my name_.

"I tried to save you."

The boy was begging her to stop.

"I could tell you were on the verge of remembering everything."

He screamed at her in a final frenzied howl to _stop_.

The ground beneath their feet rocked violently, an upsurge of movement sent the girl flying forward to slam against the high iron gate of the open garden pathway.

"I'm sorry ... I was too late."

Kei forced herself to look away from the crumpled figure lying on the ground. "It wasn't your fault. Part of it _was_ mine. It was my love and my care for him that caused this. Mother used to tell him that no one liked him, no one would ever love him. But I, I was always there to soothe his pain and pat his head. He was much more of a child than anything else. At least I would like to believe it was the base of Alexandre's soul that had corrupted him."

Touda disconsolately watched the boy scoop up his twin and carry her toward the lights of the mansion. The rain streaming in slants never bothered him nor soaked their clothing.

"You're probably right."

The two were already inside the house.

The last part of the memory played on.

Kei stood stockstill, unable to take her eyes off the mansion in the rain. "A fight started up. Mother accused him of killing me out of jealousy. Father tried to get between them but was too drunk to be of much help. Then Szayel who had heard the raised voices, left the other guests and went into the Library. He examined me and said I was still alive not that it mattered much...for no one heard him."

_"Murderer! You killed my precious daughter, you miscreant chien!"_

Touda took up the narrative. "He shoved Adèle back and hit her with a heavy silver candelabra. Her hair caught first...her screams made the guests surge toward the main door. Perhaps Alexandre felt it was just retribution considering all that his mother had done to him."

She looked almost sad somehow. "Szayel tried to carry me out but Alexandre stopped him. In truth I guess you could say that mother started the blaze. Kagami, the only Elemental that could've stopped this all from happening, had taken Szayel's house-call and gone in his stead. Kagami - ne, Pembrooke was halfway across Paris by the time father had collapsed in the parlor and Szayel from getting the guests out had succumbed to the smoke."

The mansion was now fully ablaze, black-tinted flames glowed eerily in the downstairs windows.

Kei watched her element consume the once beautiful house and finally turned away - forcibly. Touda hesitantly followed her as she wended her way back through the garden to the blood-stained earth amid the drenched roses. Her gaze wandered to the figure lying forgotten on his stomach, the dark head of hair was mud splashed, his immaculate grey suit spattered with deep crimson and other dark spots.

She dropped to her knees beside him.

Touda wasn't sure if the existent could touch a memory yet soon realized that even that border had been breached as her hands pressed lightly against the sides of the soaked locks and turned his head to the side.

"This is-" she began, jolting back when the one visible eyelid fluttered open to reveal a startling absinthe green orb.

* * *

It was unexpected however perhaps an oversight on him to disregard this persona change of Kurosaki's. The trash had not only gained renewed vigor but seemed determined to wipe he- Ulquiorra's, meaningless existence from the face of the earth.

He had no desire to refute the claim of worthlessness of his being – however he still had questions to ask of the Fire elemental and did require himself to be in healthful spirits with Kurosaki not present. Therefore he fought, holding back his true speed and only executing sparse moves to discourage the boy's foolish tactics.

Then he simply found it was not enough.

"Tozase, Murushierago."

Kurosaki was grim at the level of power displayed, yet seemed almost eager to re-engage him. Even daring to say they were almost equal. Ulquiorra launched a fresh barrage of Luz del la Luna to cease the foolishness of the boy. Unbelievably none of the green lances struck, the trash simply moved too fast. Seemingly talking to himself, with the few words caught on the motionary wind kicked up with their movements. "This better work-!"

He watched as the trash simply dove down, a decision to follow acted upon, a new javelin of crackling green light poised in his hand ready to be released at the appropriate moment. The trash touched the gritty sand, calling out sharply, "Chiri-Gui!"

He landed, wings still unfurled, emerald eyes widening a fraction larger.

This was not expected.

Threads of pain like a million needles simultaneously pierced his hierro.

Instantly, his feet were decapitated from the slender trunks of his legs.

Analytical as always, he perceived through the spray of blood and dust dancing in whirling tiny tornadoes all around…it came from below. Interesting. Ulquiorra ascended high into the sky, the edges of his sinewy wings had not escaped unscathed. He regarded the jagged span and simply reformed another javelin.

He glimpsed Kurosaki's smirk before the boy vanished. Ulquiorra expected to see him come up from below but sensed a quiver in the air currents above, turning at the last second, raising his arm in a defensive move. Kurosaki hit solidly, throwing the added strength of a Getsuga-Tenshou when he pulled back.

"It is useless, Kurosaki!" He snapped, preparing to slice through the black crescent. Kurosaki had gained distance but threw his arm out sharply at the same time, "Retsudotensho!"

_A modified Getsuga-Tenshou? When had the trash found the time to alter his primary attack?_

His suspicions were confirmed with the warping of the crescent wave, thickening, coiling around him in a burning, suffocating vise. Trapped within its center, he felt the strain on his regenerative capacities; in the whirling torpor he allowed a faint scowl of agitation to grace his lips.

It was unacceptable that he should've let himself be trapped by a lesser opponent.

It was something he had to correct before hope blossomed within Kurosaki.

Hope could not shine without being smothered by the blackest despair.

The skin of his eyelids burned away with the suffusion of intense heat, ignoring the splicing pain, he countered the flow of the modified moon fang. Greenish black light exploded in a powerful beam, consuming the twisting remnants. Smoke spiraled off his form, something he disregarded as his flesh reknitted, his searching eyes probed the skyline, finding Kurosaki on the offensive once again.

"Foolish human! Can you not see how vastly different our strengths are?"

They collided.

Kurosaki _smirked_, "the difference in our strengths…so what about it?"

The audacity of the trash never failed to stir the apathy he experienced being forced to fight lower forms of life. "Why do you keep on when your path was laid clear for you by the elemental? It was her forfeiture to make! By remaining insistent upon an ideal that has no substance you are directly denying her sacrifice!"

"I already told you!" Kurosaki snarled now, angered anew over the elemental. "I'm not leavin' her!" Spittle fairly flew. Ulquiorra saw that the trash was nearly as adamant to die there…or perhaps it was simple. _Kurosaki did not know true despair otherwise he would've realized it was futile to take Keiko Yamamoto away from Las Noches. To rescue her_.

Then that meant that Ulquiorra simply had to show him what true despair looked like.

Once that was accomplished he could question the elemental undisturbed.

He never betrayed a hint of the anticipation associated with that line of thought. If she did not furnish the answers he seeked then he would simply kill her worthless life.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, I will show you…what true despair looks like."

* * *

Orihime didn't know what to do. Her hands shook the elemental gently at first then desperately as the violence of Ulquiorra-kun and Kurosaki-kun's clash escalated. She didn't want it to be happening. She didn't want to see Kurosaki-kun skate across the atmosphere, bleeding heavily from a deep gash to his chest nor the winged creature glaring impassively down.

_She had seen his first release_.

Under her legs, the ground quaked, below the cracked and ruined tower, sand spray flew up in a high wall. Orihime clutched at Kei-san's body and bowed her head, resisting the urge to start screaming. _This wasn't the way it was supposed to be- she was the one who was supposed to be doing something to help her friends—but it had been Kei-san there, Kei-san protecting her and urging her to keep on—and what could she do for Kei-san now? _

She bit her lip so hard it tore.

"I don't know what to do…" her grey eyes wandered down to the pale face of the elemental.

She felt the energy surge behind her.

Half-turning, her sight was consumed by what the shell of the tower exposed.

The inky night sky and Ulquiorra's pale white and black furred form.

_His second release_.

She felt horror surge anew through her body.

Kurosaki-kun was in his hold, wrapped around the throat by a thick furred tail. The green light focused at the tip of his black claw lifted indolently and seared a hole straight through Kurosaki-kun's chest.

"Trash." Ulquiorra dismissed quietly, flinging the corpse away. Orihime stiffened as green cat's eyes narrowed with yellow pupils on her and Kei-san. She knew she had to protect her no matter what.

* * *

-TBC

AN: *slogged* and had to search Ulqui & Ichiberry's fight on Bing. Urgh.

-.-;

*limps off to bed*

No flames, haters, stupid comments!

Reviews loved


	93. Reunion

_Why does fate make us suffer?_

* * *

ShiKai CH.86: Reunion

"What are you doing, woman?"

The figure trembled, arms outstretched, body shielding the elemental lying on the ground. The question was logical as he could see no point in Inoue Orihime standing guard over the Soul Reaper.

"L-leave Kei-san alone!" Inoue's voice wobbled but an edge was contained in it. He regarded her narrowly, while he had no wish to physically harm her for no reason, the continued hindrances to his questions were becoming infuriating. "Step aside," Ulquiorra ordered coldly, advancing toward the golden shield.

Ginger strands shook as she affirmed a negative.

He formed another javelin in his hand meaning to cut her down for her interference.

After all Aizen-sama had said before that the woman was no more use to them.

...Mindscape...

"I wonder if perhaps it was too much." He was suitably disappointed in the boy's skills had thought that at the very least with Chiri-Gui's assistance and the prison of Retsudotensho, that Ichigo-kun would've been able to destroy Schiffer.

It seemed most irritatingly, he had gauged the boy's potential too high.

_What next?_

With a faint scowl he considered his options. It was much too early to even think of taking over, no matter the notion that Schiffer would reach the elemental of Fire made his hands clench, nails cutting into his palms. Ignoring the thin rivulets of blood staining the golden skin, he spun about and regarded the crystalline structure he'd managed to locate in the fringes of the mindscape.

"Tensa Zangetsu." He called aloud, affecting the boy's scowl.

A ripple in the closeted atmosphere of the room heralded a sweep of a black cloak and the younger version of the moon cutter stepped forward warily.

"What is it?"

The sword's challenge subtle at the edge of each clipped sentence never failed to annoy him. Disregarding the emotion as unimportant for current perusal he wasted no time in addressing the matter at hand. "Direct your attentions to the crystal cube."

The sword glanced then back at him as if questioning the purpose of being called from unsuccessfully trying to awaken his master. "What of it?" As always Tensa Zangetsu was careful in proceeding. "That is..._your_ Hollow. Keiko sealed it up." A cold, measured look. "Why do you have it now?"

Ah, so that explained the warped time currents around it. He scowled thoughtfully, realizing he couldn't break it without being affected by the backwards flow. That was how she was able to seal up the troublesome Hollow. By reversing its spiritual body back to a time when it had been a part of the boy's soul.

He wished to break the merging.

If only they all could see reason like he did.

"Tensa, I will not be able to physically awaken again without Hichigo's regenerative powers!" He added force to his voice, disliking the crudity of yelling. "You must release the Hollow! It's the only way-"

"-for what?" The sword now eyed him suspiciously, knowing only too well that Ichigo preferred to win on his own strength and not be taken over by the Hollow. He realized his misstep, and tried another tactic.

"To protect our heart."

Understanding stiffened the stance of the moon cutter's spiritual body.

"Schiffer will kill her! He's killed her before in the past! Hurry! You must do it!"

"How do you know-"

Ah. That was easy. He had it all in the palm of his hand. He wore the boy's expression and mirrored his rough voice, slamming his palm against the sword's damp forehead.

"Let me show you."

He couldn't resist smiling then.

...

If anything else had been amiss, the crude roughness of the gesture had been fully Ichigo. Tensa simply couldn't say whether he was relieved or dismayed at the realization that it had degenerated down to that. Relying on the power of the Hollow to protect her.

He did not approve of it.

Nor did he fully believe in the scene he was shown.

The three figures, a box garden and the scent of winter roses.

The central figure, one of a black-haired male with brilliant emerald green eyes leveled the old-fashioned gun from his waistcoat and fired not once but twice. Sharp rapports of a trigger jerking, bullets ripping into the bodice of the blue clad woman.

It was her death...at the hands of the Espada - ne the human he had once been.

It hurt the same.

_But why did it feel somehow...off? _

...

Everything was numb.

Body.

Weapon.

Finally stilled, Ichigo drifted in a wakeless limbo, a vista of unending whiteness that filled his wide open staring eyes. A voice shattered the monotony.

"-NOOOO! Leave Kei-san alone!"

Inoue.

Screaming.

She needed to be helped, protected, kept safe.

Ichigo knew he had to move, get up but somehow he couldn't. He couldn't move and was angered by it. Did this mean he was going to fail Inoue? He was going to fail Kei? No! The numbness receded, raw, new strength flooded his battered body. Hands became claws, long strands of ginger hair extended far down his bare back and the full weight of a mask rested upon a familiar face.

The thing that was Ichigo yet wasn't in the same breath, stood up and howled at the night sky.

It thirsted for blood – for the blood of the Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer.

…

Kyou felt it first.

A deep-seated tremor in the ground, a darkening of the fake sunlit sky where they were. Hana glanced over from helping Szayel (more she doing the work while he supervised in a bossy tone) pack up medic kits. "What was that?" she asked, her eyes large in her face. Szayel paused in pushing in cleaning his glasses, wearing a slight frown.

"I do believe that extraordinary spiritual pressure is emanating from the Fifth tower."

Kyou had sensed the two releases of the Cuatro Espada, knowing him to be facing Kurosaki Ichigo. He also had detected Captain Yamamoto's faint spirit pressure and Inoue Orihime's non-existent one nearby as well. Hana formulated his thought with some reserve, speaking it aloud.

"If that's not the Cuatro…then who is it?"

Kyou was afraid of the answer, he had observed the human's reiatsu rise on several occasions yet had never discerned it to be quite this level. This gritty, almost dirty malevolence that thickened the air like a miasmic cloud. It was stifling, horrible and Captain Yamamoto was right by it.

"I think…it's Kurosaki Ichigo."

…Shirahime's mindscape...

"Kage, what are you doing here?"

"Just cooling my heels, Shira."

"I can see that." The white princess muttered bitingly as boots hovered inches above a glacier fountain. Sensing her disapproval, he cracked a sheepish grin, settling more comfortably on the upraised wings of the sculpture. "You look frazzled," he remarked, eyeing the evil eye he was receiving. "What's up?"

Shirahime glowered at the fact that he was sitting on her favorite fountain and hadn't bothered to clean the sand from outside off his boots! Barring that, she settled for another ineffective haughty glare, saying tiredly, "I'm sure you know the Juppongatana have departed Assiah for the living world?"

"Hm." He wanted to stay strictly noncommittal which proved futile at her next words.

"Haretosora was just here. Said she needed advice on how to handle her master if Toya Amakusa dies." She leveled a cold accusing stare on him. "He is _your_ wielder after all. I told her that Sakanade wasn't as strong as you and you wouldn't let Amakusa die."

Kage bit the inside of his misty mouth in order to stop the guilty look from appearing. His dealings with Sakanade had been that one time on Akemi street, crossing swords with that weirdo. Albeit he had experienced different kinds of sword fights, he was ready to concede that Hirako had been tough. Difficult to beat as a Taichou, possibly immeasurably strong as a Vizard. With that in mind, he hoped Keiko Yamamoto had sufficiently embedded the time lock. All that was truly needed to cast Itte Kaso was a small sacrifice. An arm maybe except with Toya- the idiot would probably take it too literally. Kage grimaced at that line of thought. Giving one's life to the casting of the spell would result in an incredible amount of power released in such a tiny space. With the time lock in place in fact it was highly unlikely any _pieces_ would survive-

"You're quiet." Shirahime remarked suddenly, breaking his train of thought. Kage shifted uneasily, almost sliding off the slick cold surface. "Oh, ehehehe. Just thinking. Shira, if you knew hypothetically of course, that your wielder was going to do something potentially suicidal, would you try to stop them?"

The icy-haired princess didn't show her surprise at his thoughtfulness, she quickly masked it behind frigid indifference. "Depends."

"_Depends_? On what?"

She had always hated it when he echoed. "Well, if it's something they're bent on, something they're resolved on, it would be nearly impossible to dissuade them."

He was quiet for a few minutes, absorbing her words. Finally he sighed, shrugging, "guess you're right."

She watched him straighten precariously on the edge of the Suzaku statue's wingtips.

"Why do you ask, if I may know?"

He chuckled mirthlessly, "no actual reason, Shira." He gauged his next step onto the hooked talon at the edge of the upper span, walking like a tightrope performer. "And...don't worry about Haretosora. Captain Nanatsu is a good strategist. He knows how to configure the battlefield like a chess table and the pieces up for play are the living pawns. He's somewhat better at managing few injuries unlike Captain Yamamoto."

"Meaning what?"

He realized he'd touched a nerve. "Ah, sorry. It's not that Zaraki wasn't an appropriate opponent, I just think your wielder shouldn't have gone alone. It was a risk Captain Yamamoto calculated and chose for the sake of ease, to disregard the life of her Lieutenant in pursuit of killing Zaraki."

"But that doesn't mean she was in the wrong." Shirahime retorted quietly, "It was Zoe's choice to carry out the order no matter the danger."

He shrugged again, displaying too white teeth. "Ah perhaps you're right. Well, anyway- oh wait! That's right, Shira, be careful."

"Huh, why?" Her eyes narrowed on him. "You haven't done anything stupid have you? Like that time when you painted Nekomata's cave?"

"Hey, hey! Give me some discrediting here!" He whined. "That was Shoukyaku's idea to paint nudie women- I had to help 'cause I had lost a fight! It was not _my_ idea!"

Shirahime looked miffed, "well, whatever the hell it was. It was stupid and childish and you had to come and hide here when Nekomata came looking for you two!"

Kage sniffed, seeming a bit uncomfortable with the reminder. "Oh, well! It's nothing like that at least! I just want you to be more careful alright?" He turned on his boot heel, tailcoats swishing, "I just get the feeling we won't have to wait much longer for Earth to appear."

...Las Noches...

Orihime felt her heart lurch. Ulquiorra-kun was closing in. Desperately she tried to think of something to stall his advance, something to give her a chance to counter his long staff-like weapon made of crackly green energy. Frustratingly she could think of nothing when he was upon her, steely vise of black furred fingers grasping her upper arm and ruthlessly wrenching her aside. Orihime's heels skated, unable to stop her momentum, she slid off the cracked edge of the floor, a terrified scream burbling out of her throat.

"-NOOOO!" She had caught herself, fingers hooking into the rubble, body dangling over the edge of the precipice. She had caught a glimpse of the ground a far dizzying height below and felt sick at it. New panic had asserted in her voice when she forced her chin up,

"-Leave Kei-san alone!"

Ulquiorra-kun had dismissed her already, slashing at the wavering golden shield. Orihime gasped at the ease in which it was broken, in the same second her cramping fingers began to slide, losing their precarious grip. She saw the same fur-covered hand that had blasted a hole through Kurosaki-kun bend and reach for the defenseless elemental. "I'm sorry-" gravity began pulling her down.

"-Kei-san!"

She was sorry in that instant in more ways than one. Sorry for her jealousy over Kurosaki-kun's love. Sorry that she had ever wanted to see the elemental lose and most of all sorry that she wasn't strong enough to protect Kei-san when she needed it. Even as her regrets spiraled around her, Orihime plummeted down the ruined tower toward the sands, never seeing the streak of white until the malevolence crashed over her in sickening waves of powerful energy. A thick, muscular arm had wrapped around her waist and stopped her fall. Stunned beyond belief, her lips trembled as her head slowly turned toward her savior.

"Kur-Kurosaki-kun?"

...

The second the familiar name left her lips, it was followed by a horrific scream. It tore out of her throat mercilessly, refusing to be reigned in by her abject knowledge that it- whatever this was, was not Kurosaki-kun.

It could not be her secret love with a deathly white torso covered by shreds of black cloth.

Not those soulless yellow eyes staring out from behind the striped black and white mask of a monster, huge horns curved out and long, past the monstrously thick body, strands of orange hair fell in a rippling curtain. But worst of all was the gaping hole where Kurosaki-kun's heart should've been.

Orihime felt another scream tighten in her throat.

It threw her to the sands, where she landed hard, scrambling around to see it take off again, racing toward the open pinnacle of the tower.

_Was it going after...Ulquiorra-kun?_

...

Her throat _hurt_. The pain was familiar as she came to, the open sky of Hueco Mundo coming into hazy sight above. Raising a hand to her neck, she felt the soreness and guessed that _he_ hadn't killed her. Her blurry gaze rose from the cracked and rubble strewn palace floor, not seeing Inoue anymore and farther away-

A thickly muscular being bare to waist with only ragged shreds of black swathed around its legs bore a hideous Hollow mask with great curving bull-like horns. It slashed at a smaller more humanoid form born aloft by huge black wings like a bat's, whom retaliated by a blast of greenish black tinted Cero. _Cero Oscuras_, her senses told her. It blackened out the moon even so encompassing it was.

But it did nothing.

Even she could see the astonishment briefly take hold of the Arrancar, a tensing of his body before the other phased right in his face, leering with a sonant roar that made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. The creature was like a newborn Hollow, a bundle of raw instinct that fueled its actions. She watched as it crudely latched a hold of the pale upper arm of the other and flung him across the sky like a rag doll.

_That was_-

She slowly got to her feet.

The smaller of the fighters crashed heavily into the tower, sending shockwave like tremors to rock the floor and create new cracks in the heavily damaged plateau. Kei barely kept her balance, her chest tight with a surge of forgotten emotion.

It was true...what Touda had said in the world of memory.

_"What are you going to do now that you know who he is?"_

She searched for any trace of that other in the bloodied and wounded thing picking itself off the dented crater of the floor, fresh blood flowed freely from a jagged gash on his side. Then as yellow sclera eyes swimming in the same beautiful absinthe caught movement, turned, staring straight at her.

The Hollowified creature uttered something then dove down for the kill.

_She knew_ _and remembered_.

_I've finally found you_.

_My love_.

"Dancing bears...painted wings."

"-things I almost remember." she followed his voice softly. In her mind Kei could see long thin pale fingers dancing across ivory keys, emerald eyes and black, black hair. _And a song someone sings once upon a December_.

She started walking forward as he did, caught in the same dream. Memory.

"..someone holds me safe and warm.."

"..figures dancing gracefully.."

Explosions rocked the ground around them.

Tears glistened in her eyes. "Faraway long ago.."

"Things my heart used to remember." He finished softly in an altered tone. Emerald eyes fixated on her face- his arm lifted, hand reaching out toward her.

"_Angeli-"_

She sensed Ichigo before he did. Saw the shadow descend, the whistling sound of a blade cutting air ringing loud and clear. Kei darted in a breath of speed that no one was able to see, snatching up Getsu-ten from amid the rubble. The black sword was cutting swiftly across, the path meant to take Ulquiorra's head off. She barely caught it in time.

The Ichigo Hollow was staring down at her.

Kei had the strangest feeling he was trying to figure out what she was doing.

Not that it would make any difference even if she explained.

She didn't want to fight him ergo, she whispered, "I don't want to hurt you."

Despite it being the truth, she still wondered how the Hollow had broken the time seal. No one except from the inside- then she saw him, the cloaked figure standing several feet away. Now Kei could appreciate the vague similarities between the sword ...and Ulquiorra.

Tensa Zangetsu had his arms crossed over his chest, he was regarding her inscrutably from beneath the hood. Even with the underlying sense of calm evoked by his presence she could hear the lacing of suspicion in his soft tone.

"What do you think you are doing?"

That was unanswerable at least aloud.

Kei looked away.

"I see." The sword breathed.

Kei was almost positive he had guessed where her hesitation lay.

"Kill the Espada. Do not let anyone stop you." Tensa Zangetsu dispassionately ordered. She caught the change in the Hollow the next second, her eyes widening with the realization of what it meant to do. Her hand shot out, latching around Ulquiorra's upper arm, in the next second she had kicked off, placing distance between them and the tower.

The red grew, the light of the Cero carving a streak up through the moonlit sky for her.

_It was meant for her_.

...

The creature had taken him by utter surprise.

Only a foul breath and remembrance of being thrust away from the elemental. His fingers had closed on air not the lock of pale strands that seemed to flicker into a black curl trailing over her cheek. He had not forgiven such an interference and had shot a point blank Cero at the creature, identifying it seconds later as the remains of Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Who are you?" He had asked, confusion momentarily wiping away the traces of shock from his system when the Oscuras had been cut through in two separate swath-like waves. The resulting energy gust had buffeted his wings and disguised the swift step of the mysterious Hollow.

In the next second as his eyes sought this new opponent, he had felt rather than seen the sharp blade descending through the air. It sliced across his ribs, cutting deeply through his internal organs then as he hastily attempted a retaliatory move, a claw-like hand distorted from a human's five digits, wrapped around his offensive arm and flung him through the atmosphere, unable to stop the descent, he crashed heavily into the remnants of the fifth tower, dust and rubble filling his lungs.

The Hollow creature in the sky roared a mockery of him as he slowly pulled himself up.

It believed itself the victor.

He wondered at its audacity, assuming a fragment of Kurosaki's consciousness had stayed within the mindless killer. Even at that thought, a shadow of movement caught in the corner of his eye. Ulquiorra half-turned, seeing the woman had awoken and was hesitantly coming toward him.

He wanted to tell her to stop.

To remove from his sight whatever it was in her face that he was forced to recognize as something tangible - something real... The elemental's face melted into that of another. That face that been long missing from the void of his heart. That face-

- and those images.

- voice -

- touch -

- _the sensation of his fingers curling around a strand of black hair and tugging on it._

_She had said his name too then. _

_It was a different name._

_"- -? You said you had composed something for me to remember you by when Monsieur Schiffer takes you abroad in Dècembre?" _

_"Yes."_

_He had composed a song, one to embody everything he had seen during those seven years in the Lemarchand household. Lemarchand...that's right. _

It was to remind them both of that time.

"_ Dancing bears..." _His lips barely moved. There was a painted circus bear on the side of the Harpsichord. "Painted wings." A mural on the high ceiling of the Library. He could see her standing beside him, allowing the words to take flight as images.

"-things I almost remember."

Ulquiorra was barely aware of his conscious body, of the blood that refused to stop flowing.

Here, now, there was meaning in what he saw.

"..someone holds me safe and warm.."

"..figures dancing gracefully.."

The ground was shaking again beneath his elongated clawed feet.

Her eyes were tearless. "-faraway long ago.." they were searching his face. _His face_. The face of a monster with thick black tear tracks. "Things my heart used to remember." He was almost surprised to see the lack of fear present as he fixated his unblinking emerald stare on the countenance that bled from a dark-haired young girl to the one of the elemental coming toward him.

It was in that moment, that her identity became clear.

They were...one in the same.

"Angeli-"

The Hollow - nuisance that it was, he had forgotten its noisome presence even as the air currents changed, he turned as the twisted shadow of a man-beast passed over him, the swift undercut of a blade swished through the air, he felt the cold sharp breath of it bite into the side of his throat then it stopped.

The elemental of Fire was just inches away, grasping her sword in one hand, bracing it against the black sideways tilted blade of the Hollow creature. He had never seen her move let alone pick up her sword. His gaze dropped to the slender length of her arm, seeing it never tremble with duress.

His eyes darted to her face then noting the taut, grim line of her mouth. Her eyes were fixated with intensity on the Hollow's monstrous face above them both. He could almost see her lips twitch, wanting to plead with the creature to cease its single-minded course of destruction.

It was useless of course.

He realized too that he'd been staring at the features of her face - recording them.

Her voice was almost inaudible.

"I don't want to hurt you."

She was foolish.

His assumption was proved by the lunge of her free hand, wrapping tightly about his arm and the sudden leap off the remains of the tower. The elemental thrust him away swinging her sword at the next second, catching the red beam of cero charging up through the night sky toward her. Ulquiorra felt the edges of the gritty, dense swath, startled even then at how easily the Elemental clove it in two.

She tossed him a quick look, only to ascertain he had stayed where he was then she angled her body down, vanishing in a silent burst of sound to the sands, scooping up a tiny figure he vaguely discerned as being Inoue Orihime. The elemental darted up from there, kicking off into the sky. He could see the tension in her posture as her eyes swept the surroundings, the ruins of the tower were ominously silent, nothing stirred then as Inoue prompted, "Kei-san?"

The elemental twisted upward suddenly, swinging her sword up in a narrow arc. He barely sensed the figure she clashed with, placing distance between them. It had been hiding above, waiting for an opening when they were searching below. That sort of cunning was vaguely admirable however troubling it was. When the masked face of the demon snarled in his direction, he understood the implications of what even a grain of intelligence could result in terrible consequences. Ulquiorra called a lanza de relampago to his hand, catching the sudden lunge of the creature in a hail of clashing weapons. He saw the elemental glance their way before streaking in a blur to the closest intact tower in the complex, the third one.

That momentary distraction left an opening, one the creature caught onto. In a flash the sword crossed against his lance lifted, the distortion of a hand shot out and grasped a tight hold on the sinewy leather of his left and brought the sword down, cleanly shearing through the span. Ulquiorra couldn't suppress the choked cry that left his throat, the pain clouding his senses in that instant. The heavy thud of a knee rammed into his solar plexus hurtling him out of the sky.

His eyes opened seconds before colliding into the elemental, her own shock etched into every line of her delicate features. They slammed against one another hard enough for the impact to jar his spine for a groan to stumble out the command of the elemental.

"Maou-agh!"

Barring the time from before, he had once again never been so close to the elemental. Never had so much touching between their bodies. It was with that close proximity in their downward spiral that the images started up again.

Flashes of sunlight.

Flowers in bloom, vain egotistical things, the humans around them were. Those same sensations of disgust and a will to crush the frivolous vanities was heavily prevalent in his other self.

Her face.

The music notes faltering to a low tempo.

"What is it called?"

"Loin du froid de Dècembre." His mouth moved softly, forming it without hesitation.

His eyes screwed shut in the present time. It was too much - those images. An incoherency laced the blur, the face, fingers curling around the dark strands of hair. He despised those sensations, that abject weakness of his in the form of the young woman.

"I hate you."

_I hate you more than anything because you're gone_.

He twisted around in midair, seconds before impact, absorbing the resonating crash of sand and splintering quartz all around them. Fresh fissures opened up in his flesh as a result, wounds stung from the sand packing them yet he knew he would recover, the pain was nothing. On top of him, the elemental was slumped, jarred still badly from the plummet. His scrutinizing eyes locked on the tousled strands spilling over her bowed face, splayed over his chest, unable to stop the motion, he lifted his hand and captured it between his fingers.

It was as soft as he'd thought it would be.

His somewhat dazed sight glimpsed the fast moving blur heading for them, the stiffness of his body refused to listen to its command, his motions too slow to counter in time. His gaze filled with the hideous demon's face, sensing the elemental stir and pivot sideways, angling her hand up in a two-fingered gesture.

"Bakudo 63, Sajo Sabaku!" She yelled, the form of the kido shot out in lengths of thick glowing rope, twisting around the body and arms of the Hollow creature. The elemental made a slashing motion with her hand, "Sho!" a wave of energy sent the Hollow skidding back across the gritty floor of sand, writhing and struggling in the binds which held it.

Seemingly uninjured, the Elemental rose up and walked toward it, her hand still extended in a gesture of Shinigami origin. "Ichigo..." she said softly, her eyes fixated on the huge white and black-striped form.

"I don't _want_ to harm you."

He thought she was more than foolish, attempting to speak so to the creature. What had once been Kurosaki Ichigo was now no more than a shell of the human. A mindless creature with instincts and only some intelligence. Climbing to his feet, he glimpsed the numerous scratches and bruises in his hierro vanish with sluggish speed. There was no doubt that he was severely straining his healing capacities with constant battle. Perhaps it had been unnecessary to absorb the full brunt of the fall. Ulquiorra could not admit even to himself that he didn't regret not seeing the elemental harmed.

Once he was sure everything had healed satisfactorily, he regarded the elemental almost half a field away, still attempting to talk reason to the Hollow. Though her voice was soft, coaxing, he could still hear every word.

"Ichigo, please come back. I know you're in there somewhere."

Then with the tearing, ripping sounds, she sighed. "It's useless. You cannot break my-" The Kido gave way, shattering with the sheer force the being exerted. Standing almost over it, she started back, shock for not the second time written on her face.

"-can't be-" he heard her stammer out, within seconds it seemed the Hollow had risen, towering over her. With a swiftness his eye couldn't even catch, the black sword flew up, slicing up the shoulder in a shower of red. He was sure she didn't even see it coming. The severed appendage bounced away, tattered black fabric flapping from it. The elemental bit down on her scream, skating back across the sand to put distance between them. Her back to the rock formations, she grasped the stump, her face turning askance to it.

In the blink of an eye, she had regenerated the lost limb. Her fingers curled about the hilt of a silver sword, the other grasped the end of a rigid chain of moons. "I see…perhaps it is your intellect lacking to think that you can defeat _me_."

...

She had simply not thought that _he_ would do that.

No, believed that he wasn't so far gone as to label her an enemy. Kei's eyes narrowed, feeling the bulk of the creature vanish, reading the air currents told her he was going to come from above. She was rather disappointed and becoming increasingly concerned about the whole situation. As the boy's supposed beloved, she had hoped that her voice alone would somehow bring him to his senses or at the very least cease his assault.

It did neither.

His malice knew no bounds for he had sliced the arm off in which she'd used to bind him.

She felt the air compress against her eardrums and flung her right arm up, the slender silver blade of Getsu-ten catching the black burning one of Tensa Zangetsu. Her lips thinned as she bore the entire weight of the creature, her sandals threatening to slide by inches. Kei saw her only option was of leveling the pressure off. With a sigh, she flooded the right limb full of spiritual energy then as the other started to tremble, let go, darting back half a step and up past him as he pounded the ground where she'd just been standing. In the half second when he realized she had vanished, Kei twisted her wrist and used the accumulated strength to wrap the last end of the chain around his ankle and pull up lightning fast upending him swiftly then to stun him, she tilted her body forward, hurtling him into the rocks. All of it, Kei knew wasn't enough to thoroughly subdue him. Her eyes darted around then took in the width of the remaining towers spaced apart, a new plan quickly forming. While it was worrisome to know that in a state such as Ichigo was in, he would even harm her- but she guessed perhaps not Inoue, with that thought in mind, something she refused to even think was jealousy, made her twist the chain as she moved, tightening its hold around the shrieking creature.

"You deserve it." She murmured, switching hands, twirling the knotted chain slowly at first then faster and faster, pivoting her body with the flow to gain the most momentum. He was spinning now far above the ground in dizzying circular arcs. She meant at the last second to slam him into the far tower, a plan which was rendered null as the slack on the chain tightened, effectively halting the circular pendulum-like swing. Startled, her eyes traveled down to the claw-like hands that shouldn't even have been called hands, that had wrapped around the long length of chain.

He growled. A sort of triumph she detected in the skeletal-like mask. Then as she wondered what next to expect, her body was suddenly jerked down, losing equilibrium, she flew down fast, the reishii flying away from her hands refusing to solidify and break her fall. Kei grunted with the exertion, her focus fixating on her hands, shaping a kido blast. They were almost level now, her gaze flicking to the Hollowified human in time to see his leg shoot out, connecting to her stomach.

The unexpected kick took the breath out of her lungs, her body changed direction, sent sideways across the sky. Kei swallowed the pain, holding it in as she half turned, swathing her arm in thick reiatsu. Barely in time, it met the unyielding wall of white stone of the third tower. Kei breathed hard, bracing her sandals back against the solidified energy, knowing it had been a close call. So it hadn't been enough to release another five percent to fight the Hollowification Ichigo had undergone. To her senses he bordered a Vasto Lordes level of the nineteenth Generation.

He was as strong as Stark or more so for the Primera lacked true malice.

As much as Kei didn't want to allocate more energy out, she knew she had to. He was still below Aki and Aki had been defeated by her Ban-Kai. As far as her senses read, Ichigo had become a Vasto Lordes lacking their intelligence. She eyed the creature ripping Getsu-ten's chain from itself, wondering what would happen if she broke the mask. Basing her assumptions off the fight with Aki Shikouten, she remembered that breaking his Vasto Lordes mask of a lion had resulted in him becoming an Arrancar. Her gaze dropped to the solid hole in the thick muscled chest, unsure that she wanted to risk sending the human past that point of no return. While she had plenty enough reiatsu to keep on fighting almost indefinitely, there was a chance if breaking his mask failed to revive his human nature, his soul would be lost and she'd be forced to contend with an Arrancar.

If would be much harder than to capture him and use Time magic to reverse the transformation. Not impossible, she flexed her hands, smiling at last as he tossed the chain sword down to the sands below, snarling at her again.

Sajo Sabaku had failed.

But it had been only a level six.

Distantly her ears caught the faint "Kurosaki-kun, please! Please don't fight!" Her eyes flickered to the monster-like form of Ichigo only to see _something_ change in it.

Kei was barely able to define it.

_Soften?_

Whatever it was, the sight of it made her angry. Perhaps the only one Ichigo would respond to now was Inoue. Kei forcibly decided to put it aside for later contemplation. Perhaps words were only words after all and maybe he did deep down truly care more for the human girl. Whatever the case was, she refused to let the insecurity hinder her precision. Choosing a moment later to strike, Kei enhanced her shinsoku, utilizing the silencer technique to cross the distance, her hands performed the necessary seals.

Her veer upward carefully controlled as she flung her hand out.

"Bakudo 99 Kin!"

_Restrict_. She had rarely used that particular level nine much before. Yet backed it up with more power than the Sajo Sabaku. The Kido materialized within seconds of being activated, solidifying into thick black bands of cloth that crisscrossed the body, binding the arms, legs then shooting outwards into an X-shaped pattern. Kei did feel a subtle faint lessening of the power she had available but ignored it, sending a wave of _Sho_ down to imprison Ichigo on the ground. Though struggling, it seemed the level nine was able to hold up. Still maintaining her position above, Kei began the final set of hand seals, a glimmer of red broke her concentration.

Her eyes widened.

A thick track of red Cero split the air charging up toward her.

Quickly discarding the seals for Gochutekken, she flung out a wave of dark grey. "Danku!" she barked, seconds only from the blast hitting her. The onslaught slammed into the kido shield rocking it with the sheer force of energy Hollow Ichigo had released. Far down below, she sensed her Bakudo level nine holding and was grateful at least for that. The Danku however was wavering, warping beneath her palm, threatening to buckle under the much stronger power.

Kei parted her lips unable to hold it in any longer. "You're so stupid, Ichigo! Stupid!"

_Were your words a lie?_

Her reiatsu surged forward with her burst of emotion in a blistering, searing wave of bluish flame colored light spiraling down, instantly disintegrating the kido. She descended after it with satisfaction curving her lips. The Cero was devoured as well, the power of the Hollow was still nothing compared to her. Landing to the side, she tilted her head at the Hollowified boy flattened beneath the pressure.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was that not enough for you?" She chuckled softly beneath her hand. "Ah, perhaps I don't recall my own strength. How's this?" Her eyes flickered over strategic spots on the body, hammering in the focused blocks of thick energy, the black bands of Kin formed over and over crisscrossing the head and torso forming a black star like pattern at the conclusion. Only then did she level off her reiatsu, sure the binds would hold now.

With a sigh she stepped around the bound Hollow and went over to the prone form of the winged Arrancar lying in the sands, his emerald eyes tilting up in their sockets at her approach.

"Get up."

He did, _barely_.

"We have something to discuss...you and I."

...Fake Karakura town...

"Have you set up a perimeter?" Kagami asked of the stoic faced ex Noble. Hisrio uttered a brief affirmative, affixing his hawk-like gaze on the black topped tent domes being stretched up at the outskirts of the fake town. The water wielder sensed the restlessness in the other man's eyes. "What is it?"

"I wonder at the success of Keiko Yamamoto."

A faint smile tugged on the downcast corners of Kagami's mouth. "I'm sure she's fine. You know she may not act like it but when push comes to shove she can surpass everyone."

"Sir..." Hisrio trailed off, seemingly embarrassed he'd allowed his uncertainty to show.

Kagami smiled and clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. "Go assist Mai and Seijin please. I will be with the rest of the Captains." Satisfied with the short nod and bossy tone issuing forth as Hisrio walked away. Kagami went down the short lane and parted the fabric hanging to let a slant of light filter into the confines of the grey paneled section. The outside of the tent was made of thick black canvas painted with a large symbol of Division one filling its octahedron shaped roof. It was the symbol of a silver phoenix rising toward the sun, the axiom displayed beneath. _Provehito in altum: Reach for the Heights_.

He glanced toward a scowling Kazeatari leaning against the edge of a long narrow table littered with crisp white sheets of paper. He finally directed his glance all around the room, seeing Osore nervously fiddle with the black tassels on the hilt of his sword, Kanzaki was glowering at the paper in his hand and Takara was looking pale but alert, her gaze was fixated on the open Satcom on her wrist. He presumed she was monitoring any change in the few spiritual pressures around the town.

"So," Kagami began, spreading his hands out. "What do you think?"

"That we're early." Kazeatari muttered, her obsidian eyes flecked by gold like a tiger's flickered his way then down to the orb of kido light hovering near her.

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Namaiki!" Kanzaki snapped, on edge more than usual. "Kagami, are you absolutely sure these directives are safe?" For emphasis, he waved a sheaf of the typewritten orders around. "To send Kazeatari's third seat out against two former Fukutaichous, one being of the Shinigami, the other a Kido Corps sub-commander- is lunacy!"

"Then, you don't believe in them?" Kagami asked quietly, affixing a measured look upon the frantic Division one Captain. If anything the man's flightiness was most aggravating now. He needed no reminder of the masked army as if it wasn't enough the pain he was giving himself. "I myself will be facing Hiyori Sarugaki. I'm not sure you realize the past I have with my combatant was something I did not wish to inflict upon another."

_I want to be the one to take her life. I saved her once, now I'll take back what I gave...not some stranger_.

Staring crimson eyes conveyed momentary shock. "Then...then you mean-?" Kanzaki seemed at a loss for words for once. Kagami nodded an affirmative while Kazeatari slanted her gaze down. "Ren's opponent is Kensei Muguruma, the former Taichou of Ninth Company. He was a friend of...Kazeatari's. Mashiro Kuna, one of Seijin's opponents as well and Lisa Yadomaru..."

_Muguruma taught Kazeatari unique Zanjutsu with wind_.

"Was Kei's friend."

...Las Noches...

Her reiatsu was nothing- nothing like he had ever experienced or could've comprehended.

It was stifling.

The air itself smelled burnt to his nostrils, attempting to find any solace in the lift of a breeze. Yet there was none, being so close to the center of the descent, Ulquiorra was driven down to his knees, a sweltering oppressiveness beating down on his back, making his wings droop, sweat to break out on his skin.

He hacked, dry heat expanding in his lungs.

Blackened fluid flew from his bi-colored lips, discoloring the white sand.

His eyes widened at the sight.

The blood itself in his veins was burning.

..._this was the power of an Elemental?_

...

The air thickened.

Isane looked around the expanse of desert surrounding them then back to her superior whom was kneeling beside the lifeless body of Yachiru Kusajishi. While it was still saddening to find the pair in such a state, Isane was more worried about the sheer amount of spiritual pressure radiating from everywhere all at once.

"Taichou! Wha-what is this? Who is it? An Arrancar?"

Unohana finished checking over the Fukutaichou's small body, confirming her suspicions. The traitor Ichimaru had been her murderer. A somber glance flickering to Kenpachi, frozen in ice that was untouchable so frozen it was.

"No."

There was only one whom she had experienced with this level, a long time ago during an exhibition match for the girl's uncle. One whose level could barely be felt, whose power at its height was greatly masked.

"That is Keiko Yamamoto."

Isane looked back at with her startled eyes.

Unohana stood with a sigh. "Let us hope she is on our side in this war."

...Fake Karakura town...

"So, they're setting up camp."

"Yes...it seems that way." Urahara attempted to disguise the gravity of the situation by a mysterious smile and wave to the tatami mats. "Please, gentlemen, sit down."

Uryu declined with a faint scowl, "no thanks, Urahara-san."

Chad shook his head as well.

"So, what did you call us for anyway?"

"I'm sure you know, Ishida-kun, the lethality of your weapon. A Quincy is a _natural_ enemy of only one type of being."

Uryu received a hooded look. Eyes narrowing behind square frames, he responded carefully, "what do you mean?"

Urahara tapped his stubbly chin with a folded paper fan. "I mean, you are to go now and enter the Juppongatana camp. It is most likely that the Elementals will be with Karasu Kanzaki who you I recall are acquainted well with."

Uryu felt the need to answer and did so hesitantly. "Yes...I am." The Division one Captain had been the only Quincy save for Soken Ishida, that hadn't demeaned the Quincy ways like Ryuken. Karasu had been a very talkative, intelligent sort. A hybrid-like Shinigami that Uryu had almost looked up to, which why was his spine stiffened with Urahara's next words.

"If the time comes...you must draw your bow against Kanzaki Karasu."

"What! But, that's-"

"Listen, that man is their trump card. If his life is at stake, the Elementals will have no choice but to back down." Urahara sensed the discomfort in the young man and tried to lessen the blow by degrees. "Or if you prefer, when they are suitably distracted, you must shoot Kagami Nanatsu and Kazeatari Namaiki anywhere on the body. With even a single arrow in each their bodies will be too poisoned to release their full powers against us."

...

Each step sent waves of cold to freeze his blood.

They recognized him - a woman with brown hair past her ears let him in, and pointed him to the largest tent. Inside he felt the steady hum of five spiritual pressures. Surprised at the number, he went and parted the cloth hanging to see the familiar ones of Kazeatari and Kagami. From the woman a slight stare then she looked away, Kagami was politer as always and smiled before going back to perusing the small computer screen the blonde Lieutenant was showing him. Uryu passed his gaze over the other two occupants to see a brown-haired man he didn't recognize seated on a camp chair, scowling at the black and red scabbarded sword on his lap. By the haori he knew it was another Captain - but one that was unfamiliar-?

At last he dragged his gaze to the genial smile of welcome from Kanzaki. "Hello, Uryu. What are you doing here?"

That was hard.

"Oh, I just thought it'd be a better point of advantage to be here."

The other Quincy shrugged then waved to an empty seat at the table.

"Well, I suppose it's alright."

As he sat, he couldn't help but look at the two elementals standing not far away.

_"Ah yes, I believe I am forgetting one other member of this little cast."_

Uryu could imagine Kurosaki's face.

Kanzaki was speaking, remarking about the artificial weather of all things.

_"Keiko Yamamoto, she is the one regrettably most difficult. I believe the Soutaichou would prefer her alive."_

_"Why?" Of course he'd had to ask, analytical, damned curious._

_"To be imprisoned in the Maggot's nest." _

Uryu felt _sick_.

The Soul reaper from the kido barrier poured flavorful orange tea.

Kanzaki thanked her.

_He had struggled to fathom the wisdom of such a move then realized the infamous prison was somewhere below ground. They'd lie to Kurosaki and take the poisoned elemental alive. "But there are four elements! What about-"_

_Urahara had laughed humorlessly. "The Earth element, you mean? He hasn't been seen for over two hundred years. It's highly unlikely he will make an appearance. Oh and don't worry about Kurosaki-kun. Soi Fong has it outlined in case our quote __**allies**__ unquote allies turn on us. Perhaps even then, Kurosaki will simply take her down himself and you won't have to worry about it."_

It shouldn't have surprised him that Seireitei would play dirty. No doubt fake bodies or a report that the elemental had killed Kurosaki's family would be the only thing to turn him against her. Uryu barely tasted the tea, it went down bitter. Not even he believed the fire elemental would do such a thing.

If that was the case, he truly hoped they had a contingency plan in the event that Kurosaki did kill the elemental. It would either destroy him or embitter his heart toward Soul Society forever.

Someone was looking at him. Uryu glanced up catching the impassive stare of the Lieutenant. If he wasn't mistaken she was from Third.

"Worried about your strategy?" She called.

He almost winced at the blonde's discernment of his thoughts. Just in time he managed to keep a cool almost cold composure, smiling slightly at the girl. "Not really. Just amazed at the set up you have here."

The girl's blue-eyed stare was unnerving for reasons he couldn't fathom.

Kanzaki was going on about the fire element's return.

Uryu couldn't suppress the feeling that the girl knew.

For that was what her eyes said.

_I'm watching you_.

...Las Noches...

"Do you know who I am?"

It was always began with a question and ended with the unanswerable.

"The Elemental of Fire."

Kei observed the creature in front of her. She studied the lines in his skin, the absolute waxy pallor of his flesh, the thick black lines like never ceasing tears running down the sharp cheekbones. He was thin like she remembered, hair longer now in his resurrección. The bone horns were long, thin, curved straight up and he was a monster.

There was no denying that.

"No." Kei said for she was patient. "No. No!" Her voice ended on a shrill note. She had patience, had waited for centuries and now he was the one not cooperating. "Who am I beyond that? What is _my_ name!"

The skin around his eyes crinkled. It was a subtle sign of annoyance. He was already beginning to think she was annoying, petulant like a child. Kei swallowed her anger, forcing it down her throat like the bitterness of a pill.

"Keiko Yamamoto."

"What was my name before?" She had to grip her fists to keep from lashing out at him. To keep from screaming in his face to remember when that was all she had done for the passing of hundreds of years. _Was ...remember_.

"Angelique."

She still wasn't happy, she felt numb. Not breathless, nor in pain. Just a dull sort in the region of her chest. Kei dragged her gaze from him, her hand reached up to tuck back the strands of hair that had escaped the hair tie. Seconds before her fingertips curled around them, the brush of fur halted her. Ulquiorra clasped her above the wrist. Curious, she watched as he tilted her arm over, looking pointedly at the abrasion on the inside of her wrist.

"You should be more careful." He murmured, from the somewhat distant look in his eyes she was sure he was barely conscious of doing it. Of reaching out with his free hand and tearing a strip of black cloth from her shoulder. Her warning bells for the too close proximity went off. Kei bit her lip to keep from snapping out something she would regret later and held still as he wrapped the cloth around the mark, tying it snugly into a bow.

"Keep it on there."

He released her hand. Her eyes couldn't keep from straying to the bandage just to prove that it was even there. "Do you...remember anything else?" Kei prompted, still unsure how to take the surprising care.

He seemed almost lost on the question.

She wasn't sure she knew how, considering his face never showed anything except for a tightness to the straight line of his mouth.

"No."

Kei was somewhat relieved he didn't remember how he died. It wasn't so surprising that he remembered very little. He had become a Hollow or was a wandering soul that had become a Hollow by being consumed by others. She could see now how very little his features had changed even with the hole bleeding black fluid from his chest. Her gaze dropped to his torso, seeing the unhealed gash filled with gritty sand. A frown touched her mouth, before she could say anything, he remarked in a stranger yet tone.

"Haben Sie mit ihm gelegt?"

(lit*have you laid with _him_?)

Confused it took a moment for her mind to decipher the language his quick tongue spoke, she started laughing then. "*Was denken Sie?" Kei returned cheekily.

(lit* What do you think?)

Ulquiorra said nothing, his expression darkening ominously. She smiled, deciding not to clarify the fact that she and Ichigo hadn't done _it_. Even though she had wanted to fuck him ever since she had first laid eyes on him in the park - barring of course his getting older by a few years.

She sobered when her gaze fell, alighting on the sand-filled gash across his ribs. "Perhaps it's something you can't understand. . . how I felt during those years." Kei said, covering his hand with her other. Pulsing red light emanated from their connection, little by little his wounds healed, his uniform reformed into starch whiteness. Kei tried to go farther until almost a slight sound like a heartbeat thudded beneath her palm.

"Ulquiorra, even if you don't remember. It's alright. I'll remember for us both." She said quietly, pulling back. He was restored to untouched perfection as an Arrancar. His chest no longer lifted with breath. He noticed the difference.

"Your power is great.

"I suppose it is."

"Why do you not use it then?"

"I have no need of it." Kei said, managing a small smile. "For a very long time I've only fought with ten percent of my real strength. I've found it's enough to get by most of the time." So, saying this, she gently released his hand and instead trailed her palm up to cup his cheek. "It's strange really and almost a little sad. I've been longing for this day for what felt like an eternity and now that it's here...I don't what to say."

_Do we have anything to say to one another anymore?_

His skin was cool beneath her fingertips.

"Ulquiorra, is Inoue something to you?"

"No." He had gone back to one syllable answers.

Kei knew better than to expect more for now. She had every intention of restoring his heart, at least maybe she could undo a tiny bit of what Shigekuni's failure had caused. Even then she could feel the seed of time-warped energy she'd left in his chest. It was reproducing through his cells, slowly replicating the long deadened tissues. Mara had used it once on the very same man that had allowed the humans to become Hollows. It wouldn't take long at all for the transformation to occur.

"May I try something?"

"What is it?" he asked cautiously.

Kei took a deep breath, "I want to kiss you. Before..." she tried to explain quickly. "We were always chaperoned. We were never permitted intimacy like a real couple."

"Do as you wish."

She frowned, wishing he had been slightly more responsive. Closing the distance between them, she tilted her chin back and brushed her lips against his cold sealed ones, waiting to feel something, _anything_.

For seconds their lips were pressed together, neither moving, neither giving in the silent war. Was it even a war? Was it even possible for the frozen statue of the Arrancar to respond to an emotion no matter how deeply she felt it? Did she even feel anything? The different questions filled her mind, refusing to lie low, to stay down in the increasing torpor of her mind.

She had loved him so much during her short life – was that feeling not there anymore?

It was startling to think that it could've been so shallow as to disappear.

So frail that with the passage of time it would fade leaving only a shade of what it had been. More perhaps of a beautiful memory of something long gone. Kei with that realization was on the verge of breaking away when he surprised her.

His lips moved, parting slightly.

It was enough for her to freeze, stiffen in the act of withdrawing, halt by a simple curiosity of what he would do. Ulquiorra's eyes were unerringly wide open, pure green like absinthe crystals. She wondered what he saw when his lips lightly feather-light brushed hers before they widened at something behind her and pulled back—

-TBC  
:Omake:

He released her hand. Her eyes couldn't keep from straying to the bandage just to prove that it was even there. "Do you...remember anything else?" Kei prompted, still unsure how to take the surprising care.

He seemed almost lost on the question.

She wasn't sure she knew how, considering his face never showed anything except for a tightness to the straight line of his mouth.

"Yes..." He said hesitantly. Kei felt a stirring of hope then the brush of something else, his long tail had just rubbed her ass. She twitched, her fist rising.

She couldn't know of course the various thoughts that while being alien to the Arrancar stirred the testosterone all males have.

_"-can't wait to get under that dress."_

"_-wonder what's under that corset?" _

_"-fuck that tight little ass-"_

"Like what?" Kei all but spat, that tail was just asking to be shishkabobbed including his very male part.

"Sex." He intoned solemnly.

Disclaimer: Do not own the rights to Once upon a December.

AN: thanks for reading!

No flames, haters!

Reviews loved :)


	94. Divide and Conquer

Until you **F**ight

Until you **Fall**

Until the **E**nd of everything at all-

* * *

ShiKai CH.87: Divide and Conquer

Ishida was ill at ease. Takara could read it in his almost jerky movements and visible sweat dampening his brow. Haretosora showed her the negative tinge to his aura, she couldn't help but feel that he was planning something.

Her eyes darted to Kagami seeing a smooth brow and bland smile. He was as unworried as ever. With a tint of jealousy to her thoughts her mind turned back to her own battle. Her opponent was supposedly a fraccion of Barragan, the Segunda Espada. The information was already input into the Satcom, _everything_ Kagami could tell her about the Arrancar she had never seen before.

Truth be told she was getting antsy about it. Nervous that maybe she wasn't strong enough to win the battle. Again she eyed the man standing to the side, his profile revealing a sliver of a smile. He seemed to be truly enjoying this war game. She frowned, taking up a cup from the pre-served tray.

Had they always been like that? - so self-assured, unafraid?

She envied his calm manner and wished she had even half his surety. Sipping at the tea, a smile came to her lips. "Oh! This is delicious, Mai-san!"

The brown-haired girl lost her frown and smiled up from the other side of the long table. "Thank you, Shimizu-san." When their eyes met, they shared matching grins. Working together with the quiet ex Noble, had been somewhat fun. Mai had written the malicious code to be injected into the incoming stream and Takara had reverse-engineered the original hacking to be controlled by their firewall. From the Sat-com itself she could see all that the Research and Development did and when the time came, she could easily flick the switch and infect their systems with the new bug. That way, even temporarily, communication would be cut off. She was sure the scrambler for the soul pagers signal would hold.

Takara was momentarily taken from her thoughts with the preamble-less intonation of Kagami.

"They're here." He said simply.

* * *

It was fitting that the skies fell apart in slats over the town above the black tented camp. Kagami stood in front of the main tent flanked by Kanzaki, Ishida, Osore and on his right side, Takara, Kazeatari and Mai. The latter held a silver tea tray and wore a slight frown.

Their eyes were fixated on the figures in white surveying them as well. To the left, movement caught his eye. Shinigami were appearing in the sky, lead by Yamamoto. Kagami counted seven Taichous, silently he hoped that Kei had been able to take care of Zaraki and Kurotsuchi. Dealing with them would've proved most bothersome. The two armies watched each other warily while the Juppongatana camp stayed in between. Finally Yamamoto advanced, his call clear.

"Turn all Creation to ash, Ryuujin Jakka!"

He continued smiling even when the tongues of glowing flame became the sword - the strongest, wasn't it?

"Are you sure...?" Kanzaki mouthed, it could've been anything. About anything at all. Not even Ishida would've understood. Their conversation over the last night in Tsukikage came to mind. Though it probably would've been upsetting to Kei_ko_ for her uncle to pass at another's hands, Kagami was more than willing to be the one to fell that stroke if it came to that.

_"I..." of course he found it hard to breathe. But everyone was going to do it. More than one opponent, made of powerful Taichous. It was more than that, more than fear only a kind of ache born of pity and memory. "I will fight Yoruichi Shihoin. Once I have dealt with her, I will engage Shigekuni Yamamoto myself."_

_If Kei didn't come back in time. _

_If the pain couldn't be buried like the proverbial hatchet used to murder their bodies_.

So many ifs.

Out of the four Elements given flesh, he considered himself the least emotional. Seeing the Shinigami scatter was amusing, a tremor ran through Sazanami's scabbard as if she too was eager to test her strength against the Fire Dragon. He thought it would be an eventuality.

The fire spread, encircling Aizen, Tosen and Ichimaru. Beside him, Takara tensed and he felt for her. Unable to help, helpless to watch. It was still too early to show remorse toward the traitors. There were too many Shinigami watching, too many eyes from which their emotions had to be masked.

Yamamoto issued the order for the rest of the Shinigami retinue to disperse, the man himself leaving the sky field for the ground. Just then, Hisrio swept up, looking quite harried. "Everything's set up, sir. Medic tents are to the left to treat the wounded and a mess hall has been prepared." He finished relaying. Kanzaki still looked rather dazed, something which Kagami inwardly frowned at, stepping forward to take charge.

"Alright. You have your orders," he raised his voice to get the attention of the nearby milling grey-clad Soul Reapers. "Move out." From the corner of his eye he glimpsed Takara forcibly look away from Gin and strap the Satcom to her wrist.

She left with a forced smile to them, joining Hisrio as the five Lieutenants formed a vaguely triangular formation.

Hisrio lead, heading for his opponent, Findorr Calius.

Takara veered off toward a youth wearing the skull of a saber tooth atop his black hair, Ggio Vega. Kagami's own Lieutenant had left without a word and went for the hideous transvestite Charlotte Chuhlhourne. He glimpsed Kazeatari's lip curl of disdain and had to agree albeit silently, Kimiko was made of much better stuff than for the likes of Chuhlhourne. Then their eyes traced the speed-step of Rizu Sakurai. Fifth's Lieutenant went for Stark and the short figure of a child standing beside him.

Rizu had been the best choice for an easy takedown. Kagami pitied Stark intensely, while he had nothing against the Primera, for everything to proceed as planned, the Espadas needed to be taken down.

"She can...handle it." Kazeatari spoke suddenly, her face turned up toward the distant figures. Kagami knew she was saying it more to reassure herself, no doubt remembering the nightmares Nekomata had shown her. The last of the Lieutenants was Jinteki Eremiyasho, a man whom Takara had explicitly wished would not become a Captain. Kagami had to agree with her when to his slight surprise, one more Espada level Arrancar appeared.

The Séptima Espada, Zommari Leroux.

Tall with a shaved head like a monk's, impassive with heavy eyes and thick lips, the dark-skinned Arrancar surveyed his fellow comrades being split up in different ways. Kagami had to swallow his sigh when Jinteki ignored his orders and went forward to accost the Séptima. The idiot didn't know what he was getting into.

_Since Zommari had joined Aizen in the living world, that meant it was most likely Ulquiorra and Yammy Riyalgo were in Las Noches. He hoped Kei had counted on that and covered the zero Espada in her contingency plan_.

Kagami looked back to Mai finally and nodded, "go ahead." With the same implacable smile, he glanced to Kazeatari questioningly. She immediately turned on her heel, pronouncing flatly, "no." Kagami shrugged to the group of men approaching, "please, gentlemen. Come inside our humble camp, I will prepare us tea."

Yamamoto appeared on the verge of declining then simply strode into the large black tent. Sasakibe took up station beside the parted door hanging while Urahara grinned, tipping his hat.

A short time later after they were all seated, Kagami went around the table serving a fresh pot of tea. Urahara sipped his immediately and mildly mocked, "why you're like a butler, Nanatsu-san! You seem to be capable of anything!" Though the jibe was somewhat less than pleasant, Kagami gave the scientist a slight smile in recognition.

"You give me far too much credence, Urahara-san. I was trained in the art of tea service but as some of my fellow officers can attest to, I am not as efficient as some in other arts."

He meant cooking - namely fish stew and grog that was of legendary ill-repute among the Juppongatana, but he could see that Urahara was picking apart his words, finding other meanings to them. Kagami poured his own cup, setting the pot down and lifting it up in mock salute. So much the better. Without truly aiming for it, he had convinced Urahara that he had some deficiency in skill.

"To our alliance?"

Kanzaki almost tipped his cup, being tardy in picking it up.

"Or perhaps to the phrase, time ...heals all wounds."

* * *

Toya barely paused to wonder at the scientific achievement Mayuri - late - Kurotsuchi had built. The small town of Karakura had been reproduced to every exact detail. His restless feet however took him deep into the residential, a byway to where the masked spiritual pressures were gathered.

Hirako was his goal - yet his feet stopped at the descent of the many spiritual pressures around the town complex. Without meaning to, he locked onto Takara's and the agitated almost wild spiritual pressure nearest her - one Toya assumed was her opponent.

For just a fleeting moment, he regretted not being there. Takara was dear to him - she had been his superior officer and he had followed her orders for a very long time. Now that their roles were reversed, he wasn't there, standing beside her. It did bother him.

Toya gripped his fists and forced himself to walk away from Takara's direction, and meet his destiny.

...

"Who are you?" The man asked. He'd have looked normal, Rizu could've said he was even good-looking but for the necklace of a jaw bone gracing his collarbone. The child with him was worse, one-eyed, the other eye was covered by a bone helmet bearing a reddish flame tattoo marking, the empty socket radiated curiosity. It was somehow unnerving.

"Lieutenant of Fifth, Rizu Sakurai." She pronounced crisply, attempting to stare down the Espada who blinked at her semi-sleepily. Stark shrugged to others who had shunpo'd behind her.

"And them?"

Her eyes rolled to the side, her expression working in irritation like when she caught Hana in the candy drawer in Fifth's office. "This one's mine, Shinigami." she addressed both men never turning around- Taichous by their haori coats, recognizable as Kyoraku and Ukitake. Rizu had never quite forgiven Kyoraku for turning her in because of her friendship with Kanzaki.

"Are you sure about that, Rizu-chan?" Kyoraku was peering at her from under his ridiculous wide-brimmed hat.

"Let us handle this one, Sakurai-chan." Ukitake had always been so nice. Rizu felt the attempted kindness a spike of bitterness to her unforgiving heart.

"No, thank you." She declined tightly, noting the fact that the Primera was eyeing them as if they'd grown extra heads.

"So, uh- who's my opponent exactly?"

"It's obvious, dumbass! We just wipe out the lot of 'em!" snapped the little girl Arrancar.

"Be quiet, Lilinette." The Primera rumbled.

Rizu fought down the urge to snap. Her temper was rising yet it wasn't the Arrancar's fault. "I am." she said evenly bearing her previous thoughts in mind. Her hand rested on the hilt of Nekomata strung through her sash and -

Kyoraku sighed, wearing that expression - the one he wore when he escorted her to the waiting officers under Shihoin's command.

She could _hear_ it in his tone of voice.

"Now Rizu-chan. Don't be so stubborn and listen to your superior-"

_My superior...officer? Had he forgotten? In that moment she felt the weight of his hand on her shoulder guiding her to that door - hear his voice. "Understand, Rizu-chan. These are precautions that must be taken, they are done for the good of Soul Society." _

_Her confusion as the door panel slid open. _

_"Now, don't struggle. Everything'll be cleared in no time." _

Her lips parted and she half spun on her heel, her eyes flashing with anger behind their frames. "Have you forgotten? You're not my commanding officer anymore!"

_You don't know me anymore_.

_You're not the person I respected, nor the one who belongs to a cause I follow. _

_Just leave me alone_.

She had never been fond of Kido like Kazeatari. But saw its usefulness as she formed a chain of Hanaiwa and tossed it around the arm of the Espada. His grey eyes widened, "hey what-" then she pulled, streaking off grimly to the snaking line of canal glittering in the distance; it was a most ignominious way of doing things, not proper by a long shot and though Fifth wasn't known for delicacy, it was grace Rizu still attempted by dumping the Arrancar ceremoniously on the bank of the canal. The lone fraccion had gone after them shrieking in a most irritating way.

"Staaaaaaaaaarrrrrk!"

Then as Rizu dismissed Hanaiwa and fixed her glasses, tucking back a strand of dark hair that escaped her bun, her lips pursed at his flopping long arms. "Get up."

The Primera groaned from the heap he'd been tossed into. Rising in a tangle of limbs and fending off the minor kicks of the scowling little girl. "That hurt..." his glance swept around their field and he yawned. "This place looks good for a nap."

"Idiot!" Lilinette cried.

"Tch." Rizu sucked her teeth. She wondered if they were really Aizen's strongest warriors. It was hard to think so considering the petty argument the elder of the pair was having with the smaller. Every time he disagreed and said he could defeat their enemies easily and still nap - (that was galling) - the small one would kick him in various spots and call him an idiot and to hurry up and defeat the Shinigami - her, Rizu. After a few more minutes of watching, she placed a hand on her sword hilt again, sighing, "you really are a pair of clowns. I don't understand what Captain Nanatsu was thinking when he assigned me you two."

Lilinette stopped her arguing with her other half, long enough to shoot Rizu a dirty look. "Hey, lady! Watch your mouth! Stark and I are the strongest of a whole in Aizen-sama's army! You should be the one trembling!" Lilinette sneered. "Or is it too disgraceful?"

Rizu raised a thin eyebrow at the accusation. "In our world it isn't a shame to admit cowardice but rather all the more brave to overcome it. I'm not afraid of you at all. Now, that said, would you like to attack first?" She thought it was only fair to give him a chance - Nanatsu had said to, Captain Namaiki had been noncommittal but hadn't explicitly said no. Because she would see what he saw, Rizu knew the ultimate decision would be hers to make.

Stark scratched the side of his head, looking quite bored. "Ladies first-?" he offered as though unsure whether or not it was the right thing to say. Lilinette scowled but honored her other half's choice.

Rizu took half a step back, her eyes already measuring the distance of the attack path. Her fingers tightened around the hilt. carefully easing it out. She saw Lilinette tense, Stark slip his hands into his pockets, waiting patiently. She drew the sword out, taking the scabbard out along with it. Extending her arms out as if embracing the sky, she tipped her head back.

"Tear, Nekomata." She pronounced, feeling the head spinning rush of burning hot energy pour from her chest and arms upward, flowing out to hover over her into the shape of large muscular feline-like shape. It growled a deep rumbling sound, her body straightened, her arm swinging, the long silver tang carved with arcane symbols, a blood red kite-shaped jewel the color of Nekomata's eyes flashed, the misty beast flowed backward with her cut, swirling inches above the blade like twisting miasma. The Primera tilted a heavy-lidded eye at her, his gloved palm lifting to simply catch the high swing.

"Yume..." Rizu tucked her body in, knees folding after the initial lunge. His eyes remained wide, startled when the blade passed through him. The child Arrancar was left staring as well, one eye staring as the mist exploded in a final wave behind her. "..no ato."

(_yume no ato: after the dream_)

* * *

The camp was quiet. A few sounds came from the main tent, Shunsui waved off Jushiro to go ahead there, he had espied a sole woman wearing a black haori coat standing two tents down. Tall and spare, straight dark hair fell around her face in trimmed flats, the rest was piled high atop her head in a braided bun. He thought he remembered her as being mostly silent, having an almost disdainful air to her interactions during the visit the Juppongatana undertook to Soul Society.

Shunsui in particular noticed the slant of the symbol he could see on the back of her coat.

A leaf in silver thread, like Rizu's armband.

"Hello there!" He called friendlily, walking up. The woman slightly turned, narrow eyes with coppery flecks like a large cat's met his. She glanced him over then as if dismissing, turned back up to the sky, reading the spiritual waves emanating from the different combatants locations.

"You are?" Her voice prompted. Shunsui had been convinced a few moments before of being ignored - something that never happened before with any woman. The question itself otherwise was surprising. Hadn't the woman known who the Thirteen Court Guard Taichous were by sight?

He decided to overlook it with a charming smile and courteous sweep - Nanao wasn't around anyway to chastise him. "Kyoraku Shunsui. Taichou of Eighth Company." The smile fell a bit flat with a slightly cold look. Shunsui tried not to shiver, he'd been given colder stares by Nanao in the past.

"I see-"

"You are?" He mimicked her serious tones with his baritone rumble. The woman sent him another look one that Shunsui somehow failed to interpret.

"Namaiki Kazeatari, Captain of Fifth."

He had thought so and gave her an affable smile.

"Ah, then, Namaiki-Taichou, what do you see?"

Another cold look. Shunsui cheerfully ignored it. The forces of Seireitei - his fellow Taichous and Fukutaichous were landing at the outskirts of the camp and stalking in. The only ones missing were Hitsugaya and Soi Fong and their adjutants. Both of which had engaged Espadas.

"Nothing much. At this point I am not required on the field."

"Ah, so your officers are skilled then. We're lucky to have such Shinigami guarding our backs."

"They're not Shinigami." Namaiki said with a hint of bitterness. "That's a confining moniker used to segregate the authority from anyone even the least bit different such."

"You speak of Kanzaki Karasu?"

"Among others." Namaiki scoffed softly. Shunsui thought he was on the verge of cracking her tough shell - high strung women were all alike. Not that he was sure she was going to invite him into her bed, oh no. It was much too soon for that. His gaze swept over her profile again, comparing it to the absent semi-traitor, old man Yama's adopted niece. The princess of fire was much easier on the eyes. Although not being blind by any means, he had seen Ju-kun's face at the mention of the Elemental's name.

Then, the wielder of wind, surprised him.

"Stay away from Rizu. She doesn't need to be reminded of the past." _Abruptly_.

_Ah, so he had been correct. Rizu-chan was Namaiki's Fukutaichou_.

Shunsui's brow quirked. "But, I don't concur, Namaiki-san. Isn't that the point of our alliance? For bygones to be just that, bygones?"

Her lips thinned, "I don't know, Kyoraku. Let me know when you have the answer."

* * *

The group walked down the streets in relative silence broken only by the occasional laugh from a red-haired girl.

"Kozue, be silent." Seijin intoned to the girl's left.

The girl flashed a grin full of pointed teeth, in colorless eyes swam mischievousness.

"Let her alone." Ren said, not minding the chatter. Kozue Kiwako had been a Hollow's plaything - _if it could be called that, used like the Grand Fisher's lure. The child had been deranged, a ragged thing with white eyes like a blind person's from being kept in the dark for so long. Stringy red hair that hung around pale almost albino skin and jagged points of teeth from tearing the meat from bones_.

It had taken Kei was one swing to decapitate the beast, another day to wait for the child to crawl out of the hovel near the ruins of another forgotten city.

Seijin scowled - though it was hard to tell with his wrappings. "Kiwako will talk to the wall if she thinks the wall is interesting. So she's crazy."

"True." Dani affirmed to the left of Ren. With the definite albino traits lacking the pinkish color of eyes, Nanatsu's third seat was an oddity that Ren thought almost bemusing considering the team they formed.

_The Slashers_.

Kozue laughed about something or other.

_A burned man, a sulking albino teenager, a Vizard and a deranged girl plus the missing piece of an ex Noble whose clan had been murdered_. Ren supposed they were a fitting match for the masked army.

"But, now that I think of it, Lieutenant Shimizu talks to the plants like they're people. Does that mean she's crazy too?" Dani interposed with a scowl. Ren caught the fleeting irritation in Seijin's eye crinkle. The man was used to staring at the iron gates of the castle all day not dealing with a chattering background and questions from girls.

Ren swallowed her smile, the man was hopeless. Never mind those looks he'd been giving Namaiki-san, he barely knew how to hold a conversation with a perma-scowl teen. Ren silently shook her head then perked up, her senses tingled. "Quiet!" she hissed, instantly Seijin and Dani had stopped giving each other the evil eye.

"Someone's comi- oh." Her tension drained off as at the intersection, a familiar man appeared. He stopped short of crossing and glanced at them, surprise in his voice.

"Mimasaka?"

"_Captain_ Amakusa." Ren stressed the word. It had not escaped everyone's notice the absence of the man beside the petite blond wielder of the star sword. Nanatsu had tried to fend off growing rumors about desertion, from their general direction, Ren guessed it hadn't been quite a lie.

Toya's eyes slid over the four of them as a whole. "The Slashers?"

Kozue was twirling around. Seijin and Dani stayed silent and grim. Ren shook a hand through her magenta bangs. "Yeah, don't look like much, eh, Captain?"

Toya forced a smile that felt wrong on his face. Ren noticed his eyes looked emptier than usual but decided not to comment on it. "Hey, we've all taken our knocks but that doesn't mean we're weak." He fell in step with them confirming their destination the same. He nodded again to them, "I see you're missing one. Where's Ichinomiya?"

"Here!" Mai huffed, flash-stepping to them, looking harried as though she'd run the entire way. Seijin nodded to her as well as Dani who eyed the extra terry cloth item. It took Ren to comment on it.

"A tea towel?"

The item was draped around her neck like a scarf.

Mai rolled her eyes aristocratically which was a practiced feat. "Captain Nanatsu gave me leave to go. He was going to serve tea to those braggarts. I probably should've left the towel for him."

They were all surprised by the brief male chuckle from Toya. "Looks cute, Ichinomiya."

A second of silence punctuated only by faint blasts in the distance.

Then, Mai blushed, stumbling over her words. "Oh-oh! But it was really silly of me, Amakusa-san!"

Ren slid eyes over to Seijin who, tilted an eyebrow beneath a thicket of dark hair at her.

It had been an ongoing bet for fifty years that Toya would fall in love with Takara, who was at the time, his superior. They were rarely apart then, she gave the order and he followed like a puppy dog. Seventy years before, there'd been a bet that Toya would go for the princess of Fire that is until the aforesaid princess caught them snooping and threatened a fate worse than death - something Ren didn't even want to contemplate.

Dani looked intrigued.

"More importantly, " Ren began hesitantly, she could just feel the money she'd bet slipping away - plus interest accumulated. "Shall we do a run through before we reach them?"

"Two blocks." Toya reminded tonelessly, losing the flirting front and staring moodily ahead as if he wished the remaining distance would vanish. Mai who walked beside him, fiddled nervously with the tea towel. Ren wished she had a kunai to twirl between her fingers.

"There's eight of them, six of us. Amakusa, you're aiming for Hirako, correct?"

A hesitance almost like surprise. "Yes."

Ren nodded, "Nanatsu told us you would be. In any case, Seijin's up for a heavy Kido user- Hachigen Ushoda, I think, and Mashiro Kuna."

Toya looked very surprised and almost angry. "What can they be thinking? Ushoda was one of my commanders back in the day! I'd have thought that Kagami-san would've had a little more sense to pair a kido user like Guns Cain with him."

She sighed at his outburst. Mat batted her nonexistent (short) lashes at him while Dani piped up. "Cain was sent with Kazura to take out the rest of the Segunda's Fracciones."

"Oh, but wasn't that Eremiyasho's task?"

"He ran out on it. One more Espada appeared after the rest, I'm not sure the number." Dani shrugged. "Eremiyasho challenged him instead."

Ren finished for her. "I'm sure one of the Captains is going to have to clean up after him. As for Usho-"

"I'll take care of Hachigen." Toya cut her off. "I knew him after all."

"He's a Vizard." Ren warned, "aside from being an ex sub-commander of Kido corps, he's got that added strength atop it."

"I know, I know." Toya agreed, sounding frustrated. "I'd rather avoid Maru getting sealed up by Kido and leave his opponent to deal damage to the rest of you. You guys can bet that the masked army won't take kindly to our little stop-loss of their involvement."

Ren made a noncommittal noise, going on as the first block ended, giving way to the start of the warehouse district. "Well I suppose since you're the highest ranked out of all of us, you can decide for yourself. That leaves me and Muguruma. Mai and another former Taichou, Rose Otoribashi, Dani and Love Aikawa."

Toya appeared to be keeping up. "Isn't there two women left then?"

Ren smiled faintly and glanced to Kozue. "That's where Kiwako comes in. Kiwako's opponent is Kyoraku's ex Fukutaichou, Lisa Yadomaru."

"That's a bit-"

"You're thinking of her Zanpaku-to?"

Toya bit his lip, swallowing hard. "Yeah."

Ren felt her anticipation mount, her hand slipped down and patted the slouched shoulder of the much younger Soul Reaper. "Don't worry. Kiwako won't eat Yadomaru. As for Sarugaki, the orders were to contain her away from the others, in time I'm sure we'll see Kagami-san. He said he'd deal with her."

"That's not what I'm worried about," he groaned before turning to face the wherehouse across the street from them. He could sense the pulsating Kido barrier even from there and was sure even Ren could feel the presences of the Hollows. "It's you I'm worried about." He grimaced. "Just don't eat _anyone_ in front of me...please!"

Hazel eyes rolled over to him, she was gripping her sword hilt tightly. "Why not? They have mass quantities of delicious spirit pressure...and I am ever _so starved_."

He looked sick.

Kozue tilted her head at him, singing happily. "Toya-ko-kun looks like he wants to pukey!"

Seijin's eyes crinkled as though he were fighting hard not to grin. "That's the most sensible comment you've made all day, Kiwako-san."

Dani's lips twitched and Mai seemed on the verge of pulling out a medicine pouch from her kimono. Toya had the grace to flush with embarrassment but enough gumption to stalk toward the barrier. Closer to it now, he could appreciate the sheer enormity of the power that had been put up to disguise the Vizards hideout. From a civilian's point of view, it was probably an empty lot. They knew better however.

He knew more. Channeling energy into his hands, he dove at the core of the barrier, sending shockwaves of his own rougher energy to combat the glassine protection. True to his skills it shattered with the sound of breaking glass. Toya stepped back, flexing his hands.

If anything the first intrusion would've alerted them, the shattering of the barrier however was a direct threat.

"Get ready." He said to the group of Soul Reapers.

* * *

A voice crackled to life in her ear.

_"Prepare two Eleventh Company funerals for Zaraki-Taichou and Kusajishi-Fukutaichou." _

Takara lifted her hand to her ear, lightly pressing the curved piece of metal earring closer to savor those words.

"What's up, prissy Shinigami?" jeered the Arrancar. In the short space of twenty minutes she had learned that he fought hand to hand, her sword was useless and she thought she had sustained a few cracked ribs. Her hair had escaped from its fastening, strands falling in her eyes, a smile coming to her lips after so many twists of pain.

"No, Vega-san. It's the best news I've heard all morning."

He harrumphed and scowled, looking just like an impatient little punk.

Shall we continue?"

* * *

"I seem to recall there being another..." Kisuke began and trailed off deliberately during a lull in the conversation between the recently arrived Ukitake and Nanatsu. Kyoraku had leaned back in his chair as indolent as ever. Yamamoto was in the background with Karasu Kanzaki and Uryu-kun, quietly observing the battle between Hitsugaya-Taichou and the Tercera Espada on that new_-fangled_ HP laptop.

"Fourth's Lieutenant...where is she? I didn't see her among the ones that headed out."

It was a perfectly plausible question and innocuous to boot. Kisuke was proud of himself. Nanatsu as nice as you please, smiled and smoothly replied, "you mean Zoe-chan. I sent her back beforehand with Amakusa from Third to guard Tsukikage."

Kisuke was sure it was a lie. Coming from the blue-eyed man whose pleasantness extended to welcoming many things, he was always sure a line of deceit lay behind the mask. "Ah, that was an intelligent move."

"Hm." Noncommittal at best, it could've been taken for an agreement or a dismissal. Kisuke waited until Nanatsu was about to open his mouth again and add something pleasant about tea selection in Assiah before jumping in with a well-placed jibe.

"From the haori coat on Osore, I'd guess that you guys had a little induction ceremony not long ago up at Tsukikage?"

"Yes, that's right."

"A presumptuous move on your part." Yamamoto rumbled from the far end of the table.

"How so?" Nanatsu wore a smile that was frost-tinged.

Kyoraku eyed his elder and even Ukitake tensed, seeming on the verge of saying _something_. Kisuke passed his gaze over Kanzaki Karasu and saw that he was correct in assuming the man was just a puppet controlled by the Elementals. Karasu looked confused while Osore merely nervous.

Hitsugaya whom had frozen himself along with the Tercera, had been forgotten.

"That you have the authority to raise an untried konpaku to the sacred level of Taichou is preposterous!"

Osore flinched. Kisuke had the notion that the man might've been very outspoken but as such was cowed by the Shinigami presences. He thought he recalled Yoruichi saying something about an _Akashi Osore_ mouthing off at her a long time ago.

"Ah, but, sir." Ukitake finally found his voice. "They do things _differently_ here than us."

Nanatsu chose to frown. "You're alluding to the practice of having two or three taichous recommend the new candidate? If so that qualification has been met. Osore was recommended by myself and the previous Captain of Fourth." Nanatsu gestured palm up. "Amakusa, by Kanzaki and Namaiki."

"They are not recognized Shinigami, therefore their decisions as well as yours are invalidated!"

Fleeting shock passed over Ukitake's face.

Kyoraku looked like he was enjoying himself and Nanatsu...had lost that damnable smile. That perfect smile like a moving pictures star. His classic good looks were rendered blank, a glassy blue to the surface of his eyes. Keiko Yamamoto's reaction would've been more fascinating with her bright violet eyes and animate face. Kisuke was sure she wouldn't have accepted the insult to face.

Nanatsu never had to say anything.

"I-"

The door hanging was suddenly shoved open, a frantic looking girl with long twin braids of hair leaned in, spilling in a rush. "Captain, uh, sir!" Kisuke saw her blank shock at the many faces staring at her. The girl recalled herself and hurried on, looking to Nanatsu for guidance. "Sir, Jinteki's about to be defeated! He's in it really bad! Please! Come quickly!"

Nanatsu stood, resignation replacing the impassiveness. "I'm sorry, gentlemen. If you'll excuse me...I see I must do everything myself." The bite at the end of his words hadn't gone unnoticed. The girl flinched, gaping at him wide-eyed. Kisuke risked a peek in old man Yama's direction, but the old man disappointed, for he was observing the hologram feed of the fight again.

Only Ishida was pale, watching with wary eyes as one of the targets walked away.

Had Kisuke been able to gauge Osore and know that the man wouldn't retaliate violently, being seated so close to Ishida, if he did it was likely that a single strike would kill their only chance to take out the other elementals - the volatile Wind and...Fire...wherever she was. Kisuke would've considered telling the Quincy to shoot. Osore was too much of a danger.

But he didn't.

Nanatsu was at the door, letting the girl he called -Yuka, go out first.

The old man - the enemy of the Elements, stirred, "_Mizu..na_. Do not forget what we have spoken of. You hadn't the right ...to call yourselves guardians of the afterlife."

The man stiffened at the name.

"Of course." Nanatsu said ever so softly like a hiss.

* * *

...Hueco Mundo...

_Where were they? _

Composure was the least thing in his mind, probing the outer world through the Hollow's senses. It was almost useless seeing as the readout came from everywhere. Keiko had been ingenious in flooding her spirit pressure into every inch of the binds. The innermost were solidified, the outer less, prevalent only by her energy signature invisible to all. Opening his eyes abruptly, he had seen the blue-flame colored ribbons all around.

_She had done well to isolate the Hollow_.

He swung about and paced to the edge of the building. Though it wasn't something he particularly wished to do, he wanted answers. _The truth from her own mouth- and damned if he wouldn't force it out of her by sword point._ He was startled from his thoughts by a familiar voice.

"Where are you going?"

If he had glanced over his shoulder, he'd have seen an aura of spreading darkness and a glassy surface in the middle of it. The golden eyes fixated on his bent back.

"Out." Tensa responded tonelessly, seeing the curls of Keiko's reiatsu swirling below. He could use those to manifest.

_She had made a mistake in leaving Getsu-ten behind_.

* * *

...Third Tower...

The wind made her cold. Shivering, Orihime knelt as close to the edge as she dared, looking out upon the scene of destruction on the sands. Kei-san had disappeared with Ulquiorra-kun and left the Hollo- ne, Kurosaki-kun pinioned beneath several layers of black cloth bands. Though she knew it was needed and that Kurosaki-kun wasn't in his right frame of mind, it still hurt to know he was suffering.

Clasping her arms around her ample bosom she was on the verge of reclining back since the far height made her dizzy - when movement when there shouldn't have been any, caught her eye. Risking a fall, she grasped the cold edge of the rough stone and leaned out, eyes fixated on the puddle of black bleeding out from Kurosaki-kun's sword.

_What was that- who was it? _

Even as she struggled to make sense of the apparition dressed in head to toe black, slender unlike Kurosaki-kun and wearing a concealing hood, the figure rose. Glanced about and then strode to a shining piece of light in the sands- _Kei-san's Zanpaku-to!_

And picked it up.

In the blink of an eye, a flash of black had formed in front of her face. Startled beyond words, she could only tilt her head upward at the young male's frown. Quicker than lightning, his hand shot out and plucked - there was other no word for it truly, one of her hairclips from the side of her head and smashed it...against the tang of the silvery sword.

She wanted to scream at him to stop - not to hurt her Shun Shun Rikka. But, he left her no time in which to speak. Nothing. Not even a word. The figure was gone with the speed of Kurosaki-kun's Ban-Kai. _Gone_, leaving only the glittering remnants of the clip on the ground in front of her.

* * *

_Why was this occurring?_

His sharp senses had been alert, eyes wide open, absorbing everything about the scene, recording it. Even the subtlest detail of the tiny scar beneath her eyelashes was caught. A curiosity of how the wound had been given - _how_ - she had foolishly allowed herself to damage the receptacle of the violet faintly black streaked orb, he wondered at.

But, that too was meaningless.

With every sense flaring in his body, the swift upper cut wasn't missed.

The shadow that fell across the sands.

_Now that he knew he had once been human - as himself_.

_He wondered_, pulling her forward sharply, breaking that undefined connection between their lips something he dared not name, he thought it even as the sword that looked like Kurosaki's cut down, shearing cleanly through the remnants of his mask.

_Did you see me die?_

* * *

-TBC

AN: -.-; took several hours of beta- reading. Okay, I was looking up SFF audio dramas in the meantime. But it got done. Anyway, next update will probably be (aiming for) on my bday Dec 1st. I'm hoping to have the ShiKai video done for a simultaneous release.

No flames, haters!

Reviews always loved.

Cheers!


	95. This Is War

_It's the rule that you live by and die for/It's the one thing you cannot deny/Even though you don't know what the price is/It is __**justified**__/_

* * *

ShiKai CH.88: This Is War

Kyou's tense shoulders sagged when he sensed a change in the swirling energies around the complex. Hana having already worried her lip to pieces, knotted her hands, but was fairly quiet for the most part. Zoe had barely regained full consciousness not long ago and was immobile on a slab of rock, one arm draped over her stomach, staring up at the sky.

While Kyou hated to break the false sense of security and worry his sister and other superior officer, he knew he had to alert them. "Unohana-Taichou and Kotetsu-Fukutaichou are heading our way. From what I can tell, they're searching for Kurotsuchi's remains to confirm his death. We should-"

"WHAT?" Hana shrieked, disrupting - Kyou could swear, nearby rubble with the sound. Zoe shot up with a wince, immediately alert. "How far?" she demanded softly. Kyou tried to ignore the arm flailing of his twin and answered with a frown. "They entered in through the Tercera's palace, however since the main walls are intact, their route will bring them here in maybe twenty minutes."

Zoe absorbed it for a moment then swung her legs off the edge of the rock slab gingerly. "That is troubling. As far as I know, the Shinigami are still our _allies_, therefore it would be prudent to keep out of their sight."

He hurried to her. "Can you flash-step?"

Zoe gently waved his hand away, "I'm going to have to, aren't I?" With a grimace, she strapped on her Zanpaku-to over her shoulder, feeling an icy cold tingle of response from the sealed sword. "Right now, our orders have been filled to completion. Our goal however is to keep up the illusion that we're allies of the Shinigami still."

Kyou nodded absently, stepping back as the Lieutenant slipped off the stone and stood shakily on her own feet. Zoe swayed a little but still waved away Kyou's fretting. "I'm fine," she said firmly, able to sense the two approaching reiatsus clearer. A wail of annoyance reached them as Hana pilfered Szayel's medical kit and jumped over the rubble to them.

"Shall we go?" Hana presented her best grin.

"Where to?" Kyou tried his best to ignore Szayel's fist shaking in the background.

"I'd prefer," Zoe said carefully, looking from each teen. "To receive new orders from Captain Yamamoto, however it feels as though Kurosaki is still near."

Kyou frowned thoughtfully, "no, you're wrong. That reiatsu feels like Kurosaki's...but in another way, it's different." he shook his head as if to clear it. "It's ...less chaotic somehow...but more dangerous." He added in an altered tone, almost frightened. "W-we'd better not go that way." Hana gave him a strange look but shrugged anyway. Zoe quickly masked her worry when the other two turned to her finally.

"We'll..." _another opponent?_ "Enter Las Noches and wait until Captain Yamamoto finds us."

"Agreed." The twins said in unison.

...

The past lay bitter on her tongue. The cut had sliced cleanly the remnants of mask and with the last voluntary action, glanced in a slant through the shoulder and down through his left breast. The blood gushed thickly out over her fingers as she yanked from his grasp and pressed her hands to the wound.

He ignored the action, looking past her with sharp green eyes. "Who are you?"

The voice spoke slowly, quietly, "my identity does not concern you. What does is the woman by your side. I have only come to retrieve her."

Her mind barely registered the fact that it was Tensa – Tensa, _and the sword he had…was disturbingly familiar – dammit!_ Her thoughts raced frantically. _Why wasn't the fucking bleeding stopping?_ "I am a being who knows a much larger world-" Kei mumbled, "it is infinite, it is—"

"And what do you think you're doing?" Suddenly Tensa was right behind her. His painfully thin bony hand wrapped around the collar of her ragged kimono and yanked – throwing her forcefully backward away from Ulquiorra. Stunned by his actions more than anything and that his hand felt…_real?_ Kei landed hard in the sand dunes, her bloodstained hands quickly coating with powdery white sand.

Unbidden her lips started to shake. At the edge of her downcast vision, a pair of black boots, a ragged edge of cloak hovered just before her.

"The dead…must stay dead." Tensa intoned solemnly.

She hated his smugness most of all.

"_.._Do you know what it's like to watch someone you love die?"

Silence.

She could feel Ulquiorra's Hollow side weakening. It was too early to tell whether or not the time magic had taken effect.

"Yes." The spirit of the moon cutter said.

Kei stared hard at the sand until her eyes burned. "Then you should understand-"

"How can I? When you love Ichigo."

She wanted to laugh and scream at the same time.

_I loved him._

_I l-o-v-e-d the human Ulquiorra was – _

_I watched him die- I saw him die right in front of me_.

- _In that second, my heart shattered into a million glass fragments, each too beautiful to be real. Each too much of a lie. I knew I'd never ever love another after him. I __**thought**__ I would never __**ever**__ love another after him_ –

It was almost too painful to breathe.

"It's the law of the Juppongatana to preserve life."

"But you killed the others. What's one more?"

She shut her eyes tightly, anger flaring. "I did not kill Nnoitora or Grimmjow or even Tesla Lindocruz!" she spat. "If you had eyes to see then you'd have realized what I'm capable of doing. What I and all the rest stand for!" Kei opened her eyes, glaring up at him. "It's first and foremost to preserve the existence of all creatures—"

He gave her an infuriating look of calm. "Recall, Keiko. The Hollows even those evolved from a base creature of appetite have _no_ life. Therefore your cause is invalid."

_But…I was giving him life before you tried to take it away._

...

Tensa just did not understand.

"You can never know how I feel when I look at him!" It came out in a rush, a burst of emotion that though tempered the malevolence in the air for a moment, burned her throat to admit it. She - the capable Element of Fire, the hard-hearted warrior had admitted to having emotions.

To feeling them.

Kei wished she could take the words back and hold them fast to her chest.

But the damage was already done.

"He _is_ dead!" Tensa yelled in a sudden burst of anger, swiping a hand out in Ulquiorra's direction. "Ichigo is alive! Listen to reason, Keiko! Schiffer belongs to the desert! You belong to Ichigo!"

She stared at him incredulously, screeching. "What the _fuck_ do you think I am! A fucking possession? Something to be owned!"

He had paled under the accusation but had not moved an inch from his threatening stance. Kei angered more than usual from the possessiveness of sword and by - absence, master, found her vision on the verge of going red. _Men! All of them were like that- with overflowing egos and large swords that had to compensate for something other than a lack of intelligence!_

The spirit scowled at her as if daring her to refute the claim more. "You were Ichigo's...from the moment you first met."

Her mouth wanted to fall open. She wondered how the sword had ever been able to reach such heights of audacity. _Had he completely, utterly forgotten what she was- the damned Element of Fire?_ "Why would you even think that?" _From the start...it was a game. I never meant for it to progress this far...I was always waiting or so I told myself, for __**him**_. _My beloved_. _That one I loved so much - the one Ichigo could never be, because they were so different. He was hurt when I told him he wasn't -... Ulquiorra. No one could be Ulquiorra. No one in the whole world could ever replace him ...that memory of him kept safe in my heart_.

She looked almost sadly upon his bleeding figure, kneeling in the sand.

Not even Ulquiorra as he was now, could've replaced the image in her heart. He could never have that part of her again. Kei felt the familiar pain. That was what Tensa didn't understand. Her dearest was gone, he was gone the moment he died in the rain-soaked garden.

Just as Ichigo could not be _him_.

So Ulquiorra could never fully erase that time. He and she too, were too much too different now. Kei had changed from that naïve tender-hearted girl to …..the one the Soutaichou of Soul Society hated with every fiber of his old being.

_She was not the Murasaki- Ukitake called._

_Not Angelique – Ulquiorra remembered distantly._

_She was…Kei. Not Keiki. The difference was in her heart most of all_. Her face shielded by the falling strands of hair, breathed softly, "Incinerate, Maouen!" The sand clinging to her skin beaded away as smoldering waves of heat arose from the ground in a fiery blast of black blue-tinged fire. Tensa leapt back, hastily expelled a black curtain of the _void moon_.

Kei got to her feet, her hand at her side closing around the familiar tapered hilt of the two-bladed long sword. "I can't forgive you for challenging his right to exist." The controlled flame evaded the black holesque Mugetsu, swirling back into the narrow tachi. Tensa hovered above in the sky, a scowl peeking on the thin hard line of his mouth.

"You would attack me on so little grounds as that creature?" The end of the sentence came out in a breath of acid-tinged words. Mugetsu's void dissipated between them. Kei refused to shiver despite the violence radiating from his aura.

"What do you think?" she smirked cockily.

"You've made your choice. Now you must suffer for it. Tsukisasu." He pronounced dispassionately, unleashing a hail of slicing rays of light, the brilliance resembled the light of the crystalline moon, refracting a thousand times over. Kei grimaced and stretched the limits of her speed, wrapping an arm around Ulquiorra. She didn't miss the subtle quirk of his brow, a faint spark of confusion in his eyes.

_Shut up_, she willed_. Don't remind me of what you are now_. Even then, her own mind refused to stop making comparisons. His frame was lighter, thinner than Ichigo. A coolness to the side pressed against her as she moved. It wasn't blistering hot nor frozen as she had expected. Kei cursed her distracting thoughts as the sand exploded in disrupted bursts behind her heels.

He was a dangerous opponent-

-dammit-

She heard the air currents crackle above and knew he was able to follow her every move.

-dammit all-

"Danku!" she barked out sharply, collapsing down to a crouch. Her burden sank beside her, expressionless. Kei focused on maintaining the barrier being hammered above them, forcing her gaze to look anywhere but at him.

"Let me go."

"What?"

"_Let me go_." He insisted with quiet force.

Kei looked at him then, took in the sight of the pale Arrancar devoid of the curling upward horn, short black locks framed his doll-like face and it was too much- "N-No, no..no, dammit!" To her intense irritation, liquid sprang to her eyes. "It doesn't...matter...what you are-"

"I have been defeated." He cut her off smoothly, freezing her with the coldness in his eyes. "There is no purpose to my continued existence. I cannot serve-"

"I don't care!" she burst out, glaring fiercely at him. Danku started to crack above them. "If I fail you now, it'll be like losing you again-and I won't let that happen!"

And as she stood with the misty remains of the kido floating around her - she caught the sentence before the shriek of Nozomu, the beast of the moon, a summoning she had never used before, tore it away with the wind.

"Hmph...you're so stubborn. You never do... what I ask."

...Fake Karakura Town...

"Where are they, Yuka?" Kagami demanded, unable to keep the bite from his tone. It was hard, very hard not to break that shelf of ice that kept everything in place. How he wanted to march back in there and plummet the self-righteous bastard off his pedestal. In an effort to calm down, he forcibly gripped his fists at his sides, taking shallow breaths of the water-tinged air.

_Water for the fight Hitsugaya had been slowly losing_. That was the closest. Yuka to her credit didn't bat an eye, adding with a nod to Kazeatari who was approaching. "The Espada wouldn't let anyone get close. I'll head out with...either of you. field triage would probably be best for Jinteki."

He scowled, agreeing, "ah well that makes sense." Now what was the power of that particular Espada? Damned if he couldn't remember. Kagami felt Kazeatari's gaze on him and he smiled apologetically. "Sorry, but I'm up." Then as she nodded slowly, somehow unconvinced, he grabbed her by the arm and lead her away from the main area. Yuka followed more slowly.

When he judged it far enough, he spoke softly in an undertone hiss. "There's only so much one can take."

"Yamamoto?" she guessed, casting a dark glance to the tent.

"Who else?" Kagami returned bitingly. "He still thinks he's all high and mighty. A veritable protector of the pure Shinigami race when the lot of them are murderers!" Kazeatari's expression softened and she gently squeezed the back of his hand.

"Don't worry about things here. You just go to that idiot's rescue and focus on that. I'll keep watch on them." she reassured, aware of Osore's Third seat's agitation. Kagami nodded distantly, his blue eyes looking past her to the sky. "You do that." He murmured, then to her surprise, leaned in swiftly and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"One day, everything will be alright."

...

"What're you doing here, Nanatsu! I can still fight! I-"

"You're being relieved from active duty." Kagami coolly replied, alighting on the bloody patch of road. He saw that the hands had gone first, then the ankles, all neatly chopped off as if with a blade. Zommari floated several inches off the ground in a round bowl-like object covered with large unblinking eyes.

"You're the Elemental of water." The Espada said in a deep rumbling voice. Kagami lightly rested his fingertips upon Sazanami's hilt and smiled slightly. Yuka landed behind him, staying within the shadow of his haori as he'd instructed her to.

"Yes, after a fashion." He said politely, adding. "I'm here on behalf of Juppongatana Head Captain, Karasu Kanzaki, who would like to extend a truce of cease arms against the world. In exchange we guarantee your safety and you, if you so choose to, can remain with us and honor our laws."

Kagami glimpsed doubt crease the Espada's expression.

"How am I to trust you, a Shinigami, like all the rest who slaughters my kind?"

_Because it's the only chance you got, you fool_. He thought with no less venom. Yuka rustled behind him, already calculating the multiple field kido tactics to staunch the profuse bleeding of Jinteki's arms and knees. The man while minutes before had been boasting of fighting prowess seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Kagami watched him narrowly from the corner of his eye, ascertaining the chances of survival were fairly good, limb reattachment would be almost impossible given the lack of heavy medical knowledge. It was a pity Kazeatari's fourth and fifth seats were still in Hueco Mundo, with Kyou's manipulation and Hana's steady stream of energy, they could've done the delicate procedure. Kagami finally reflected with sigh that he had been correct.

Nothing would continue as planned unless he stepped in.

Pity.

For Zommari had caught him in a rare bout of a bad mood.

"I decline, Shinigami. Aizen-sama is the only God I follow!"

Kagami laughed shortly, "you're a fool then. Follow him unto your death!" Provoked, the Espada's narrow eyes bulged, the tattoos glowed purple as he cried, " It seems that arrogance is part of your nature! So be it! Then allow me to take that pride... and pulverize it through the very core of your being! " he made rapid hand gestures. "Amour!"

The sunburst-like tattoo blossomed on his wrist.

Yuka didn't see the movement when he slipped Sazanami from the scabbard and sliced his wrist cleanly off. "Calm down," Kagami murmured to her, keeping his expression neutral. It did hurt - but not as much as Zommari had clearly wanted.

The same hand gestures were repeated. Kagami eyed them carefully, guessing where the next attack would be. "When I move, get Jinteki and go." He instructed softly. Yuka nodded and prepared to flash-step. Noting her complacency and somewhat calm determination, he was pleased to see that their training of the newest generation had gone so well.

_As if they needed Shino academy to be real guardians of the afterlife_.

With careful precision, he angled to the left, seconds before the newest tattoo erupted on his leg. Yuka darted out from his shadow, reappearing swiftly at Jinteki's side. Zommari refocused on her with some surprise.

"A woman? I see you believed an easy victory was in your grasp because of your great power."

"No," he replied pleasantly. "she is a field medic."

Yuka's hands began glowing with green light which she quickly applied to the stumps to halt further bleeding. Jinteki stirred and uttered a soft curse then a groan of pain. Zommari's eyes narrowed, purple flashed again, the image of a sunburst materialized inches above Yuka's back then vanished with a rippling sound. She barely noticed.

Zommari's open-mouthed shock made Kagami's smile grow wider, "Yuka, if you'd please leave now?" The Espada snapped out of it long enough to fixate every eye on the girl gathering up the torso of the wounded officer. "No, how can this be! My Amour must work!"

Kagami knew the futility of it with each shattered eye. In the same instant that Yuka flash-stepped away, he moved too, reappearing behind the Espada. Zommari pivoted about in his floating dome, at once frantic.

"Have you forgotten? I can still control you-"

Kagami affixed him a pitying look. "And have you forgotten that even one droplet of water can kill you?"

Eyes rolling in their sockets turned to him.

"You-"

"Suiha-nanahoryo." Kagami commanded dispassionately, the droplet on the ground multiplied into millions of gallons of water with snapping jaws. "That, Espada, was the height of your conceit." He said as the Arrancar vanished within the maws of the Dragon of the sea. "To think that you could conquer the ocean."

...

The atmosphere changed after Nanatsu left.

"Sir," Jushiro began, vague unease about the old man seated not far away, stirring. "I really must protest. Openly challenging the Juppongatana's right to perform duties for humankind-"

Yamamoto cracked open a stern eye. "Watch your tongue, _boy_."

He flushed.

Shunsui sent him a sympathetic look.

The cane that hid the most powerful fire weapon in Soul Society banged the fake floor of the tent. The echo resounded ominously. Kanzaki Karasu winced; Jushiro didn't blame him. Being a recipient of too many lectures in days long past, he recognized a tirade when it was coming. The old man's temper when riled was very frightening. Somehow he was glad Nanatsu had left so as to spare the man's feelings, pity the ones remaining.

"Don't speak on matters you cannot possibly comprehend! It is of the gravest importance that the sanctity of the Shinigami race is preserved therefore the Juppongatana had broken our very coda for honor by having an Arrancar serve among others as a guardian of the afterlife!" after such a long-winded speech, the old man settled down, still presenting a very erroneous picture of frailty when Jushiro and Shunsui knew he was anything but.

In the deathly silence that followed, Kanzaki fixed his glasses, looking more determined than ever. Tightly he said. "We'll see what Keiko has to say about that."

Yamamoto stirred again; Jushiro had the distinct feeling the old man wanted to strike the Quincy Captain with his cane for speaking. But, didn't as some strain of respect for the Captain in the same position as his still remained in his hardened heart - no matter how much he challenged it. Kanzaki Karasu along with the Elements had kept a group of beings alive, well taken care of and ridden the fourth world of the scourge of the Hollows.

It was...better than what Soul Society had accomplished in the same amount of years.

"..if she's still alive." Yamamoto's voice punctured his thoughts. Kanzaki sent nothing less than a look of pure venom, forgetting his station - as Jushiro wished he could.

"Keiko'll come back. I _know _she will."

Shunsui raised a lazy brow, tipping his chin up to fully take in the scene. Jushiro remained immobile, frozen to the chair. He wanted to agree, wanted so much to believe she would return safely, be safe. Be safe from him - Yamamoto. With Shunsui there, he was reminded of the time of Rukia's execution when they had both defied the old man and laws.

When they had both ...stood up for something that they believed in.

Jushiro believed in Keiko- no, Murasaki.

..._did Shunsui also? _

As his glance wandered over to his old friend, a change suddenly overtook the indolent heavy-lidded eyes and almost languid posture. Shunsui stiffened, half cocking his head at an angle as if sensing something- no, he did sense something, _or someone_. Jushiro glanced around and saw that after the brief riposte, the others had settled in tense silence. His heart went out to the other 'Shiro-chan who was still battling fiercely with the female Espada in her release form. Whatever the disturbance was...it seemed to pass over their perceptions.

"What is it?" he leaned forward, whispering softly.

Shunsui smiled with a hint of sadness, gaze refocusing to meet Jushiro's brown.

"Rizu-chan."

He instantly remembered the angry young woman who had challenged the Espada duo. Glasses- why always glasses with his friend? "Why? What's wrong?" he questioned, sensing nothing unusual about the wave lengths around the fake town.

Shunsui shook his head still strangely smiling. "I have to go, honorable sirs." and stood to his full height, one hand atop his hat. Urahara glanced at them both but then away, expressionless toward Kanzaki Karasu who seemed oblivious to the scrutiny.

"Oh? Kyoraku-san, do you need something?" The Quincy Captain prompted.

Because Shunsui wouldn't tell _him_ anything - Jushiro knew a vague lie was forthcoming to the surroundings. "Nah." A luxuriant shrug and lazy smile. "Just gotta stretch the old legs. I'm no longer young like the lot of you."

As predicted- a bad lie.

Jushiro realized _painfully_ a moment later that Kanzaki was truly - what was the word? _Naive_.

The Quincy brightened. "Ah, well go on ahead. If you get thirsty or anything, the mess hall is to the right with Fourth's symbol of Oleander on it. I think Kuchiki-taichou might be there already."

Shunsui said something noncommittal and with another nod in Yamamoto's direction, left with the swishing of the pink kimono draped over his shoulders.

His trust started to slip in his old friend.

_Shunsui was going to show Rizu Sakurai how ugly war truly was._

...

Twelve minutes had passed. At least Rizu's internal clock said so. That very same clock predicted Kazeatari's tardiness by twelve minutes every day to the office. Smiling, Kazeatari always said jokingly_. "Who's counting?"_

_I am._

_And you're late_.

Rizu forced away the trivial remembrance, she walked past the Arrancar duo, lips pressed tightly together. She had taken for granted every little thing about her life, unable to imagine even then, _a want for companionship when there were companions around her_. Yume no ato had showed her everything- _how terribly lonely Stark's existence had been_.

_Captain Namaiki who acted like a goofball when Keiko and Kagami weren't around._

_Hana and Kyou._

_She couldn't imagine a life without the bubbly idiots that not even Seijin could stand to be around for more than five minutes._

"Are you...awake?"

"What happened?" He sounded drugged, sluggish. Sleepy.

Unwillingly her mouth twitched from the thin straight line.

"You let me go first and I hit you with Yume no ato."

"Why didn't you kill us when we were out?"

_Because that would've been cheating_, she thought logically but for the irate little girl's behalf. Added. "It's not that you're incapable, it is my orders which bade me to offer you life."

He scoffed and yawned. "What do you-"

She began reaching into her sleeve, where beneath her Lieutenant plaque was a wad of paper. A document configured by the Captain of Fourth, declaring absolute loyalty and absolution. It was a funny way of doing things - dealing with bureaucracy first then with a cease of physical arms.

But, wasn't it better that way?

..._to save life even if it was a pair of Arrancars?_

Her fingers closed on the stubborn paper, tugging one-handed, saying, "if you'll please take a look at-" and in that moment of hesitation, the extension of her that was Nekomata screamed that something was wrong and she heeded it tardily, her head lifting-

Nekomata roared in her head angrily_, "Katen-Kyokotsu!"_

"What?" she responded faintly, barely catching the shadow.

Then with the slashing of twin blades, all her hopes shattered like many crimson shards.

...

Lilinette's eye filled, her mouth fell open in a startled o. "Sta-ark-Stark!" Instantly she grappled with the large body curving down, crimson spatters staining her cheeks and body.

Rizu, buffeted by the sharp gust of movement created by the rapid shunpo, could only stare in horror at the man standing a few feet away from her. "Why would you do that?" she snapped out of it with his turn toward her. "Why would you attack him when there was no-" her voice cracked on a high note. Kyoraku was looking at her pityingly.

"Rizu-chan, I have some idea on what you were going to do."

She hated that look. Longed to wipe it off with driving pain. She swallowed her anger, forcing her tones to even out. "Amnesty-"

"When you have no right." Kyoraku countered equally reasonably, but softer.

Rizu tore the inside of her mouth, biting back the words she wanted to throw in his face. Coppery bitterness seeped onto her tongue. Rizu controlled her trembling by grasping Nekomata's hilt for security. "We believe in preserving all life - not just Shinigami-" Lilinette was half-buried under the Primera's bulk, _weeping_. Kyoraku seemed insensate to it. Like the crying of a child was nothing but a murmur of the wind.

"Some sacrifices are necessary for the sake of the world." He retorted with the same gruff firmness, affixing a chastising eye on her pale stunned face. "Maybe when you have seen as much as I have...you'll understand, Rizu-chan, why some laws are unbreakable." Then with the final sentence and speed of before, he vanished. But she was ready this time. She knew where he would be and moved with a speed that would've made her Captain proud.

Their swords clanged with twin ringing sounds. Rizu was so close to him, that she could smell the stale scent of Sake and ink on his robes. Lilinette stared up at the crossed swords barely inches from cutting her to pieces.

Rizu's sword arm shook, bracing Nekomata's jeweled tang against one of the scimitar-like short swords, the opposite hand clutched the black scabbard, shoving the tip against the second blade. Unbelievably, Kyoraku was smiling, chuckling under his breath. When it faded, he spoke with a mocking seriousness to his unshaven face and teasing voice.

"Yare, yare, Rizu-chan. What are you doing now?"

She allowed a tiny smile to ease the sharpness of her profile. "My orders."

"Ah. Well, I have my orders as well."

...

Her brother was a man of impeccable manners and few words.

Rukia tried not to fidget nor stare as they were served tea by a grey-clad officer whose face she couldn't place and who left with a polite bow back to the medic tent to tend to the first wounded. A few whispers of a _Lieutenant down and Captain Nanatsu on the battlefield _reached the confines of the cafeteria-like tent. Two long tables had pushed in chairs while on the side closest to them, a large percolating pot dispensed water, various other gadgets on metal clawed feet held fine tea leaves, crisp biscuits, something called scones and other sweet things.

There were even napkins embossed with the oleander of Fourth.

Rukia felt uncomfortable in there- no scratch that. In the entire camp. No one stared, no one said anything and they had been more than welcomed by the few officers around. Maybe it was just the reminder of _her_- the missing elemental. Twice, her glance snuck to Byakuya's impassive face.

He seemed contented to sip at the tea, not once touching the document rolled up on the table.

She was getting nervous.

At length, he finally sighed and slid it over soundlessly to her.

"This is for you." He said tonelessly.

She wanted to ask what it was, but bit her tongue for fear of insulting her nii-sama. Hesitantly, she closed her hand around the cool, expensive parchment and unrolled it. Rukia read the contents in five minutes, spending another fifteen in silence, barely able to comprehend the words. Finally feeling Byakuya's cold gaze on her, she slightly turned, looking up at him. "You mean she-?"

"Yes." He looked away.

Rukia unconsciously crumpled the paper in her tiny fist. Of course she had always suspected of there being something - something that tied the Kuchiki clan to the elemental of fire...but she had never expected _**this**_.

"But...Nii-sama, doesn't this mean-"

He sounded almost impatient with a bite to his usually smooth tones. "Yes, Rukia. We are...indebted to her for the continued existence of the Kuchiki clan. It was..." he hesitated, "my grandfather's life _she_ saved. It was his decision to write it into the clan's laws...that we could not harm _her_ for sake of honor."

...

She stopped spinning around. Airborne, the battle was entirely on Kyoraku's forte. His skills far outclassed hers. Rizu stopped panting to push sweat sodden bangs out of her eyes. Kyoraku hovered a distance away, unscathed by the last bout of kido blasts she'd sent at him. Nekomata's primary offense was in the mind - but he knew it and stayed at a distance from her blade.

He knew everything little thing about her - _have I not changed since that time?_ she wondered to herself. _Therefore it was prudent to end the battle before the Shinigami_...

"Tired, Rizu-chan?" he called, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"O-of course not!" she sputtered, angry at herself for flushing.

He chuckled, a masculine sound. "If you are, perhaps you would like the honors of disposing of the Espada yonder? I'm not angry with you." A gesture of a shrug. "I won't tell."

Her eyes couldn't help from straying to the Primera. Shirahime said the wound was bad, in fact it was highly doubtful Coyote Stark would live. Her gaze drifted to the bowed form of Lilinette desperately trying to stop the bleeding. It would be easy and almost painless to use the toxin state. - _no_ -

- _that wasn't right_ -

That wasn't what the Juppongatana stood for.

They believed in the worth of all life forms.

To preserve life - all life.

Kyoraku was waiting. Patiently. With a little smile.

Her mind raced. Lilinette was just a child - the thought resurged with a vengeance. How could she be thinking that? Just a crass little one-eyed girl- a little girl - that didn't deserve to die - because she was alone.

Her throat felt thick.

_Lilinette had life_.

"What's wrong?" Kyoraku called, peering at her still from beneath the straw wide-brimmed hat. Rizu forced a smile onto her mouth. "Nothing." She sounded almost normal. "I'm just glad..." she started to drift toward him, lowering Nekomata. She saw him visibly relax, a good-natured smile on his ruggedly handsome face.

"-you don't hate me." Rizu finished softly still a space away from Kyoraku.

"Why would I, Rizu-chan?" He commented, obviously relieved. "When your misguidance isn't your fault?"

She paused and listened to the roar of a distant dragon. _Soryu-kami if she wasn't mistaken. Then the rushing gush of water magnified by millions_. "No." Rizu said quietly. "It's all...yours." She brought the blade up faster than he did. Cutting the air - his reiatsu cleanly.

"_Demento_."

Kyoraku grunted with the sudden visceral expulsion of ash, feeling the air seal up in his lungs with the toxin multiplying in millions of spores. Rizu watched the twin blades cut the air - close - too close - and cut her, crossways. She watched her blood fly in spatters, her body falling back.

She heard someone yelling distantly- _no, that voice-!_

_Ukitake? _

_Shit. _

_...could this day get any worse?_

…

"Well, what have we here?" The old drawl was familiar as was the thin almost like a scarecrow male that sauntered out. The once long sunny yellow hair was bowl cut to the chin with a preciseness, a button down long sleeve shirt with a tie and black slacks like a student. Toya locked gazes with the man, daring him to make what he would of their arrival.

Seconds passed as Hirako calmly surveyed them. A fleeting unease had darkened the plain dull blue of the Vizard's eyes at passing Toya. But with forced calm, Hirako appraised them all, working his jaw, looking somewhat bored again.

"So, who are ya people anyway?"

Toya managed to suppress his shaking, glimpsing Mimasaka's sideways look of concern to him. "Call them out." He bit off. Voice sounding like a stranger's, so cold with that smoldering rage. Despite the frost in his heart, he felt like he was burning all over.

Hirako eyed him again_, lazily_. "Eh, no. We decided to wait and see in this little chesstable of a battle just who trumps-"

"Call them out now!" He barked, cutting off Hirako's sentence. The Vizard flashed a humorless grin. Seeing it pushed him over the edge. Flinging caution to the winds, he dove down, slamming a bullet of crackling lightning kido into the ground. Incantation-less, it was Raikoho modified to shriek beneath the ground - explode in sound burst waves in their hideout. The moment the ground began rumbling, seven figures scrambled out behind Hirako. Their various appearances didn't faze him - he was only surprised to see that Hachi had changed least of all.

Withdrawing forcibly from the memory of his old sub-commander, Toya barked over his shoulder. "Ren! Go!"

The Vizard hesitated, then jerked sharply. "Right!" her mask formed in her hand, her flash-step already carrying her past him. The five blurs of the Soul Reapers split up for the stunned Vizards. Hirako tardily dropped his bored stance and began reaching for his sword.

"Hey wait a-"

But, Toya reacted faster, slamming barrier after barrier between the combatants. Sealing up each space into dimension cubes frozen from the outside world, impenetrable to only him. He caught a glimpse of Ren tossing Kiwako at a black-haired girl with braids, wearing a green Sailor Fuku before she too vanished with a muscular ash-haired man.

Toya had barely a second of breath to inhale as his kido solidified - and a bone-shattering force slammed into his stomach and sent him flying across into a building. Ears ringing from the unexpected attack, he cracked eyes open to see Hachi staring fixedly at him, a hint of sweat on the large older man's round forehead.

"You shouldn't have done that without an explanation of your purpose here!"

He swallowed copper and spat, climbing out of the body-shaped dent. Dust clung to his robes. "Oh, so you know who I am, Ushoda?"

The man's pink eyes narrowed, the mustached mouth parted. "That voice...are you..? Amakusa?" Enlightment followed. "You _are_ Amakusa! I can't believe it...after all these years..." a vague smile flittered on the edges then abruptly vanished with the onset of suspicion. "You're Juppongatana by those robes I see."

He felt strange facing the former superior with an attitude. "Yeah...a Captain now. Would you believe it?"

Hachi shrugged large shoulders. "Guess so. You had plenty enough power when I knew you." A faint sadness. "Enough," he almost sounded mournful. "To have risen to the rank of a commander."

"Like yourself?" Toya couldn't resist.

"Perhaps. After the death of that girl...I didn't think you had anything in you." Hachi's demeanor changed. Toya sensed guilt simmering beneath the surface. Slowly he understood.

"You had Tessai-dono take me off the missions roster."

"I thought you would become a liability to us and Soul Society in times of our call to duty." Hachi defended, the sweat now visible. The man truly looked repentant despite the fact that Toya had just sealed up his comrades in containment cubes.

Somehow he wasn't angry anymore. "You thought I was unstable."

"Weren't you?" Hachi returned mildly, a piercing gaze sent his way.

Toya closed his eyes and sighed deeply, "maybe I was." His eyes flickered open, the hardened pain that gave him strength to stand replacing any other emotion he felt. "You know that...I'm here to kill Shinji."

It was no question.

Hachi gripped his large fists at his sides and looked sad. "Yes."

"Good."

Toya had already prepared a mental list on the various techniques he could use to subdue the ex sub-commander. _The only disadvantage to the fight was the lack of the Senkora enhancing his speed and technique_. "I'm sorry you feel that way." Hachi's quiet voice broke his train of thought. Large hands interlocked in a gesture Toya didn't recognize but all the same, warning bells went off very loudly in his senses.

"But, I can't let you do that."

...

The intermittent crashes from Ggio's wall-punching had faded already. Exhausted from the physical fight, Takara worried her lip to pieces, edging closer to the shadows of the fake buildings. As much as hiding displeased her courageous nature, she needed to check on everyone's progress.

Another glance around told her the area was still clear, visibly relaxing, she tapped a few system commands in, pulling up a fuzzy schematic of Karakura town.

Hitsugaya was still fighting the aerial battle but was losing fast -

Matsumoto was being punted around by Tia Halibel's three Fracciones and the nearest signature to them - she cracked a tiny grin.

_Aki. The plan had been from the start to utilize his Quiet Sleep attack on the four Shinigami guards that were atop each pillar that kept the real Karakura town from resurfacing. Yet now he had the added task of freeing Aizen, Tosen...and __**Gin**_.

It seemed as though he'd free them first then move on while the main force of Shinigami were occupied with Aizen - and break the pillars down.

The warehouse district caught her eye on the map.

The fine hairs on her arms stood up.

Over a hundred years with the same reiatsu around her, sensing it, ingraining it to memory brought the realization home to her. - his reiatsu - was being sealed up -

"Toya?" she murmured softly, her eyes lifting to the slice of blue sky between the two buildings.

Her eyes could barely comprehend what gut instinct told her and what technology confirmed as fact.

Toya was rapidly disappearing.

- _his opponent was one of the Vizards_.

Haretosora sat in a sandbox in her mind, stabbing a play sword down in a pile of sand. _"What do you want to do, Takara?"_ She floundered in her own mixed emotions with the simple question. Anger at his initial disappearance. Shame at hesitating to help a comrade and - confusion.

"I-"

The Clear Night put it another way. _"Could you live with yourself if the Vizard killed him?"_

She paled, snapping the Satcom shut with trembling fingers. "No, I-"

"What?" Ggio's snide voice cut across her words. Takara twisted about in the narrow space, shooting backwards out of the fissure, her hand fumbling to withdraw Haretosora.

The black-haired youth streaked after her, grinning manically. "Lookin' to run away!"

"Of course not!" she snapped, darting out of the way to avoid a Balas-enhanced punch. The place where his fist landed left a smoking crater in the road, she forced her fear down, leaping upward to gain ground, sharply calling out, "Ginsei-to!" Haretosora's blade in her hand warped the familiar clear silver, spilling glistening light in slants through the air. Ggio smirked and fired a magenta-colored cero at her. The blistering heat of it hit her full in the face, her eyes stung from the amount of force put behind the blast - and she flung her sword out, determined to counter it.

"Tsuyatsuyatsuki!" Flare-like flashes erupted at her call command. Takara felt the sap of her strength with the release still in the silvery Ginsei-to. Haretosora said to hold on – brace – when her arms started to shake. The blinding light of the combined cero and Bright moon repelling it dazzled her eyes painfully.

_I've got to hold on_.

Despite everything she was giving out, her body was subtly being pushed upwards.

_Farther_.

She couldn't even see the ground anymore, the swath of the blast was too large and she was going to be swept along with it- at that bitter realization, a tiny chuckle that was lost to the roar of the energy mass, left her mouth.

_Hadn't Keiko always said to die with no regrets? _

_Well, this Lieutenant did have many._

_- and everyone_.

"That's why…" reishii flew beneath her sandals, solidifying as she lifted Haretosora's gleaming power-drenched blade back and then with a hard swing, sheared the energy in half. "I won't die here." Takara finished, landing on the scarred asphalt. As she took breath in, a sudden airborne cackle echoed behind her.

"Really? That's coming from some rat that hasn't even made a scratch on their enemy yet!"

Takara spun around, her eyes widening, slicing at the air where Ggio had stood.

"Hah. _Behind you_." He lunged for her.

...

After stopping in briefly to begin the reversal spell on Jinteki, Kagami headed back out, his steps far heavier than before ...to the Vizards hideout. Without a doubt everyone had begun their prospective battles. With no little dismay he found Toya was on the verge of being completely sealed within a crystalline cage. The caster of the spell was less than Ushoda Hachigen...

He wondered if he should step in. Fighting a powerful kido caster depended more on individual strength in the repertoire of spells rather than zanjutsu skills. While he was no lightweight, taking on Hachigen was not advisable at this stage. Kagami felt the ex sub-commander finally leave Toya and refocus on unraveling the containment spells of Jikanteishi and Kukanten'i. He knew that could lead to trouble so he quickened his step. Nearing the deserted wherehouse block with not a soul in sight.

He had to smile.

_Toya was a helluva better kido user than anyone else in the Juppongatana._

_His spell casting had been advanced enough to disguise the entire combatants chambers as a deserted block of large squat buildings._

Kagami snapped his fingers, his smile faltering as he found the invisible cube he was looking for. "Noren Mekuri." A black wall emerged from the dimensional pocket. Beyond it was Hiyori. He sighed again, heavier this time. Resting a hand on Sazanami for comfort, his walked forward. "I guess we all have to face our demons...one day."

_His was in the guise of a tiny straw blond pig-tailed girl with a foul mouth._

...

"I don't hit like to hit women." The flat sentence temporarily halted her sword release. Ren breathed shallowly behind the pig mask. The space of her cube was elongated, a black rectangle lying solidly between Mai's and Kiwako's. Ren guessed the temporal distortion had confused Kensei's senses.

But not hers.

_Maybe it was the nature of her Hollow that left her able to read the energy patterns through the kido_... "Oh? A gentlemen." she smiled tightly. Kensei grunted noncommittally. He was easily the best good-looking out of the lot save for Mai's opponent, the effeminate Rose.

"Ah, well I suppose that makes you a good man then." Ren hefted her Zanpaku-to over her shoulders, still feigning conversation. Kensei scowled at her, "no, it doesn't. You're a fool to think any part o' me is _good_."

"Maybe." She assented, closing her hazel eyes. The yellow in them magnified when she opened them next. "Well, whatever the case," a long tongue-like extension slipped from the mouth of the mask, curving upward over her shoulder to trace a ringing line on the Zanpaku-to. "I have my orders."

Kensei watched the appendage with wariness and mild revulsion. "I assume you want to kill me?" casually he flicked his hand into the waistband of his pants, withdrawing a tiny knife.

"Pardon the Hollow's overexcitement, but...I do think you're good to eat."

His eyes widened, "wha-"

She raced forward, flash-stepping in blurs before reaching him. Kensei though visibly startled brought his hand back then forward, slicing at the air. Ren flash-stepped again behind him and raked an ounce of flesh from his back with a kunai. He choked on a scream of pain, ripping around, slicing futility at - _nothing_.

Ren straightened from her reflexive crouch, bloody flesh in hand.

He watched her take a bite and swallowed the gag rising in his throat.

"Just what the fuck are you?"

...

Mai lowered her bow. "Missed." she murmured disappointedly. Her opponent, a man with long rippling wavy blond hair, rubbed sheepishly at his arm where his black coat had been nicked.

"Not bad, little lady." Rose smiled.

She made a face at the compliment. Despite releasing her shikai and attacking first, she had only managed minor cuts - and the Vizard had not donned his mask yet. Mai knew his base power would increase exponentially with it. But it was still galling to her pride to have herself defeated by a man using only his bare sword.

"Hey, release your sword!" she called.

Rose eyed her and then chuckled softly, "ah no, you're not much of threat...as is." He held a finger up, touching his cheek. "But, if you manage to cut me on the face then I'll reconsider."

She clenched her bow, her jaw working furiously. _How dare this man treat me like I - like I'm- weak!_ Making up her mind suddenly, she reached over her shoulder, plucking an arrow at random from the quiver. "Alright, Rose." Mai flash-stepped with the silencer technique that Kanzaki had invented. "One shot."

He shrugged, "fine by me."

She leapt upward, twisting about in midair seconds before colliding into the ceiling of the cube.

Aimed.

And fired from behind.

...

Dani grunted, holding her bleeding side. The frizzy-haired man in a tracksuit sucked his teeth and slung his large black kanabo over his shoulder.

"Man! You sure are weak, girl!" He tilted his ridiculous glasses with one hand, as if to peer at her closer. "What'd you say your name was?"

"I didn't!" she snapped, angry that she had let him get a jump on her. The weapon he carried was unusual to Zanpaku-to standards. His brows flew up to his weird hair style with her response. "Wow. Some temper." A grin. "Kind of reminds me of Hiyori in a nicer mood."

Dani took a faltering step back, hissing through gritted teeth. It had taken a lot to avoid the main brunt force of his strike – just how powerful was he? Despite knowing she wasn't very strong, Kagami had always treated her as such – worthy of being a seated officer, good enough to be on a team. Warm blood seeped out past her fingers.

She wouldn't – couldn't fail him now.

_Not after gaining his trust_.

Dani reached for her sword, "F-Freeze, Glacia!"

The atmosphere itself froze.

…Time stopped Love's open-mouth.

…

Lisa disliked the muttering creature that looked semi-human, almost immediately.

"Get away from me!" she snapped, kicking it aside. Zanpaku-to in hand, she gazed about at the four black walls encasing them in a block-like structure. It was kido she knew, but no matter how much pressure and energy she exerted to dispel it, the damned thing remained solid. From the looks of the caster, she'd have guessed he would've had to have been a Taichou at least to have cast such an elaborate spell.

Her one worry was for the others - what were the skills of the kido caster's friends? Were they all of his caliber? Lisa scowled with impatience, suddenly feeling a tug on her braid.

"What the fuck-!" she shrieked and spun about, belting the strange girl upside the head. "Don't touch me, you freak!" A sick cracking sound split the air as the bent body flew back. Lisa winced and twitched her shoulders uneasily. She could only assume the humanoid thing was meant to be her opponent - she shot a quick glance over her shoulder to the crumpled form. From the sound, she realized the cube was an illusion.

They were in a sealed place sitting inches above the ground - now how to break it - even as she dredged up her old Kido knowledge- a sudden sound like a laugh broke her train of thought.

The only one beside her was-

"Do you like pain, Lisa-san?"

She spun toward the girl whose flowing red hair hid her face.

The girl had not _moved_.

"Do you like hurting little things, Lisa-san?"

The voice was not that of a little girl.

It was stilted, a horrible kind of cold logic laced behind the quiet tones.

Lisa felt her skin crawl. An unnatural chill seemed to leak off the girl's aura. She forced her voice not to shake. "Who are you?" _demanding. Bossy_.

The strange almost white eyes lifted, wearing a tiny split-lip smile. "Oh, me? I'm Kozue's other half. You shouldn't have done that, Lisa-san. Kozue doesn't like blood."

She stared, her hand tightening around the hilt of her sword.

The girl's mouth split open in a wide bloody teeth-filled grin.

"But, I do."

Lisa was too late in drawing her sword.

"Infect the night_, Hakkyou_." The girl chanted.

(_Hakkyou: Madness_)

...

Hiyori heard Lisa's scream.

No matter the thick black walls that imprisoned her, she struck at them in anger, afraid too for what could harm her friend. But nothing gave.

Not even her mask and a full blast Doom Cero that had been reckless to release in the tiny space - _absorbed_ - it seemed to only strengthen the mysterious kido. Hiyori kicked at it and banged her tiny fists against the wall, cussing.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Lisa!" Then as she clawed at the slick smooth surface of energy, a foreign reiatsu tingled behind the wall opposite her. Hiyori slowly stiffened, her masked face feeling suddenly confining, a forgotten emotion rising, swelling up in her narrow chest.

"Sorry I've kept you waiting." Said the voice she remembered all too well.

Spinning about, she stared coldly at the man walking through the opposite wall.

"Nanatsu Kagami." Hiyori sneered, bravado-filled though her legs wanted to shake. "What the hell are you doing here?"

-TBC

AN: D: *finally posted!*

No flames, haters!

Reviews always loved~


	96. Reminiscence

_We were meant to be, supposed to be but we lost it...(we lost it) All of our memories so close to me...just fade away_...

* * *

ShiKai CH.89: Reminiscence

"What do you believe you will accomplish by going?" The warning bell of course went off loud and clear in her mind, her hand reflexively tightening around her folded fan. Kazeatari could scent trouble as well as worry from the man. The world hadn't tilted its axis, the fight was still on and would be until one side was decimated. _That, was the way of the Shinigami's world_.

To her the pale, sickly man was a pacifist.

He could not go where her eye couldn't watch him. Granted, Yamamoto was enough for her on his own. Kuchiki and his sister were another story, perhaps Kanzaki could be useful. Not one to forget, Urahara remained as well. A disgusting pervert- one she despised at first sight and maintained no matter his genius. They all remained for her to handle plus this one.

Once again, she sent the Taichou of Thirteenth, a frosty look, her arm shooting out barring his way.

"Where are you going?" Her voice dripped intimidation. A lesser person would've cowered from the sharp edge in her tone.

"I have...a friend out there." Ukitake said softly, meeting her look unflinchingly. Kazeatari felt none of the calmness others seemed to be inspired to receive from his presence. Only a tautness to her nerves, a prickling of Byakko's senses intertwined with hers.

His friend was...Kyoraku Shunsui. Rizu's ex commander.

"I have many out there." Kazeatari returned, her slim fingers fisting. "And if you harm...any of them...especially my Lieutenant, I will make sure-"

Perhaps he could sense her murderous intent, the flashing gold of a tiger through her eyes. But he - closed a thin hand around hers and lightly pushed it aside.

"If it were my choice, Namaiki-_taichou_..." was there an emphasis on _taichou_ that she heard?

"No one would have to fight again."

She watched him and returned to her post, awaiting - praying - Kagami or Kei would return soon.

...

"Didn't a Hollow eat you?"

He smiled easily. "As a matter of fact, no none did. Believe me, they tried though."

His smile made her sick.

Sick and convoluted. Twisted up in that tiny shriveled up thing the humans called a heart. Hiyori could feel the tiny thing beat faster - painfully faster as if remembering every gut-wrenching second of that time.

_- prisoner -_

_- murderer -_

_The memories made her dizzy, sick with vertigo. Her head spun and her throat felt dry._

_- Shinji the idiot at her side, bribing guards, getting into the White tower -_

_- His face and words. "I'm sorry for making you worry." -_

_So sincere, she cried._

"Where's your sincerity now!" she screamed, unable to keep it in anymore. Her voice rife with pent up emotion bounced around them. Kagami stood still, losing the smile she (liked) hated. "You have every right to stand there and curse me." He finally said, blue eyes so clear like the puddles reflecting sky that she used to like to jump into...only to watch the ripples break out over them.

Hiyori gripped her sword hard enough to lose feeling in her fingers, for her knuckles to turn white had she glanced down. The mask felt now like a hideous weight, a reminder of the present and the undeniable past.

Hiyori for the first time, felt ugly with it.

And _wanted_ the mask, to hide her face.

Anything to escape the reflection she saw herself as in his eyes.

"I hate you." It came out normal enough with just enough shrill bite to sound convincing.

"It's okay." He used a tone one would to calm a child. But unhappy in doing so.

At least the trembling stopped. Hiyori wet her lips, her chest tight. She watched him the way she had been taught to watch an enemy. Desperately ignoring the old part of her that repeated over and - _but this is Kagami_ - she looked grimly at him. "I know what you are, all of us do..." then for added effect, she taunted, "a traitor. You were a filthy traitor to the Shinigami from the start!"

He was immoveable stone now. The fine chisel of his expression revealing neither anger nor malice. Hiyori hated how she couldn't read him anymore.

"Sosuke told you then."

"'Course! Couldn't help but rub it in to Shinji and I how you were in on it the whole time! How you yourself perfected the Hollowfication technique used on us!" She spat in a torrent of hate. The old anger collided with the pain of memory, warring itself in her heart and mind. Hiyori glared daggers, wishing they would mortally wound.

Kagami sighed, looking vaguely distressed - she reminded herself that he was a very good actor, perfect in masking his emotions. "In theory, it was my work...but Sosuke was the genius that configured the process to work on Shinigami."

"Lies!" she fired back.

"It doesn't matter...if you don't believe me anymore than I believe myself."

_Huh?_ She eyed him strangely. For once he sounded unsure, hesitant. But it was gone in a flash. The puddles of sky became frozen pools. "Nothing matters at all." He sighed, a warp in the air marking the arcing path of his shunpo. Hiyori tried to steady her aim, show no mercy how she always fought- ignoring her mind which screamed it was _Kagami-Kagami_.

- _not enemy_ -

_**He is enemy!**_ she shrieked at her other self, her silly girl self, barely able to duck to avoid the sword made of water. He swung low then followed up with a swipe that sent her flying across the space. Hiyori crashed into an immaterial surface- what her body insisted was a brick wall, but what looked like the same damned smooth black wall as the other three sides. The kido had configured itself too as if feeding off of the Ripples sword. It was wider now, longer with a higher flat ceiling. Kagami tapped the flat of the tang against his palm, walking toward her.

"I'm rather disappointed. I expected more from you, Hiyori-san."

"Don't call me that!" she bit out harshly, her hand scrabbling around for her Zanpaku-to.

"Sarugaki-san then."

There it was again. That implicit reminder. Her head refused to shut up no matter how many times she told it to.

- "Sarugaki-san." -

- "Sarugaki-san, would you like more tea?" -

- "Thank you for the gift, Sarugaki-san." -

- "Why are you crying...Sarugaki-san?" -

It was all too much...and he didn't even feel a damned thing.

...

Bubbles streamed from Sazanami's serpent mouth.

_'Why are you torturing yourself, Kagami-san? You should end it now.' _

He watched the scrawny razor-edged pig-tailed girl pick herself off the ground, hurling more invectives at him. Once confronted with the original, it was harder to see the likeness between Dani and this other..

_Because, I caused her this pain_.

Hiyori charged at him, effortless though it was to evade her clumsy ungraceful attacks, he let her land a cut across his face, a grin of hollow teeth flashed. She thought _she had the upper hand_. Under any other circumstance it would've been amusing, like a game of hunter and prey.

The prey had fangs, but the hunter was just feinting.

It was Kei's favorite game.

_I hold the advantage in the palm of my hand_.

"Bet you're not so cocky now, huh?" Her longer upper tooth was protruding like a fang. Her wiry frame twisting, meeting each strike of Sazanami with heavy blows. He took half a step back, parrying one-handed. Hiyori never noticed, her rage fueling the strikes that grew increasingly more violent-

Until she skated back, red light forming between the jaws of the Hollow mask.

"Eat this!" Hiyori released the thick swath of red cero, the molten energy pouring from the maws of the Hollow mouth. She was foolish as always to not watch her surroundings, dive in without a seconds thought. He admired her false courage, casting the watery circle of Genei with hesitation.

Many others including the recently deceased Septima had been acquainted with the particular facets of the glassy barrier, the image of fragility it presented when under duress, ripples would break out over the surface, concentrating on a central point.

_Hiyori was...much too impatient to die for his taste_. Even with that thought burning acid in his chest, the Doom cero glanced off the shield, rebounding with the ripple effect of water droplets. Going back at her first as a small streak thickening to a full blast. From the red tints of light streaking the darkness of the containment cube, he saw her stunned expression, wide open black sclera with brown centers, three little freckles under each ocular cavity, parted mouth- from which a shriek was torn out of.

An enduring scream that overcame the howling gust of the blast thundering back in the small space. It caught her in completely- burning his eyes with the intensity of the color washing against the other end of the cube. Sazanami kept the fragmentary energies from swallowing them up as well, miniature ripples like whirlpools breaking out over the glassy dome.

The blast petered out.

Hiyori lay very still on her stomach, charred red sweater and capri jogging pants tattered and smoking. Her outstretched little hands suddenly balled, fingers clawing at the ground.

"I..hate..you." Her voice was tiny, croaking from the ravaged throat.

"That's fine." He assented, Sazanami's barrier falling with a minute splash to his sandals.

"Tell me..._why_."

"Why what?"

"Why do you always say _sorry_?"

He saw her mask had protected her face and hadn't shattered from the worst of it. The ugly thing lifted when he approached swiftly, snatching her off the ground like a rag doll, her feet dangling several inches off the ground, left arm coiling back, Sazanami tight aimed for the kill in it. With every breath he could feel her pain like it was his own, beating, driving it in like a keen knife through his heart - how could one feel such pain and still breathe? Sometimes he despised his own power. This was one such time, the power of _empathy_.

"Because, there is nothing else I can say."

-flashback 115 years ago-

She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to let herself get cornered. _Come to think of it she hadn't seen the rest of the Squad, idiots that they were since_- her thoughts were interrupted by a Hollow's shriek. Hiyori steeled herself, as many more cackling howls rent the air. Five there were. Five scorpion-like Hollows with huge pincers that could easily snap her in half and whipping segmented tails with dangerous stingers. Their armor plating was difficult to pierce she had learned the hard way by a blunt head-on attack.

Now she gauged her options, not liking any of them.

Silently, she said her goodbyes to Hikifune-Taichou and changed her stance, preparing to go down fighting no matter what- a flash of color caught her eye. Black. A slender body, masked face. Shinigami robes. Hiyori could barely comprehend what was happening. The nearest scorpion had been sliced to ribbons with nary a cry. Its fellows went soon after as the figure - _savior_ though she hated being saved by anyone - cut through them with a translucent sword.

She stared stock still for a second at the many white pieces of broken mask and segmented body parts littering the ground. The savior glanced about then sheathed the peculiar sword striding toward her.

"Are you alright, Fukutaichou?" The voice came muffled from behind the black half-mask. The savior was a male she registered dimly. Concerned blue eyes studied her from above the mask. He towered over her like most men. Hiyori found that irritating.

"O-of course I'm alright!" She snapped a second too late, betraying her hesitance. "I'm a Fukutaichou! Of course I can take of myself! In fact I had the situation well in control before you-" _so rudely butted in_.

"Ah, I'm glad to hear it." he calmly cut her off. Hiyori wrinkled her nose at him, catching an eye crease indicating a smile tugging on lips she couldn't see. "Hikifune-san will be around shortly." He sheathed the bloody sword, water droplets splashed the ground, glittering like tears. "Please stay in one place until she arrives." He said over his shoulder, walking away with swift Shinobi speed.

...

She learned his name was Kagami by happenstance.

Love said it. Said the owner of the name was a newly appointed personage to the illustrious Shihoin-hime's entourage.

It got around Soul Society because he was the first Gaijin to be promoted to a high office.

Hiyori sneered and replied, "what? A high paid babysitter?"

Love told her to be quiet.

...

It rained during the night.

A muggy, sticky night left dozens of water pools scattered about the grounds and boulevards of Seireitei.

Hiyori checked twice that no one was around.

Her favorite by far reflected a pool of perfect sky.

She checked again to make sure.

Then jumped with a satisfying splash.

Ripples shattered the stillness, droplets soaking through the hem of her robes and she laughed at the childishness of it.

"Do you always become so light-hearted when no one is around, Sarugaki-Fukutaichou?"

She stiffened and affixed a glare on her tiny face.

"What's it to you? Unless you're a secret perv who get's off watchin' young ladies!" she smirked unpleasantly to hide her pleasant surprise. She had heard from a very reliable though annoying source that the head guard of Shihoin-hime's, hung around a stretch of willow trees, waiting for his commander to emerge from her training exercises.

And there he was.

Not lanky like beanpole Shinji, nor stocky with muscle like Love. His frame was slighter, leaner in the tight-fitting uniform. She realized she'd been staring- letting her gaze travel too far down then what should've been proper. She was ready to meet the challenge of impropriety with a sandal but when she snuck a peek at his face, she saw that he was looking up at the sky.

_Not at her_.

"What's great about the dumb ol' sky anyway!" and said so herself.

"It's going to rain again." He said with surety, sounding like some old wise man and then much to her surprise, he procured a shimmery energy- how in the hell did he do that- umbrella made of kido and placed it in her hand. The first drops fell two seconds after he strolled off.

-His pov-

_Sosuke told me to get close to Hirako Shinji, before his promotion to Fukutaichou. _

_Shinji was the sharpest the Gotei 13 had seen in a long time, I was told. I was warned not to let anyone be suspicious of me- he wasn't...and you weren't either, were you, Hiyori? It was well-known how the two of you were friends...with Aizen's illusion...I was able to slip away, monitor your fight._

_I don't know why...I stepped in. _

_Aizen had said you were weak- I could see it - he said..."Let her die."_

_Even then I couldn't._

...Her pov...

Kirio was paying a visit to the sickly Ukitake Jushiro one afternoon, Hiyori couldn't stand the man's fixation with doling out candy and calling her a _kid_. So she declined and jetted off unwilling to be tied down at the office with the other idiots.

Racing past the walls of Seireitei, she ended up on a different path than usual to her favorite lake spot and came across...an abandoned hut. Its walls were upright, the door a hanging sheet of bamboo that was only a little weathered beneath her fingertips. Inside, the one room was relatively clean with few spider webs in the corners. In the center, an earthen square showed evidences of a very old fire. Hiyori grinned suddenly, realizing it had been a very lucky day for her.

_**Fort Sarugaki**_, she thought proudly, stomping around the tiny room, already imagining the large plaque and flag she was going to decorate it with. - well that is until footsteps crunched outside and then the thud of wood as someone alighted on the tiny engawa. That someone she saw, turning wearing a shit-eating grin still, was a man of medium height dressed in black Shinigami robes. His golden sandy hair had wave to it, longer pieces fell around his face, a few flopped over almost in his eyes giving a definite boyish look.

But it was the eyes that most struck her.

The blueness like the sea - and the fact that he was staring at her with a dumbfounded expression like an idiot.

"Sarugaki-fukutaichou...what are you doing here?"

Her brow twitched.

_That voice-!_

"Wha-what the hell are you doing here! This is my place!" she couldn't keep the stupid tremor from her voice.

He stared at her, balancing the knapsack at his hip, a very delightful scent wafted from it and she was reminded of how she hadn't picked up lunch before leaving. The thought occurred to her to tackle him and run off with whatever was giving off a very good smell.

That thought was soon replaced by down and out irritation.

"What're you talking about? This is my house. I used to live here before I went to the academy."

...His pov...

_I was surprised to find this little short Fukutaichou stomping around my hut, intent on claiming it for her own. I still remember your face when I said it was mine. _

_You said that you didn't see my name on it. _

_I remember you also launching Super Harisen Slipper against me._

_You almost got me, but your rumbling stomach embarrassed you enough to sulky silence. _

_Cute, was how I thought of you. _

_And I shared the lunch Kei made for me (that little brat treated me like a guinea pig for all her cooking adventures) I must admit she rarely ever messed up. I still remember you stuffing your face with the rice pilaf and fish cakes. _

_You didn't thank me._

_I bore in mind Sosuke's order and called after your stomping back, "why don't we call half ownership?" I never thought you'd accept, even after a pause and snort. I didn't think you'd return the following evening with two fistfuls of fancy candies from Kariya's sweetshop._

_I made us tea and we talked a little more._

...Her pov...

Kirio said she had a glow and grinned more.

"It was a good development."

Though annoyed that something was noticeable, Hiyori refrained from taking her temper out on her mother-figure and instead bit the proverbial heads off the next Shinigami that crossed her path.

It wasn't Kirio's observation that made her angry and plow through Shinji's office just to smack him around when the Shinigami of Twelfth wisely stayed out of Fukutaichou's way, it was 'cause he was an idiot too - for making her five minutes late by needing a stupid document about bokken usage.

Shinji called her a cranky snaggletooth- and that was as far as he got before she smacked the words out of his mouth, making sure to cram her sandal on before taking off out the window.

She was ...happy until-

There was a girl-

'Pretty.' Her traitorous mind couldn't resist to point out. The habitual scowl sunk in deeper. The pretty, laughing creature was spinning in circles Hiyori couldn't see. She couldn't see for the nails slicing into her palms, she was gripping them so hard. Laughing with little twirls of shimmery brownish-gold hair.

_He_ stood in the center, back to the tiny hut, dressed in plain black. The complete uniform sans the face mask. The cloth was lowered to his chin, eyes like the sky tilted up to the firmament.

"Must you twirl in circles around me?" He said, sounding annoyed.

Hiyori was glad for the annoyance. Ecstatic, to the point of almost grinning when the silly creature stopped spinning and tossed the lovely hair. She was jealous again. The girl had boobs- gorgeous hair, fair, perfect skin and almost strange purple eyes like fine stones.

The radiant creature- was in short, everything Hiyori was _not_.

The leaves crumpled in her hand. She hadn't even remembered ungripping her fists to claw at the skinny sapling branches- skinny like her. Flat-chested. Freckled. _**...ugly**_. The thought was too much when he laughed- the radiant creature got him to laugh- when she never had.

...

She sat at the usual spot because she couldn't say no to Kirio's smiling dismissal.

The cicadas chirped.

They made her angry. Hell everything did lately. Hiyori palmed a handful of pebbles and let them fly in the direction of the noise. The shadows moved, grass crunched beneath tabi boots. "Whoa. Low bridge." A note of amusement in voice and in the flicker of clear blue eyes above the confining mask.

"What are you doing here?" she decided to respond. Snidely. Crossing skinny arms, feet kicking the air as if she hadn't been waiting the same as other nights. He paused, just barely in the confines of the tiny clearing belonging to the hut. "Sorry. I was...delayed."

Her feet stopped moving. _That was unexpected_. Incredulous, though wanting to believe it, she added so she wouldn't look like a gaping idiot. "With yer' girlfriend?"

"What?" He sounded just confused now.

"I saw 'er." Hiyori plodded on, smirking unpleasantly. "A real looker she is. I'm just surprised you went for 'em so young! Ya perv!" and she laughed to get rid of that stupid thick feeling in her throat. _Stupid feelings_...

He was silent, then almost without missing a beat, crossed and sat down easily on the edge of the worn engawa, setting his bundle between them. "Oh. That was Keiko."

"Flavor of the month?"

"No. I've known her for...a very long time. As long as the stars have been in the sky it seems."

She risked a peek and saw his face tilted up to the sky full of twinkling little lights.

...

After a brief time, he poured the tea.

And divided the two different kinds of sweets.

...

The first set were odd triangle shapes like onigiri but were bread-like and thick.

The taste was as bad as the first time he had brought something sweet- but the second set...

"Wow, so you finally made something decent." she complimented, admiring the fish-shaped cookies that had a faint scent of cherry almond.

He peered at her from over the tin cup. "Oh, well, I'll give your compliments to her when I see her."

"What do you mean?"

"Keiko dropped by to give me those."

She wanted to choke. _Not the girlfriend-! - and the radiant creature was a good cook?_

Oblivious like all idiots, Kagami went on with a faint smile. "She told me specifically to share them with you. I think you know a Yadomaru Lisa-san...Fukutaichou?"

Dumbly she nodded, unable to swallow the crushed cookie.

"Keiko's friends with her and apparently Lisa-san told her that you liked almond cookies."

"She'snotyourgirlfriendthen!" she said in a rush.

"What?" This time he set the cup down, staring at her in confusion.

Hiyori felt her face heat up in embarrassment.

Then, unbelievably...he laughed.

For the first time since they had met four months before, he laughed at her expense.

She growled unclearly into her cup.

He sobered and pushed the rest of the fish-shaped cookies to her. "Keiko and I...aren't _dating as preposterous as that is to even think it_." His smile was soft. Amused. "She's in love with someone already while I-"

"What?" now she was curious, hunching her shoulders down. But he was looking at something in the sky, the smile easing off.

"Make a wish, hurry!"

...

It was a shooting star.

She never knew it, but they had the same wish.

...His pov...

_I doubt you ever noticed that night how I kept the face-mask on. _

_Do you remember what my explanation was?_

_"I was...delayed."_

_If only that were the complete truth._

_I was with Sosuke in some district that I never caught the number of. I had ...captured a konpaku, a petrified young boy with a smattering of freckles across his face. We implanted the Hollow within him and stepped back, watching his soul be torn apart._

_Sosuke pronounced it a failure when the boy lost his human form and ordered me to dispatch it. My dear Sazanami was silent when she cut through the malformed shape like gliding through air, blood flew, splotching my face_

_I left the mask on because I was afraid you'd see the blood and know I was a liar. _

_I don't know why I couldn't get that frightened little face out of my head. _

_It was...too close. Much too close. That child that I slaughtered...could have been you. _

_If asked, I honestly couldn't have said how I felt toward you._

_You weren't like a sister._

_Yet I didn't desire you...you were Hiyori. With a too loud, obnoxious voice. Shaking fist and Super Harisen Slipper that I watched you dole out to Shinji too many times. Sosuke's experiments went on with little success - Shinji told me before you even knew of it, his decision to make Aizen Sosuke his Fukutaichou. _

_Shinji gave me a snarky look. "Do you think I'm making a good decision?"_

_I can say I enjoyed Shinji's company as much as yours. _

_We often talked a little in my favorite copse of willow trees while you were carrying out little science projects with Hikifune-Taichou. He asked like you never did, why I preferred that spot to wait for Lady Yoruichi. I told him it was because of a song my mother used to sing to me and my sisters._

_About 'willow trees and a lost love...'_

_He asked me quite bluntly once if I was in love with you?_

_I had known you and him for two years by then._

_I didn't laugh because he was a Taichou and I respected him and too...because..._

_I'm not blind._

_I hated my power then too because of you._

_Because I knew how you...started to feel in that stunted little thing called a heart._

...Her pov...

Hiyori spent an hour, pink-cheeked in Twelfth's office, folding paper, guided by Kirio's amused hands.

-when asked, she said it was a holiday in the living world.

_St. Valentine's day in England. _

...Present time...

"Take off your mask." He calmly ordered, the part of the eyes he could see widened, immediately she began struggling.

"N-No-No-"

_You have no heart anymore. Sosuke told Keiko you all had lost your hearts when you died a hundred years ago. So why...why do you still have tears in your eyes, Hiyori?_

He cut the mask away, revealing the black orbs slowly bleeding to brown.

Tears dripped down her face.

...111 years ago (bear with me on the timeframe)

- "Why are you crying, Sarugaki-san?" -

She stiffened and bolted upright with a watery scowl. The leaves had been a perfect hideaway- or so she thought but was rendered null by the quiet voice emanating from the other side of her hidey hole.

"None of 'yer...business."

Leaves shifted, light spilled in from the morning drizzle framing a fair haired man with wet shoulders and a dull glassy look to pale blue eyes. _It was raining again_.

- "I'll ask again, _why are you crying_, _**Hiyori-**__san_?"

Then she couldn't help it.

"-Hikifune-Kirio-san...Kirio-san is-is gone!"

She jumped into his chest.

"S-She left me b-be-behind!"

...His pov...

_Urahara Kisuke became your Taichou, I knew he was Lady Yoruichi's good friend and Sosuke's enemy. Wasn't everyone his enemy? I thought of my precarious position between the hierarchy of Soul Society, Keiko and Kazeatari the students, you and Shinji of the Guard Squad class and Sosuke who was taking the first steps to becoming the enemy of the world - a title I would gladly relinquish to him._

_I was trapped - wasn't I? In a prison of my own making._

_By the warmth of your friendship, by the foolishness of my ancient youth- what could I do but pretend every day, lie to you and to my own emotions - _

_"I could betray you and not feel anything."_

_How wrong I was_.

...

Sarugaki-san is innocent." It came out- damn him and emotions. He said it naturally as if Sosuke (dear friend) and Gin and Kaname didn't stop and look at him.

Strangely.

In Gin's case, a slip of a smile.

Kaname a scowl, for the blind didn't see.

And Sosuke...Sosuke most of all, a slight smile.

"Come now. Hirako is becoming most bothersome. It serves our purposes best, I think, to take away a dear friend of his."

There it was again.

_Dear Friend_.

Kagami leaned against the wall, the paper dragon burned in his sleeve like Soryu grumbled in his mind.

"You mean to say Sarugaki is guilty by association?"

"Of course."

...

He knew he was going to regret it.

Sosuke- Sosuke was his first friend.

But, Hiyori and Shinji were his friends too.

-One didn't harm friends-

"I'm sorry." And he smiled like always. "But you're going to have to commit mass genocide without me."

Sosuke sighed.

Gin looked between them, he was so young (to have hands stained with blood)

"I presume you know to leave is by pain of death?"

Kagami grinned, "oh, Gin-kun? Really? If you lay one hand on Hiyori's head while I am still around, I'll make sure you know what it's like to have every ounce of water in your body evaporate. _Slowly_."

The silver-haired boy hesitated on drawing out his knife-like Zanpaku-to.

"You'll die too."

A soft smile. "I don't care what happens to this body."

Sosuke nodded, "let him go, Gin."

"But, Aizen-sama!" Gin whined, never bridging that proximity in name.

Sosuke ignored him. "Go on. Go back to your illusion, but. Never speak a word of this-"

"I won't." Kagami answered shortly. "_You know I won't_."

_For that would mean admitting my mea maxima culpa to my friends. _

_Forgive me...if I am a coward_.

(mea maxima culpa - translates as - my most grievous fault)

...Present Time...

He hadn't meant to hesitate, the unspoken rule being of death if one did. He supposed if he really thought about it, it was one part pity, another reminiscence that made his fingers lightly wipe the tears sticky off her cheek.

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened and with a strange half-shriek, launched herself off the wall, slashing futilely at the air across his chest. Wisely Kagami took a step back, watching as her sword clattered away from her, her legs gave out, body crumpling face down to claw at the floor.

"Tell me why..._**why**__!"_

_You'd never understand...even if I explained_, her emotion clenched his heart.

"After Kirio-san...you were the only other person I let in! Why did you have to betray us!"

_So why...why does it still hurt?_

_Why can't I hate you? _

_..._

The reiatsu permeated the confining walls, a brusque cool touch like the first mist in winter. A light graze of almost liquid in the still, dark air. The ball of kido bobbed near his face, a little too close, Shinji swatted it away with annoyance, his long fingers closing on nothing.

Nothing tangible.

Like mist droplets, the man was like the rain itself.

Calming - his presence.

Mild like pitter-patters of droplets but violent like a storm when angry.

Shinji closed his fist on nothing again, hearing the resonance of voices from that night.

_"-let the dead rest in peace, you bastard!" Hiyori shrieked, only he caught the catch in her voice. The only tiny indication that despite the Hollow eating her from the inside out, hadn't destroyed her heart yet. _

_The three figures stood silhouetted by night in the clearing, a centralmost one with a disarmingly pleasant smile inclined his head to her._

_"Ah, pardon my slip, Sarugaki-fukutaichou. Nanatsu Kagami was your friend too, was he not?"_

_"So what?" Hiyori's anger forced some of the mask to shatter, Shinji had to smile inwardly at her spitfire. That warm glow inside his pained body - evaporating like mist when his fukutaichou turned to him finally._

_"And you too..." Aizen murmured, a malicious dancing light Shinji couldn't interpret its source, alight in coffee brown eyes. "You as well, Hirako-Taichou."_

_He scowled, sensing that whatever was going to be imparted was a taunt. Some kind of one-up that his fucking fukutaichou had gained on them other than their various wounded states. Something...painful. Something he realized, his eyes darting to Hiyori's, something he didn't want to hear, more didn't want her to know either._

_Hiyori never looked at him, her too round eyes were focused on Aizen's. "What...what is it...about ..." her voice dropped so low it was a whisper. The sneaky little third seat Ichimaru Gin snickered softly behind his black sleeve. _

_"...__**Kagami-san?**__"_

_"He was under my orders to __**befriend**__ you." Aizen said pleasantly as though he were discussing the weather_.

_Shinji watched the will to fight die in her sparking brown eyes._

_The mask formed - crushing her will along with her too large heart. _

_I could never __**forgive**__ you for that_.

...

"You're all burned up, mister!" The green-haired girl pouted, poking him with her orange-booted foot. "Don't so many burns hurt, mister?"

He cracked open an eye and stared at the slice of the Vizard he could see. "O-of course, girl." _Don't you have eyes to see? Doesn't logic guide your thoughts? _But he guessed it didn't. Mashiro Kuna despite her idiocy- _was a capable fighter_.

"How did you get these burns?" Mashiro crouched down near his side, her ridiculous suit scrunching up in white wrinkles over her knees. Orange gloved hands cradled her chin. "T-e-ll me! T-e-l-l m-e-e-e!" she whined petulantly. "'Cause I'm b-o-r-e-d!"

The fingers that clutched onto Soekimaru, felt the diminished energy slowly repleting itself.

He was thankful to the Gods that had deserted him that she never noticed.

...

_We lived on the outskirts of Kusajishi, the worst of the districts reserved for the konpaku._

_I was...hired muscle for one of the smalltime local thugs, a kingpin of a destitute village. I was...one of the few who had spirit energy. I could've become a Shinigami had things been different for us.. She hated it- she always hated violence of any kind. _

_I-we were happy, eking out a little life._

_She never complained wiping the blood spatters from my face. I thought everything could remain as it was- permanence - peace, she gave me peace despite the violence I was confronted with every day. But maybe I was too __**naive**__. _

Mashiro was humming, rocking on her boot heels.

_In one afternoon, everything changed. The Kingpin I had served, was overturned by a newer, stronger ruler. An unforgivable ruler who despised the former. I was the last of the old guard I guess you could say...and it was being changed._

_A fellow commoner told them where our home lay in the thicket beside the spring._

_My wife was preparing supper when they came._

_I was gathering wood when I heard her scream. Filled with dread, I raced back and found them wrestling her to the ground. I...did everything I could to free her- until I was reduced to begging. Harada's new soldiers jeered at me, lashed my bloody form to a spit and started a fire_.

The hardest part came now.

_"I watched them...violate her. Take their turns with her, all the while her eyes were on me. On me and the smoke slowly rising around me. She cried for me- n-not herself..."_

_When she screamed as the flames began licking at my flesh, boiling it away- one of the men sneered at her to stop. My last memory of her is of a rusty katana gutting her open. The soldier laughing that he had finally 'shut the bitch up.'_

Seijin stared unseeingly at the torn bandages littering the ground.

_"_She looked like..._Kazeatari._" He finished.

"Kaze-atari?" Mashiro muttered, large eyes rolling upward thoughtfully. "I think that big idiot Kensei knew someone with that funny name!"

"That's why...I would do anything for _her_." Seijin murmured almost inaudibly as Mashiro scratched at her short green bob. He released Soekimaru's first plague.

...

"Dammit..." The hexagonal-like crystal cube refused to break. Toya remained in the middle of it, lashing out at the sides and ceiling of the translucent _coke bottle green_ trap. He had been an idiot for not unleashing at least a level six to break Hachigen's concentration. Now entrapped, he could only watch as the former sub-commander tried dispelling measures to break the Kukanten'i.

With little success.

The one consolation was his displacement spell of Jikanteishi had been modified to absorb and strengthen with the amount of power unleashed inside each. Therefore, the more power released inside would only serve to strengthen the original kido. He abhorred the weightlessness of the small space, matching a plain stare to Hachigen's realization. _The only way to break it other than for the combatants to die or for he himself to lower it...was to kill the caster_.

Not that he had any intentions whatsoever of letting himself be killed. Energy flowed into his fingers, once he was sure there was optimum level to work with, he began forming various ketsu-in. Just as he finished the final set, building up a cube of green light, the scabbard at his side pulsed, radiating a smug refractive glow.

"Kage?" Surprised by the sudden stirring, the tang reacted by clanking in the black tube.

_'Withdraw me, fool.'_ The snide voice of the sword snapped. Annoyed by the demand, he hesitated on doing so. _I thought you weren't going to help me_.

_'Shut up. It's not...for you that I'll do it.'_ Came the sulky reply. _'I don't forgive you yet.'_

_Then why...?_

_'I said shut up! Ushoda's going to try and crush the cube with you in it!'_

Losing his momentary hesitation, Toya dropped his hand to the hilt, "Taorero...Sakanade!" The plain blade in his hand transformed into a long blade with a line of ridges on the cutting edge, holes were a straight line up to the sharp point and at the end of the hilt, a round circle encased his hand allowing Sakanade ne -Kage Bunshin to revolve.

He felt sick to his heart bearing the familiar weapon, even knowing it was but a false imitation of the original. With a sharp pivot of his wrist, he slashed crossways, gashing the kido open with the fluid flow of pink mist. The information Kage sent him was processed quickly, flash-stepping from the remains of Roppō Fūjin, he unleashed Sakanade's full shikai.

_Sakasama no sekai_.

Hexagon crystals shot up from the ground, entrapping Hachi within. The large man fell back incredulously, staring out at Toya who resheathed his sword. Kage had gone silent again. Gone off to sulk wherever he had been before.

No matter.

As futile as it had been for him to break the kido, Hachi's attempts to were rendered null as well. Toya sighed, brushing his longer bangs out of his eyes. It was easy to pick out Shinji Hirako's cube from all the rest. The faint reiatsu trace was as familiar as his own.

Kage though silent, prodded him to another happening farther away. Takara it seemed was gaining ground against her opponent. For that he was glad. No matter how the spaces or mindsets that divided them, he still had a soft spot for the blond Lieutenant. Toya raised a hand, fingers gliding over the atmosphere.

He was aware of his pounding heart, the clammy sweaty feeling of his hands. It was unlike the nervousness before taking the rigorous test taken by all the agents of the Kido Corp. He was nervous- this was what it came down to. Every struggle, every triumph...years of waiting had all come down to this moment.

_Do I even have a right to hesitate?_

The answer was no, at least to his mind. Without a backward glance to Hachi, he stepped inside the slightly smaller containment cube. Unlike the others, whose battles he could feel, Hirako hadn't wasted energy by trying to break out. Hirako leaned against the back wall, directly across from Toya's vantage point, his head was tilted forward, eyes closed, thin wide slit of a mouth upside down with a frown.

"Took ya long enough."

"You knew I was coming for you?"

Sardonic brown eyes flickered open, Hirako managed a tiny smirk, "from the antagonizing looks ya sent my way, it was easy to guess you got a bone to pick with me." The crossed arms dropped down to their sides, the bowl-cut blond straightened his posture, head tipped back now instead of forward.

"I had kind of thought it would be.._someone else_. Mmhmm. Maybe that's why he had us fooled...I still can't read his actions." Hirako seemed bemused over something that Toya didn't understand until he caught the slant of the Vizard's gaze.

- _that's_...

Despite his anticipation _to finish it all_, he felt genuinely curious. "Did you know Captain Nanatsu?"

Shinji's bemused glance flickered to him, the thin slit mouth parted in a wide teeth-filled grin. "Oh I knew him alright. 'ppose, you don't know then."

"Don't know what?" The fact was, Kagami had rarely ever spoken of his past. That was a given considering how most of the Juppongatana was made up of runaways/strays from Soul Society.

"Nanatsu's a stinkin' traitor." A flicker that Toya could've said was pain or something like it, flittered shadow-like through Shinji's steady gaze. Then it was gone in a flash, replaced with the same toothy smirk, "so we gonna fight or what?"

...

She deflected his solid punch, pivoting her body sideways, her knee colliding into his stomach. Ggio grunted a stream of blood, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. "You're not bad, little rat!" He added, countering with a side swipe of his leg. Takara caught it and flung him upward with the reverse of using her unbalanced weight.

She didn't reply, snapping the Satcom open and setting the scrambler to high frequency, within seconds the bars in the corner of the screen gave the readout as zero between Soul Society's communications to any soul pagers within the radius of Karakura town. The patch had been mediocre at best in the Research and Development's network, but she figured it would hold while the virus infected the data stream. Once that was done, she powered the system to low and slipped the entire thing in her robes, setting off after him.

He looked somewhat amused, catching her fist and twisting it sideways. Takara bit off her grimace, "sorry. Had to make sure we weren't interrupted." Not missing a beat, she quickly swung the other way, her momentum momentarily jerking her wrist in an awkward position. Within seconds she had yanked out of his grasp, her legs went over the sides of his back. The Arrancar immediately stiffened and prepared to throw her off.

Takara's arms shot down and she captured him in a headlock, never mind the rather painful crunch of his bone sabertooth mask cutting into her breasts. Ggio's small hands scrabbled over her yet stopped when the red glow of kido from her palm leveled against his cheek.

"Now listen here...and listen well, Ggio." Her breath fanned the edge of black bangs that fringed his forehead. "Soul Society plans on killing the lot of you, we of the Juppongatana don't want that-" he struggled as if about to sneer something particularly nasty. Takara tightened her grip around his middle and pressed the singeing heat waves of the kido flush against his skin. The Hierro couldn't take much more and a muffled yelp soon followed.

Takara shifted her hand until it was placed directly over his mouth. Though she was focused mostly on keeping her grip tight and scanning the surrounding energies, she couldn't help but notice how soft his lips were - for an Arrancar and the musky scent clinging to the hair that was inches from her nose.

Haretosora snapped, _"focus!"_ and Takara did unwillingly, trying to think of Gin-san rather than the Arrancar between her legs. "I want to make you a deal-"

His mouth moved under her hand and she moved it a little.

"What kind of deal?" He sounded suspicious and she couldn't blame him.

Takara forced herself to take a deep breath before going on. "If I...defeat you, you must submit to the Juppongatana and be our ally- I swear we'll do our best to spare Barragan-san! Other- otherwise the Shinigami'll kill you all!"

"..hmph. And what's it to you exactly if they slaughter us all? Isn't that what all Shinigami want?"

She let out a disgusted noise, "haven't you been listening? Don't be such a pighead and fucking listen to me!"

He snorted softly, "stupid...you're all the same." And with that, he bucked his back, sending her flying off, snatching at the insides of her wrists halting her downward spiral.

Takara glowered at him upside down, an incantationless kido forming at her fingers. Ggio leered in her face, "let's just say, rat..if ya defeat me..then you can have _me_." He tossed her across the sky as the kido grew, Takara barely managed to right herself, sending a wave of Shakkoho in her wake.

Ggio cut it in half with his sword, the red sparks of light buffeted by the wind flowing around his slender almost effeminate form. "Once I am defeated I am worthless to his Majesty. That is the rule of the sands upon which he reigns."

...

A Shinigami stood on each pillar. Four of them. Each of Fukutaichou strength and status. So this was the Shinigamies way of taking precaution. The Arrancar that stood atop the rail-encircled rooftop, swept his gaze to the Blazing Fortress. Yamamoto's attack had so far proved unbreachable by all even with an attempted break by Tia Halibel.

Ryuujin-Jakka was the most famous fire sword in all of Seireitei- Aki's sight filled with those constantly flickering flames, brilliant orange, a fiery corruption to them unlike the beautiful vivid heat of pure blue flame.

This would be easy- he was sure. Human thought, logical processes were faster in his mind than in beast form. He had his orders however, a battle had begun and would not end until either they or Soul Society was in ruins.

- _**"Ma'am, with all due respect we cannot allow this creature to be admitted in Yamamoto-Soutaichou's presence. It is the very essence of the thing that is our gravest enemy and shall be put down-"**_ -

He let the smooth fluidity of anger control his release.

"Erschienen, Eisen-Iowe."

- _filthy vermin - they who thought themselves so pure - were the ones who_...

His body sunk to a crouch, muscles rippling, legs shortening, thickening to powerful hindquarters, steel-gray nails extended from hands that lost human shape. Bursts of white tinted gray bone erupted over his bare spine and flanks-

- _must be put down_ -

The last of the twentieth generation shattered the concealing barrier around him, throwing back the thick auburn mane around a white mask of a lion and roared to the Heavens.

-"Captain Yamamoto commanded it."-

The Shinigami on the pillars started and flew to the edges of their post, searching for the disturbance- he leapt past them, bounding into the sky, his Sonido sharper than the wind. Coming up upon the cage of fire, he unleashed a sonic howl that vibrated and shattered the core of falsified air enflaming the prison.

Within seconds... it had ceased to exist.

...

The cups rattled.

Startled, Kanzaki tardily went after the nearest one as it plummeted to the ground, shattering in an explosion of porcelain. "What was that?" Uryu-kun was the first to say, grasping the edge of the table, the entire thing vibrated with the force of the shockwaves exploding somewhere outside their general vicinity.

Karasu could feel it in his bones and pounding heart. He knew above all he had to act efficient- calm - worried- yes. A balance of the two. "It must be one of Aizen's followers!" even as he said it, his eyes darted to the computer screen, the static imagery showed Tia Halibel pausing in the sky, her face turned toward the east- where Aizen was.

"Impossible! How can they hope to shatter my Blazing Fortress?"

There was one among them who he bet could. One whose power was greater than the created Arrancars, a true descendant of the original Vasto Lordes- Aki Shikouten, the iron lion. Karasu sweated and tried to get his breathing under control. Kyoraku had never returned and Ukitake had gone to have a word with Kuchiki-Taichou- or so he said. A quick preliminary scan of the remaining few reiatsus and Karasu's stomach fell.

Ukitake had left the camp as well.

Trying to remain in control, he swiftly arose from his seat. "I propose we step outside for a moment. The source of the disturbance seemed to be coming from the east..." then as the few Shinigami Taichou and Urahara made to follow suit, Kanzaki fell in beside Osore, glancing back to Yamamoto.

"As you said yourself, sir. No one can hope to destroy the prison made by your Zanpaku-to."

...

The hilt almost slipped from her hands. _Damn it all,_ she cursed silently. She had been stupid to let him get a drop on her. _Too close_-

_"Focus."_ Grumbled Nekomata like all good Zanpaku-to did.

She blinked, seeing black spots in front of her eyes. Kyoraku's hazy, lumbering form landed a short distance away. "Kid." Rizu muttered, aware of every second that stretch between the inevitable, a trickle of hourglass sand until the poison took full effect. Lilinette sent her a dirty look, replying snarkily, "what, Shinigami? Had enough blood?"

"It's not..Shinigami. I'm the Lieutenant of Fifth Division..a Soul Reaper." even as she jerked to her chest, her eyesight threatened to grow blurry again. Nekomata sent a surge of strength to her arms and legs, emerging as a mist from the jeweled sword, thick muscular body solidifying once the paws hit the ground, growling softly again to get her attention.

"_Rizu_."

"I know." she murmured, lifting her eyes to her former commander. Though a sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead, his wispy dark hair lay heavily against his neck, he looked as unharmed as before.

_Had the Demento...failed? _

_"It's too early to tell yet."_ Nekomata grumbled, his flank pressed against her thigh. Unbeknownst to her, his crimson jewel-like eyes were fixated on the two women flickering into form beside Kyoraku. One with an elegant purple-haired coif and ornate kimono and the other like a shinobi bearing a face mask and a harsh look to lovely eyes.

_Katen-Kyokotsu_.

Ordinarily, the Zanpaku-to never emerged for a real battle against the opposing weapon. However, it seemed they were there to support their master as he had, due to her injuries. Nekomata searched Kyoraku's aura with his keen eyesight, looking for any trace of the Demento's effect. None-

_Neko, do you think I can imitate Kazeatari's Shindou?_ Rizu asked through their shared mind link. Nemokata's small pointy ears flattened, inquiringly he looked up at her. _'You want to imitate the wielder of wind's speed?'_

_What choice do I have? He's a better swordsman than I could ever be. We're far too outmatched to gain the upper hand by sheer skill alone_-

_'Your body would be damaged, Rizu. Humans, even those with great spiritual strength can't keep up to the enhanced speed of pure vibration. If anything went wrong, you could shatter every bone in your body!'_

_But, if I don't do something, my life and theirs_, she meant the Arrancars. _Would also be forfeit_.

Nekomata knew he had the Juppongatana's influence to blame for his wielder's selfless reproach. Rizu dropped her hand to his head, a reassuring pat. His ears twitched, quickly a low whine in his throat. Katen was smiling smugly at him like usual while Kyokotsu rested a hand on the heavy weapon strung through her sash.

The bitches- they were acting like Kyoraku had already won.

"Alright...we go at it together."

A soft growl emanated from his furry throat. Her gaze broke away from Kyoraku's dropping to the blade in her hand. Removing her hand from Nekomata's head, she tugged free from the secret compartment a small kit tossing it to the Arrancar child.

"Espada." Rizu called quietly. "Don't die."

Stark felt the cold fingers of Lilinette and cracked open blurry eyes, he could barely see the outline of the woman tilt her sword up slowly, angling it toward the palm of her right hand.

"_Why_?"

Lilinette gasped, "Don't try to talk, Stark!"

He ignored the childish side of him like always.

The Soul reaper sighed, turning slightly, half of the glasses-wearing woman's profile was visible to him. "Because...I know what's it like to be lonely." she finished, slicing open her palm. A blackish mist spiraled out in a swarm of haze around them.

...

"Stark..."

"What?" He could talk despite the effort being painful.

"Don't leave me alone, 'kay?"

He grew silent.

The ground itself beneath them, changed.

"Staaaaaark-!"

"Wha..what?"

"Promise!"

He felt sleepy again. "O..kay."

...

"Exacto! You believed your pretty flying pajaro could reach me~ahahaha! Well, think again!"

"Shut up." Hisrio snapped, wind whipped hair into his face from Houou's descent. Her long gilded feathers glinted sleekly under the fake sun of the town. _'He is terribly annoying, isn't he?'_ the phoenix princess cooed, her long talons gouging the rooftop of the building they stood on. Hisrio arranged his expression in what he best thought of as an aristocratic scowl.

"We are stronger however." His thickly gloved hand landed on the back of her neck, beneath the crown of crimson fringe running high from her head down. The spirit, like her master, possessed an inordinate amount of pride that nothing could suppress. - pride that ignored the fact that both of them bore several nasty scorch marks from cero blasts.

"Destroy him utterly with the next sweep."

_'Yes.'_

...

"One little flower! Two little flower~!"

She twitched, simply twitched, hands forming into claws as she clawed the air, wanting to gag at the sight of the transformed Arrancar and strangle the makeup wearing creature simultaneously. It was a dubious honor to fight an actual Arrancar- mind you, the only ones who ever had, were the Captains of Second, Fourth and Fifth.

_The Elementals_.

The dubious part being however, the fact that Charlotte Chulhoorne was a manly nightmare! Or so Kimiko wailed silently, tears sparking in her eyes. Their battle had been airborne, to the left of Hisrio's fiery taunt-filled clash with Findorr Calius. Out of the five fracciones currently spread out over the sky and the one in the town below...

One face stuck out as the best looking.

"Why oh why did Shimizu get the cutie Vega!" Kimiko wailed.

Then when more flora floated to the far ground below, she snapped, "and stop picking Nadeshiko's petals!"

...

Her speed limited, Rizu knew her options were disappearing fast. From the activity outside the thin veil of NightmaRE, she knew there was little hope of assistance, other than from Kyoraku's side. She had been lucky enough to be able to seal them off in the nightmare world with Ukitake remaining on the outside, it had been a risk to include the Arrancar pair but it wouldn't have been safe without knowing Ukitake didn't mean them harm.

She readied her stance and eyed the remaining space between them. Kyoraku always kept a certain minimum of area clear between he and the opponent, it was one she guessed to keep his own attacks from breaking into his sphere of influence. Meaning, she understood then, all one had to do to take him down was to have a close fight -

_"Careful, Rizu. That kind of recklessness could kill you too-"_ Nekomata warned.

She rolled her eyes, briefly pausing to push the glasses back up her nose. _I know that. But it doesn't seem as though Demento worked._

_"No, I think it did. Katen-Kyokotsu's will is keeping him up and out of our control. I do think his movements are greatly reduced."_

_Thanks for the heads up_. She moved then, flash-stepping behind him, slicing sharply through his shoulder blades. As Nekomata had informed her, Kyoraku was slower in retaliating, yet she too was lagging from bloodloss. The twin blades sheared lines across the upper part of her chest and stomach. A half-step back had saved her from being wounded too badly. Bringing the blade in her hand up in a guard position she blocked the second downward slice barely, feeling her legs tremble her sandals threatening to skate back. Rizu pulled off, landing unsteadily several feet away.

The cuts stung in the open air but were shallow from what she could tell. Adjusting her stance, she set off again, slashing with each twist and turn, feeling the ghosting whoosh of the tasseled blades cut inches above her body. Like before, she could still smell the ink from parchment on his robes, mixed with the copper scent of blood. Whose it was, she couldn't tell. With each swing, she managed to beat him back, avoiding the sharp edge of Katen-Kyokotsu as Kyoraku lacked the space to unleash the weapon's full potential.

She did feel a stinging bite to her arm, a blood-rush of pain to her nerve centers and the almost immediate loss of sensation in her left arm, switching hands, she caught the full brunt of his next swing against the scabbard, slicing high across his face with Nekomata's tilted up edge. Blood streaked down his wispy facial hair, a twitch of amusement played on his mouth.

Another slash and his hat flew off, cut in half.

Kyoraku retreated a distance away, too tardy to catch the remnants of the straw hat.

"I do believe you're trying to kill me, eh, Rizu-chan?"

Her sharp glance flickered down to her arm, as she'd thought, he'd cut the tendons reducing motory function to her muscles. It was clear he had been intent on rendering her incapable of wielding a sword- not trying to kill her. She realized then that perhaps that had been his plan all along. He probably meant to have her arrested along with everyone else, _arrested like before_...

Her grip tightened on the scabbard and hilt almost painfully - her eyes flickered upward to catch a glimpse of his face seconds before something white obscured her vision - _what the_-

"Shinigami!" Lilinette shrieked in warning. The white cloth settled over her, a shadow raised twin blades on the other side and Nekomata screamed at her, _"behind!"_

Blinded by the haori, she twisted to the side, half-falling, half-tripping. Katen-Kyokotsu whistled before cutting deeply into her thigh and outward. Rizu howled from the pain, somehow catching herself before going over. Fresh blood streamed thickly from the deep gash, her right leg barely supported her weight as she hobbled back.

"I'm sorry for this, Rizu-chan." Kyoraku said, the haori fluttered down between them. It had been a cheap trick, one she was ashamed for falling for and in another surprised that he had resorted to it. Was he that desperate to end the fight?

She didn't know anything. He circled her in an attitude that was neither happy nor sorrowed. An expression that lay somewhere in between. Rizu leaned her weight on her good side, not tired, not anything but angry. At herself for not being stronger - for not becoming stronger. Hadn't she promised she'd do everything she could to face the tasks that Kazeatari set for her? Hadn't she promised herself that she had already dealt with the ghost of her past in Kyoraku Shunsui? Rizu tilted her chin up, firmly meeting his light-colored eyes.

_"Rizu...I'm going to lower NightmaRE. Once it warps, call out 'Irooni shiroi.' I will distract Katen and Kyokotsu." _

The tightness in her chest lessened. She hardly dared breathe her hope, tensing as the entire landscape of ruinous buildings shook with a tremor born of outside interference. Seconds later, she felt Nekomata's pull on her psyche as his spirit form charged at the two female spirits - though she couldn't see it, almost simultaneously, another stepped through the dimensional wall. A man she recognized as Ukitake Jushiro, wearing an expression of complete bafflement.

"What on earth is going-"

"Irooni shiroi!" she yelled, the familiar tug like strings connected to energy, alive with power strengthened, grew taut with the sharp slash of Nekomata's blade. Like a twisted mirroring, Kyoraku followed suit.

The only difference was, Nekomata cut air whereas Katen-Kyokotsu sliced an x-shaped path through Ukitake Jushiro's stunned body.

...

Though it wasn't his style, _the farewell box_ had served its purpose. Ruthlessly, he flung Hirako down, the kido lite-box shattering once the gangly limbs struck the ground.

"Oww..what's the big idea-"

Toya alighted within the confines of the perimeter, feeling immediately the sharp-soul sucking tug to his core. His insides felt like jelly, trembling after the first rush had passed through him. Hirako gasped and lifted his own hands up, long shining blond locks spilled over his face. Toya took in the sight of the man inverted back to his Taichou days over a hundred years before. Once again he felt awed at the level of Keiko's abilities. Shifting himself, he felt the dusty leather of the old jacket cling to his arms, the musty smell arising from it, the scent of orange spice fainter but still prevalent. His throat tightened, his look hardening.

"Yes...Hirako. Understand, at this moment you are no longer a Vizard. Your body as well as mine...our strengths are what they were one hundred and twelve years ago."

The Shinigami got up from the ground, his haori falling in white waves around his black- garbed legs. "Why?" Toya could hear the plaintive note in Hirako's voice, a lack of anger in the brown depths made him wonder if the Shinigami truly despised being a Vizard. _Being different_.

"Why would you do this...?" Hirako sounded on the verge of _gratefulness_. The emotion was farthest from Toya's heart, it still somehow struck a chord within the ice cold confines of his chest.

"Do you remember the city of Arcadia...and the mission you lead to retrieve a rogue agent of the Kido Corps...?"

...

"Irooni haiiro." Kyoraku's quiet voice broke the monotony of blood drips.

A second of triumph passed.

Like with all child's games, winner took all, loser lost all.

Katen was the closest, ramming her longer sword through his fang-lined mouth. The oiran smiled and patted his furry head, Kyokotsu sniffed haughtily and ran her speed-embued blade through his side.

"It's all over now, Nekomata." Katen said soothingly. The reminder of their opposing elements of fire and water made no difference now. They were enemies in black and white. Rizu against Shunsui. A Lieutenant far out-classed by a Taichou. Somehow he couldn't let it end that way. Rizu had been in...too much pain because of the man. Too close to victory - too much of a threat though she hardly understood it to Yamamoto's perfect world.

_**He **__said the Arrancars have no life_.

His teeth realigned themselves forming a circular configuration within his maw.

_That was a damned lie and Kyoraku knew it_.

Nekomata champed down sharply on the blade, breaking the connection between sword and master. At the same time, Rizu sagged against her former commander, her fists tightening on his robe front.

_It's over_.

"Irooni niiro." she forced out between breaths.

The twin blades pierced them both.

(niiro: red, referring to the blood splashed on both of them)

...

"...haven't you wondered why..." Toya breathed, Sakanade had come close to skewering him in half seconds before. Hirako eyed him warily, "what?"

"Why we all ..._follow_ them?"

...

The mist evaporated rapidly leaving them in the strong sunshine of the fake town. Rizu breathed heavily, the superficial healing she had given herself, far lacking to maintain any modicum of relief. She hurt badly, from the gash across her stomach, to the one criss-crossing her back that only a swift motion away had prevented from cutting her completely apart by _Irooni_.

All of them had gone deep and now her blood lay splashed in thickening puddles all around them. She raised her head and stared unremorsefully down at the Shinigami before her. "How can I remedy it all? What can I do to ease your pain?" Kyoraku asked, slumping to his knees, he too had sustained injuries, being unable to avoid her desperate attacks. With desperation came the cost of her own. To deal damage she had to take it as well. _It was worth it though_, she thought, bracing the jeweled sword to his throat, the sword she had been born with, the voice of the great cat silent now, awaiting her decision.

"I want you...to _die_." Rizu said finally unburdening her heart, her eyes blurring with grimy tears. "I want you to _vanish_."

Ukitake stared at her aghast, open-mouthed. Mirroring the surprise on Kyoraku's face. For once she had wiped the indolence- the good nature - the smile - from his face. It was a shallow victory she savored, Nekomata's blade split like shears, an Arabian short sword, the jewels glittering madly like cat's eyes from the silver centers of each station.

"I want you to know how I felt. Every second." She finished, her voice hardening to a hiss.

_I want you to feel how I felt when my world came crashing down on me_.

Nekomata's blades snapped like talons.

...

"I remember the promise."

_Outside the castle walls, the movements of many creatures pressed against the stone warmed by the sun, shadows flooded the inner hall. Bloodied, beaten back, the dregs of humanity stared at one another with suspicious, wary eyes_.

"We were not the Juppongatana before that day. We were liars, maybe murderers, orphans. Just pieces of broken souls."

_"He's dead, Keiko." A blue-eyed man with a haggard expression said. One of the younger ones, lifted her hand from the brass bar sealing the door, her eyes wide. Terribly wide like a frightened little girl's. And then she too fell, screaming to the floor. _

"I think I understood her grief a little." Toya said.

_That girl's sobs eventually subdued to hiccoughs. Some of the meaner beings glared at her tears, angry that she spent her emotions while everyone suffered_.

" 'I want them to suffer.' She said softly at first."

_The closest, a set of black-haired twins stared at her curiously. They were almost the youngest out of all. Then as the girl's strange almost inhuman purple eyes locked with the twins', she screeched, "..I want them to suffer everything I did! Everything Hasumi and they suffered!"_

" 'I'll do everything in my power to destroy them all.' " Toya elaborated, smearing a splotch of blood from his cut cheek. "That girl never frightened me so much as she did then..."

_She rose, head tilting back. Tears glistened like crystals on her cheeks but on her lips a smile formed. A smile like one released from torment. "But...I'll need soldiers." Loyal soldiers. Her purple-eyed gaze dropped to the nearest- Sakurai Rizu cradling a wounded misty kitten in her bandaged arms._

_"What is your wish? Tell me, stranger. For if you promise me your life in completing my goal then I will grant you what you most desire."_

_"My wish? I don't believe in them. However I follow Kanzaki. Wherever he goes, so will I." Rizu said loyally then as her furrowed expression deepened, she paused with a sound. "I..there is one actually."_

_"What is it?" Prompted the girl._

_"I..I want...to make Kyoraku-Tai- no, Kyoraku Shunsui __**suffer**__."_

"On and on it went..." Toya glanced up to the sliver of sky visible from the glassine cube they were encased in - her time magic.

_"I don't have one. By all rights I should be dead. So, this shell is yours, all I ask for is the barest of necessities until then." Said a man who was a modified soul in the body of a pale blue-haired Shinigami._

_"And what is it you want, girl?" The girl who was barely older than the pair of twins, prompted gently._

_Hana smiled tremulously. "What do I want?" she questioned softly, and touched the sleeping head of her battered brother resting on her lap. "I want a little bit of happiness for my brother. You see the district where we came from believed twins were bad luck- male twins and they used to beat him awfully bad..." her eyes were wide and filled with knowledge someone so young shouldn't have known. "Bad things happen to children who are all alone in the world. So you...you may use my life how you want...just please give us a little happiness in this world."_

_Ren looked down at her broken sandals, "I don't want to be hungry anymore."_

_Mai gazed at her bow. "I want the ones who destroyed my family's pride and honor to suffer the same fate. You may have my life if you can achieve it."_

_Kagami sighed and looked at her sadly though still smiling. "You know you can't...undo what I wish I could have undone." _

_The girl's smile slipped, "Hiyori."_

_He looked away from her. "It's too late now."_

_Kanzaki finished cleaning his glasses, finally breaking the silence that had fallen between the two. "All my life I never had a place where I wouldn't be judged. I want to see a place where all belong and there are no divisions between a Quincy and a Shinigami nor an Arrancar." A nod to the bruised auburn-haired figure across the room. "Show me the difference of our wrong to their right." Even if it doesn't last forever._

_Dani tightened the bandage on her arm. "I want to find my boyfriend. I have no family but I figure I won't die easily. Help me find him and my sword will help cut your enemies down."_

_Zoe nodded to her friend, "I have no family as well. None living at least. But I would like to tell my real...daddy that I loved him. I never got to...tell him that before he died."_

_The Arrancar amongst them felt the strange purple eyes on him, it wasn't the first time he had felt addressed as a being - not a creature of appetite but as one with a mind and a voice and identity. He liked that feeling. "I...have nothing I wish for. Only a place...beside you all."_

_Toya clenched and reclenched his hands, a habit of when he was nervous. From the shadowy corner where he sat, he suddenly leaned forward, afraid to be missed._

_"Um, there is something..I want...something that well I'm sure is impossible." He smiled humorlessly suddenly, the pain still fresh, aching like a raw wound._

_"What?" Prompted the voice of the sweet devil._

_"Nah, it's too impossible. It could never-"_

_"No, __**tell me**__."_

_He yielded to that persistent voice, surrendering the last piece of his heart to the darkness that already held so many brightly colored threads. The red threads of fate._

_"I want to fight Hirako Shinji the way he and I are now...I want to pit my strength against his one more time. There's something ...I have to do." __**I must destroy him.**_

...

"She holds our hearts in the palms of her hands."

Shinji felt numb, shocked by the revelation imparted to him. _Was it true what Kagami had said...about Hiyori? _"Who?"

Toya smiled, "the elemental of Fire. Yamamoto the murderer's own family. It was...a test you see. A test to see whether or not the Shinigami could accept us and our wrong to their right." He interlocked his fingers, smiling eerily reminiscent of Keiko.

"I don't know, Shinji. Do you think they've passed yet?"

...Hueco Mundo...

"Maouen!" Kei tossed high, a curling tornado of black erupted in a firestorm in the sky. Touda emerged, shrieking a sonorous wail. Nozomu pawed the ground, its huge muscular body resembled a lion's thick flanks while one head of a lion arose and snarled a challenge, the other, the head of a ram protruded from the hard bone ridge of pure spikes, hissing. The heavy tail like a rattlesnake's swept the ground, sending vibrationary waves in her direction.

It was a hideous, vile thing. Kei regretted then creating the Chimera-like creature. "Maouen, destroy this foul beast!" she yelled, swiping at her bandaged wrist, withdrawing a thickening string of rust-colored fluid.

"Blood magic." Tensa spat, steadying his stance. "You're going all out for that creature. I see you believe it's worth it-"

"Cut the talk!" she snapped, finishing the intricate weaving of the spell. A two-bladed wakizashi resided in one hand while in the other jagged ends of silver/red chain flicked the air. "I see too I have no choice but to beat you back into submission!"

A soft sound like a snort then he vanished.

Kei predicated his right feint, corresponding the twist in her body forward, pivoting about sharply to counter against her unprotected side. Blood sword met the wide cleaver-like tang of Getsu-ten. Bitter bile burned in the back of her throat at the sight of the weapon. The smaller of hers, shook slightly against the larger weight. Kei hid her surprise and shoved back sharply, tossing in a lash of chain attempting to catch his legs. Tensa leapt away, striking aside the aim of the curving chain. Kei lessened the slack, catching it tightly with an upward toss. Her hair buffeted her face suddenly as Touda unleashed the firestorm of the _demon star blaze_.

Casting a quick sideways glance, she saw that the Kyomon had stayed over Ulquiorra. Her eyes refused to meet his gaze sweeping it back to Tensa, she had meant every word of what she said it. It just made it worse the fact that he- the cause of her pain had been present to hear it.

"Distracted?"

"Of course not." She forced her thoughts out of more painful channels and focused to see that Touda had been successful in leading Nozomu into an aerial battle. The Chimera glided on flame-encased paws, countering a volley of blue flame with a darker red fireball like attack. Touda evaded the majority of the blasts until one hit the bony expanse of the black feathered stomach. The Demon bird shrieked aloud as the fire tore through it.

Seconds later, she felt the tug on their astral connection. Almost apologetically, Touda said in her mind, "sorry, wielder."

A cackle of surprise.

He saw the realization flit across her face.

"Yes...as I'm sure you've guessed now. The wounds dealt by the Getsu-ten of Heaven cannot be healed. They are...like the mortal's conception of Tenchu. That was what made this sword the most feared of all the fire weapons." His dark-eyed glance slanted along the long crescent-like tang. Warmth flickering in the frosted color.

(Divine punishment)

She paled, remembering her time magic being rejected. How could she have forgotten about the ability of that sword? Touda clucked sympathetically. _"How could we, wielder? When all we wanted was to erase the memory of Engetsu?"_

"I should never have created such a weapon." Her regret was immense, her eyes absorbing his stance and gauging where his next move would be. He feinted to the right, slicing across her side - through the air where she stood. Kei rippled back into sight behind him, hating her hesitation to deal a sharp slice across the thin unprotected expanse of black cloth.

It ripped in a diagonal line, too shallow to threaten his existence but enough to elicit a streak of blood across the sand and a grunt of pain. He pivoted around, retaliating with a streak of a white flash. Kei narrowly avoided the second phase, hearing the hiss of the energy strike the sand, catching the dark flash of his movement, seconds later feeling the biting sting slash across the arm she had forethought to throw up over her face.

_"-wielder! Careful!" _

_I know, I know. You don't have to remind me!_ She snapped back in her thoughts, blood spiraled down her arm. She swallowed the grimace of pain forming on her lips, smiling acidly at the sword spirit's dull disapproval.

"Do you really want to kill me...Tensa?"

He averted his gaze from hers.

_Is that it? Can you really not stand the thought of me with another?_

...

They had come to a standstill, she and the other. Though the obvious lashings the Elemental of Fire had taken, his logical side could easily reason that she was the strongest of the two - therefore the sensation of almost fret - anxiety hadn't a place disturbing his peace.

While being strictly rational, Ulquiorra attempted to smother the anxiety palpitating in his breast. It was foolish to allow that sensation - he did not feel - yet couldn't stop his fingers from hooking into his palms watching the display of brutality out on the sands. In the sky, the two gargantuan creatures fought with claws and barbed tails raking showers of moldy feathers and chunks of white flesh.

- She said the young male was a fool and their swords clashed again. Weaving in and out in a complicated dance. Her arm still bled, unhealing of the large gouge into the flesh. Some part of him he couldn't identify, wanted to bind that wound, take away the pain it must've been causing though she was insensate to it- she was a capable fighter. Again the thought struck him anew, admiring the form she made.

_This woman...was not that other._

_The distinction was very clear in his mind, like two reels were placed side by side._

_The smile was not hers, it was far too wicked_.

The sensation remained of a lock of hair curled around his fingers. The image of that other resurfaced stubbornly - rain streaming in slants around her thin form, the blue gown belled lovely around her legs, an expression of stark horror written in every line of her face - from wide staring eyes to parted petal pink lips.

His body remembered pain. Pain like nothing it had ever known before ripping through his throat, heart, chest, simultaneous piercings by solid cylindrical objects. The pain was a ghost of itself but it still made his chest feel tight, burning to the point of black spots flittering at the edges of his vision. Through it all, he could still see her face - that look of sudden horrific pain twisting it and a scream as he fell weightless - an echoing shriek torn between a desperate sob and the sound of a heart shattering.

He forced his eyes open, never remembering sealing them shut against the desert. The impressions of the violent scene were etched ghost-like with only faint tendrils spreading throughout his suddenly very cold chest.

He felt as though he'd been in a rainstorm, felt the cold wet on his face and warmth of blood pouring from a too fragile body. A human body. Why was the memory returning? What could be the portents of the scene? Ulquiorra analyzed it and recalled then his thought from before. If she had seen him die and the Elemental's stubbornness that had at first confused him due to its illogic.

_"__If I fail you now, it'll be like losing you again-and I won't let that happen!" _

It had seemed unimportant at the time. He now saw how accurate it had been. Her seeing him die previously fueled her determination no matter how wrongly placed it was, to not let the same thing happen in her sight. With that understanding, some of his confusion vanished.

Disappointment lingered.

It was her vow - not anything remaining in the heart of one who was real in his eyes; that made her fight even then. Continue with a meaningless battle against a being connected to Kurosaki - Kurosaki Ichigo. Was it always about the worthless trash? He was sickened to the point of vague anger about the boy whose worthlessness was proved time and again.

Did the elemental not see how Kurosaki had been destroyed from the inside out and become that almost mindless creature?

It was hope - he suddenly realized, that drove the elemental on. Her staid fight against the young male had gone on long enough for the disparity in strength to have been made clear. Ulquiorra, with his eyes that saw everything, could clearly see her hesitance in the duel.

Her marked way of avoiding a direct hit when she could've easily ended it.

Why didn't she?

Was it Kurosaki's unknown connection to the young male?

Was it Kurosaki that stayed her hand originally during the fight with the monster the boy had become? He suddenly realized the train of thought gave him no peace. It disturbed him, those notions, vague thoughts that were only connected to one being still in existence.

_Kurosaki Ichigo_.

The trash still breathed the last he had seen, a faint reiatsu trace near Las Noches proved the boy's life remained. The elemental had not ended it like logic bade she should. She had not treated Kurosaki like an enemy therefore...The reasoning behind her actions came to him.

_She must love Kurosaki_.

He was disappointed. The God-like woman was susceptible - made fallible - by the emotion he did not believe existed. An older part of him stirred and responded, _'wasn't that proof then of the existence of a heart? Her emotions?'_

Ulquiorra averted his gaze from the woman.

_**It did not**_, he countered strongly, preferring his newer logic. The newer part of him asserted that love did not exist which made her choice to leave Kurosaki alive - simply unacceptable, a flaw of her own design, simply not born of any feelings in her so-called _heart_.

_**She did not love Kurosaki**_.

Kurosaki did not have her heart as it was simply a functioning organ in her chest. One that if rectified, could be torn out by _him_. This thought was most pleasing, however with it came a newer understanding. The trash Kurosaki had to die for her to be plunged into despair, for all claims to the heart of the elemental to cease.

Decision made, he slowly rose, ignoring the very pain in the action of moving. His dispassionate emerald gaze flickered to her, taking in the sight of the flashing sword, her eyes not focused on him, but on her opponent.

He slipped away.

-TBC

AN: writer's block buried me under a rock for the better part of a week. *listened to 'My Happy ending- Avril Lavigne' when writing Hiyori-x-Kagami's past. 'Where is the edge- Within Temptation' when writing Rizu and Kyoraku's fight and finally 'Hurricane- Thirty Seconds to Mars' when doing the Tensa vs Kei fight scene and Ulquiorra's last bit as well.

No flames!

Reviews loved :)


	97. Time and Again

_When did I choose to betray you?_

* * *

ShiKai CH.90: Time and Again

Kurosaki had reverted back to his human form.

Unsurprised by the sight of the teen spread out over the sand, he plucked his Zanpaku-to from his sash like nothing had happened in the last hours to subvert his logic. Kurosaki was still enemy, an enemy that he needed to put down.

Eyelids fluttered when the closest sand grains crunched beneath his sandals. A ripple of muscle like a spasm passed over the smooth cheek. He positioned his sword above the boy's forward, ready to thrust it down - an eye opened, fluidly.

Lid peeling back, the orb it revealed was amber-colored in theory. Human by shape. What drew Ulquiorra's focus away from destruction was the thin stripe of black running through the center. The orb rolled in its socket downward, lips curled over neat even teeth.

Kurosaki grinned at him, "bonjour, Schiffer."

The dialect passed through his mind - identifying it - French. Did Kurosaki know another language other than Japanese? He hadn't thought so, believing the boy of minimal intelligence.

"Oh, I can speak anything else, something perhaps you'd prefer? Was sagen Sie?" Kurosaki continued in the same conversational, mild tones.

(German, Lit. What do you say?)

"Silence." Ulquiorra murmured, wishing for nothing more than that. The lips' smile grew wider if possible, tongue reverting back to Japanese."How cruel. And I came all this way just to speak to you."

"You are not Kurosaki Ichigo then?"

"I am."

Ulquiorra thought the voice lied, the face itself was unlike his recorded images of Kurosaki. "You lie. Why do you wear the human's guise?"

"What of yourself? Make no mistake, Schiffer. I despise you to every molecule of existence." Kurosaki said coolly, smiling. He could not comprehend what the other spoke of, other than a hate that went beyond the grey of enemy. "What of my existence? I am meaningless therefore of little consequence."

"Are you the same?"

"Irrelevant."

"Perhaps. Do you think by erasing my life, you dare hope to replace me?"

"Hope doesn't exist."

"Or do you dream of your human face evoking that old love for you?"

He decided he'd heard enough, the babble of Kurosaki's was inane, senseless. Once again, Ulquiorra positioned the tip of his sword above the forehead of the smiling human, thrusting down to pierce the skin, shatter bone, sever brain matter- but experienced nothing. Green eyes tilted almost quizzically to the thin ropes of green, green like plants, halting the short descent of his sword.

"My little friends don't like you." Kurosaki continued, smiling. "As I don't."

...Plants...in the desert? The offness unsettled his thought process for a moment as the one serpent eye - winked, a strange sort of laxness possessing half of Kurosaki's face. One side scowled...while the other smiled. This, he assumed was a trick of the eye, a fallacy he had never known before.

"What are you?"

"I told you." A soft scoff. "Kurosaki Ichigo."

A slight roll of the amber-colored orb revolving in its socket, a twitch, lips peeling back over human teeth. "_She's here_."

Then as if the words were a potion, a draught like the sands of sleep, the eyes slid shut - mouth relaxing - as her fist flew and connected to _his_ jaw. From the force of it, he was sent spinning into the sand, green eyes lifting, clashing with furious violet as she stood breathing hard over him.

"What the hell were you thinking?" The volume of her voice felt like needles in his hearing.

"Refrain from yelling so. I was merely ridding the world of trash."

"Ichigo -_is _- not trash!" she grated out, her voice tight.

His all-seeing eyes recorded the flickers of anger burning brightly in her reiatsu, in her motions, her small fists tightened, the one not clenching tightly the hilt of a plain katana shook. At length he knew the reason behind her palsy was fear for the boy. Under that impression, he arose and in her hesitance, glided the tip of his sword to her throat.

She stared at him, lips parted, shock swimming in too clear eyes.

"Then for you to protect the trash means that our_ alliance_ is null?"

"If so." He continued, "then I shall rid Aizen-sama's path of you."

"You - what - why-" she gasped, her eyes searched his, stung to the quick by the coldness. Then as she read the seriousness, quiet gravity in every line of his face, felt something inside shrivel. Become as small as her heart beat."Why are you doing this to me!" The words tumbled out, her own expression she knew a study of horror, the frustrated sob clawing its way out before she could stop it. Her chessboard was shifting - angling toward total defeat - she knew she had to do something - distantly she wondered how the battles fared in Karakura town. Had Isshin listened to her and removed the girls to safety? The questions were fully unanswerable without contact to at least Takara.

Control was slipping - she hated that feeling most of all. Without full compliance, all her carefully laid plans would come to nothing. Inwardly her mind raged at the unfairness of it all , outwardly her frantic expression lessened, conforming to a mask she wore. It was unpleasant to wear one's emotions - that had been her mistake with the Noventa, unable to seal her emotions from fueling her attacks, she had left herself wide open. Kei forced herself to not make the same mistake twice - no matter how much..._it hurt_.

"I don't know you anymore." _I've known it from the first moment I laid eyes on you_. She easily blocked his swift strike, despite his status of the Cuatro Espada, the wound to his shoulder had not ceased bleeding. Any thoughts of pity she threw away with the gust of wind kicked up from her advanced speed. Kanzaki's Shinku technique fit her best, her form a myriad of illusion-like images as she lessened to shunpo to encourage his mistake of assuming Sonido could match her.

It couldn't. Not when the teal Zanpaku-to clashed against the plain katana in her hand, sand sprayed the air in violent waves from the force of their clash. Kei felt the atmosphere quake, Maouen's shriek from the south heralding the destruction of Nozomu. That had been a furious battle between the creatures yet in the end, the blue hellfire had been able to overcome the moon beast's orange halo. She felt a rush of pride for the bird's victory. Touda had defeated the most powerful Zanpaku-to's summoning, after Ryuujin-Jakka. There was little doubt in her mind that even the fire Dragon could be beaten down into submission with Touda's power alone - without touching Suzaku's red blade.

Heartened by it, she absently countered his two-handed grasp and shinsoku'd spaces back, the teleportation-like step causing her to vanish completely - soundlessly from sight for a few seconds. She smiled at the tight flicker of the green orbs, sliding around attempting to pinpoint her location - before fixating on her, displeasure evident in the small line of his mouth.

"You toy with me."

"Indeed." she sneered, switching hands with the katana, in truth a wider blade would've been better to perform the move but then the motion of the blade would be visible. She kept in mind the width of the slender silver cutting edge and slowly began to vibrate the edge, tiny frissons of power sparking in her nerves, sending tingles to her curled fingers and gradually beginning to shift her entire frame. Ulquiorra's gaze absorbed her stance, preoccupied wholly with her next move, of discerning it, of choosing his own to take her down.

Both knew a Cero would easily be shattered.

She reached the maximum reverberation. Tiny quakes displacing grains of sand to skitter away. His discerning eyes caught the subtle tremor of her blade - widening a fraction larger before she set off, swinging the rippling sword in a lashing motion across his body. Only a calculated step back kept the full impact from breaking his ribcage. She could still see the flash of discomfort - the one visible sign of distress that wiped the permanent emptiness from his face.

She saw it and treasured it along with a thousand other moments of bittersweet images.

"Oh, pardon me. I've made you frown-" she began mockingly, a tiny treble of energy capturing her attention, a small frown worked its way to her lips. "Must you be so persistent?"

...

Blue flame ripped through the moon beast's body. Unrepentant, Touda flapped skeletal wings keeping aloft on the super-heated currents, ashen particles dropping to the sand below. The black-clad figure pinned to the ground, seemed even tinier, flailing about, attempting to cut away the pinion.

Touda chuckled, shrinking to a more compact form before alighting down. "Why so angry?"

He threw an angry glare at the bird, sweaty locks hanging into his eyes. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." Touda cackled. "You love her so does berry-tan. What does it matter if she doesn't want you? That's the oldest tale in the book, you know."

His motions stilled.

"You're supposed to say, 'I'll let her go. Her happiness is my happiness'." The bird chided.

"You spout humanity's logic when it is flawed." He pronounced flatly, "were that true then what happiness could be gained by me or my wielder?"

"You don't seem to get humans."

"Nor Ichigo's heart." The sword said cryptically.

This, Touda quirked its beak at, quipping, "now who is talking nonsense. Kurosaki -"

A sharp gust of wind kicked up sand spray. Skeletal wings flapped annoyedly. "-_is_ human." Pure flame eyes rolled around, "ah, now where'd he go?...damned idiot." The bird tromped about on spindly legs for a few minutes more, molting feathers. "What does he think he's going to do by persisting? Change her mind?" Touda snorted derisively before taking off into the moonlit sky. "Hardly..."

...

Touda's shape was a black blot over the moon. Kei lifted her gaze from sending a faint glower to it, down to the thin black sword held to her throat. "Au natural. You used Getsu-ten as proxy to break the kido. Ingenious yet selfish in the same breath."

He was breathing hard, pastier than before by complexion. She assumed it had taken a lot of out of him to perform the necessary exchange.

"I'll never understand you."

"No." She murmured, giving him a slightly pitying glance. "No one ever asked you to." Faint emotion flittered through his eyes, but they were long past apology. The third member of their little tableau, stayed back, refusing tacitly to let it be known how much the rippling sword had wounded.

"Does it matter?"

"Will you let this go?"

"No."

"No? You've made your choice then."

She lunged forward.

"He dies."

_All I want is...peace_, she thought- ne, whispered softly but it was lost.

...

Pain was no stranger to him. Let alone a splitting-headache. Ichigo was on the verge of cracking open his eyes and giving goatface a sound yelling - drop kick included - when he opened his eyes to blackness. Not his room, which was a good start. Nor a tiny room he usually stayed in when visiting Seireitei. That was the second choice -

The third choice-

Was his mindscape. The vertical line of the building he sat on was vaguely familiar as well as the old pole at the edge where Zangetsu used to stand. Come to think of...where was the old man anyway? He hadn't seen him - nor heard any more of the holier-than thou wisdom in a good long while. And most importantly...was Kei alright? His memories of the past twenty-four hours were vague.

Made even worse by the pain splitting open his head. Ichigo raised a hand and rubbed absently at his temples. He knew she was strong - dammit. So very strong she didn't need him to protect her- got annoyed when he tried, forced to accept her help when he failed- he hated that feeling most of all.

He felt like she was patronizing him, showing him how strong she was, how very useless he could be to her - with the sudden surge of anger, the cold steel beneath his legs quivered just a tiny bit. It was enough for Ichigo to snap out it, stand tall and freeze.

There, barely beyond his range of vision hovered the mirror.

Not just any mirror, but a full length oval sheet of glass just barely held by a black wire frame. It lacked it usual mocking self of him, a lack thereof that surprised him. Ichigo however wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth nor think twice about absence. Instead he walked up to it and peered into the old glass and saw-

...

Out of everything she had ever done...this maybe she regretted the least. Ulquiorra was behind her, their bodies almost touching, her back to his chest. She'd had moments of rare insight, beyond what Ashura's mirror could speak of the future. True understanding. If she saved him this once, the ghost in her heart would be finally laid to rest.

"-But what about oji-san!" screeched a voice far back in her mind. The face of a little girl hovered in the darkness. Keiko's influence had decreased until she was nothing more than a shade no longer able to steal her original form. _"You have to kill Yama-oji! You promised!"_

'I will not die from this wound, Keiko...' Kei thought dryly, feeling the sharp curve of the weapon withdrawing from her body. 'I just need to...rest a little.' Simultaneously, her knees buckled, warm hands shot out, catching her about the waist and in the distance -

Ichigo yelled her name.

...

It did pain _him_ to watch with the boy, the happenings beyond, in the world of eternal desert.

It did hurt.

He was of Ichigo's mind, he didn't like to see her hurt. Never mind the foolishness of her actions fed the burning hate in his chest, an emotion Ichigo could probably feel, so strong it was yet couldn't decipher the connection between it and the Espada - ne green eyed creature.

Schiffer touched her, face blank like an unreadable slate. Actions perhaps born of memory however vague the shadow remained of the old feelings - lifted her up in slender arms. With that motion, realization struck.

"Stop him!" he screeched, voice tight. Rebounding in the confines of the mirror world. Ichigo flinched from the sound in his psyche. Madly, he struck out at the placid surface, fists breaking against it uselessly. Ichigo was slow responding - too slow. The air quavered, Schiffer's release expanded in a swift extending of leathery black wings, fur covering the torso and the reiatsu - bitter despair seemed all the more violent wrapping the bestial form in a rain of black tears.

Schiffer vanished in a burst of sonido - impossible speed born of desperation.

The stricken figure of the sword spirit shut his eyes tightly turning from the sight, vanishing silently into the fallen black blade now gleaming red under the moonlight. The boy had never noticed...

...

The night air was cold. Kei felt it sting her cheeks, whip the fresh blood dry on her body. Around her waist, thickly furred forearms clasped her none so gently.

"Why would you do that?"

His analysis annoyed her. Why couldn't he accept it at face value...? She sighed feeling the powerful movements of his wings, the knowledge that he could let her _fall_. But, didn't. Did she trust him that much? She probed her mind for the answer and came up blank.

Yes, she supposed she did.

"Do what?" she felt sleepy. Just the right combination of pain as a drug, the bristle of warmth against her side, head pillowed in the crook of his neck. She suddenly realized how very close she was to him, unable to remember even a second of such proximity during their human lives.

He was - holding her.

_Not possessively like Ichigo, just carrying...her_.

"...allow yourself to be wounded in my place?"

_Oh. That_.

She sighed to herself, he'd never understand would he?

"Some human philosopher once said...the greatest sacrifice one could make was to die protecting the one..loved."

He was silent, frowning.

Oh. That's right...you don't believe in the heart anymore.

Kei thought the time magic wasn't working. Her fingers curled, lifting to rest against his cold cheek marred by a thick black line. "Ulquiorra..." her fingers slid down, down to the upper part of his breast, somehow not noticing the lack of a hole and only clenching against the firm chest.

"I never stopped..."

Her words were lost on the glide of the night wind.

...

What am I...supposed to do?

This was one thing he had never had to face, no choice because it had been always about protecting his friends. He was a Protector, therefore he understood where the priority lay - Inoue jumped at him with flushed cheeks and blubbering tears streaming down her face.

"Where's Kei-san, Kurosaki-kun? Where did she go?"

Stop, he thought.

Stop saying her name.

"Kei-san!"

"Shut up!" he yelled, the girl he carried, flinched. Hiccoughed and stared at him with large eyes.

Don't remind me...of her now. He had a duty and friends - yes he had to remember who he needed to protect. His family. Ichigo shunpo'd faster, earning a squeal from Inoue.

"Sorry." He apologized, finding it somewhere within him to calm her fright. "I just...don't want to talk right now..."

Inoue settled into complacent silence, a blush still on her cheeks when his grip tightened around her to make sure he didn't drop her.

"So be quiet."

...

It thudded like the faint beat of a drum, like the rhythmic ticking of a clock.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Against his cold, empty chest, like a reminder of what it did not possess anymore.

The Shinigami were easy to find, evading - his senses said, ignoring the slick clamminess of his palms a sure sign of anxiety. Ulquiorra Schiffer did not know nervousness for it was a human weakness. His shadow passed over the healers of Fourth, alighting in a controlled fluidity of hideous elegance.

A silver-haired woman stifled her scream, the other, a placid woman of elder age, quieted her and looked upon him inquiringly.

"Heal her." He commanded tonelessly, _finally_, finally setting his burden down in the soft sand. Not for himself, was the request for. Almost instantly he dropped his release state, the suddenness of his change seeming hurried, almost unguided by his sealing of power.

Not one to dwell on it, he absently pressed a hand to his shoulder to discover the gash remained. Had the young male not said the wounds were unhealable? That was disturbing. He stepped back, watching the Taichou drop down and begin checking over the wounds the elemental bore. The silver-haired one stayed back, watching with wary frightened eyes like an animal.

Ulquiorra slipped his bloody fingertips into the pockets of his hakama. "Heal her, woman. Ensure her survival otherwise I will be rid of your uselessness." Already his mind turned to Inoue. The human girl rejected matter, perhaps it had been a mistake not to openly challenge Kurosaki and take the girl captive again. Her powers could've been quite useful at times.

"Isane, please assist me." Unohana called softly, pausing in her work, unperturbed by the threat. "Captain Yamamoto's wounds are very serious." When the Fukutaichou - he glimpsed the bronze badge on her arm - approached and tried to ignore him, Unohana glanced to him, with a comforting smile. "However, her survival rate is high. Please settle yourself, Espada-san. After she is stable, your wounds will also be taken care of."

His cold gaze appraised her, carefully, he lowered himself to the ground.

The elemental stirred.

"I-I'm not ...going to die now."

Her will was almost admirable; he realized then that he was somehow unsure of lingering when consciousness fully returned. Deciding it perhaps not within his bounds to wait, he began to rise only to feel a slight pull on the edge of his coattails.

Her fingers clasped the edge of his ragged uniform.

Her wishes were irrelevant however he could not come up with any logical reason to disagree.

The Shinigami Taichou motioned him to return. "Stay. She wants you to." and with the healer's words, the same sensation of a soft thud...palpitated _within_ his breast.

...Fake Karakura Town...

-the blades closed on air. An intermittence of paralyzing kido fired by a shaking hand sent her skidding across the ground.

"Ju-kun." Kyoraku murmured as his longtime friend limped closer. "I'm sorry, Sakurai-chan." Ukitake said then as she groaned, trying to raise herself up on bleeding arms, sleeves ragged. All she could think of was how...how close she had been...and damnably close to getting the revenge she had waited for, for so long.

She wanted to scream - unbelievably - and cry. Wail long and hard about the unfairnesss of it. If only she were a little stronger..not so cut up- if she could rise and grip her sword...

Nekomata growled weakly, shadowy form pinned beneath the two sets of twin blades. Katen and Kyokotsu faired little better but Sogyo-no-Kotowari remained nearly untouched.

"We don't like this, Neko-chan." Sogy-chan said, wielding a miniature of his static form.

"But for Ju-kun's sake, we must stop you." Koto-chan held the same, the tip poised to the top of the furry head. Rizu tried to rise, unknowing of Nekomata's capture, force her screaming muscles to get up, work despite the pain. The tacky stickiness of drying blood on her skin felt everywhere now.

Inch by inch, to their startled, staring eyes, she lifted herself up off the ground, her will fighting hard against the invisible binds. Her hair had long since escaped the perfect braid and strands flittered into her eyes, sight threatening to blur with the lack of her glasses.

Then, her body gave out. The kido held fast and she fell flat, a stuttering groan working its way out of her throat.

_Goddammit_. She couldn't rise - no matter how much she wanted to.

Ukitake sighed at her disappointment.

"I don't like...this course, Sakurai-chan."

But, this is the only course I see to take. She finished bitterly for him in silence, there was nothing for it. She was going to die.

...

Lilinette stared at the glasses.

They were a dorky, ugly pair of black spectacles. They had flown from the Shinigami's face sometimes during the battle and had skittered to a stop near them. If Lilinette looked closely she could see blood flecks on the frames.

She hated Shinigami as much as humans.

But- but hadn't the Shinigami woman stopped the hairy man from cutting her to pieces like Stark? Her childish logic tried to sort out the reason for it, the why of a Shinigami trying to defend an Arrancar and came up empty.

Lilinette hated when she didn't understand things, like how the sun could be so warm and why Hollows too couldn't have the light, why they were only supposed to have the light of a cold far moon rather than the sun. Stark who couldn't answer her questions, always looked uneasy whenever she had tried to ask. She supposed the other half of her didn't know the answers, even if he got the stature, she got the cute looks.

Maybe there were some things she didn't understand - wasn't meant to.

She watched the Shinigami Taichou form a ball of light in his hand; caught the swift glance the Shinigami woman sent them.

_"Don't die." _

"Because...I know what it's like to be lonely."

Lilinette decided to move then, dart with Stark's speed of Sonido, flicking the hidden hilt of her Zanpaku-to out and countering the blast of light the Shinigami Taichou let loose. It took great effort not to be sent flying by the pressure behind the energy, swinging her wrist she forcibly deflected it aside where it exploded into disseminate energies.

"You..." The woman breathed, dark strands of hair whipping into her face. "Why?"

The Shinigami Taichou was just as surprised, blinking at her as if he'd only just noticed her there. "A kid?"

"It's just another Arrancar, Ju-kun. Remember that." The other hairy Taichou commented. "It may look like a child, but beneath it, is a carnivorous creature."

Lilinette shook with helpless fury at his words. Stamping her foot down, she barked, "I am not! Me and Stark are e-v-o-l-v-e-d, idiot! We're Arrancars not some dumb ol' Hollows!"

The white-haired Taichou, she decided to call him _Whitey_, shook his head slightly, with a frown. "From the mouth, I'd say with the mentality of child."

"Hey! I take offense at that!" She snapped, waving her sword at them. Then to her surprise, the woman Shinigami spoke up, "she's right. Arrancars possess human intelligence. They aren't dumb creatures like the Gillian race that plague the living world. You are mistaken like always, Kyoraku, to say that these Arrancars are nothing more than animals! It is the ones who degrade them that-"

Whitey looked between them, visible unease twitching his brow. "Come now, Sakurai. Surely you mustn't give these creatures more than their due! Recall where they came from!"

"Humans!" The wom- Sakurai said with as much force. Lilinette could see from the corner of her eye, the woman's pallidness of skin, the slight trembling of her shoulders. Lilinette thought it might've been will alone that kept the woman from succumbing to her injuries. "They were human once like we all were!"

Whitey flinched after the accusation. With a grave sigh, his gaze wandered about as if casting around for the words to combat her logic. In the end, he fixated a cold brown eyed gaze on them, mouth a thin hard line. "What you've done is treason to the Gotei 13 and everything Soul Society stands for ...and for what?" Lilinette saw Whitey's glance to Stark, slight disdain in his look. That angered her more because Stark was her other half. "A pair of Arrancars who would kill you before even considering an alliance with you?"

The woman Shinigami let out a choked sound. A noise of frustration, pent up anger and uselessness as her shaking fingers clawed the ground. "Why won't you...listen to us? Why won't you listen to reason?" her voice ended on a shrill screech that struck something in Lilinette. A note she hadn't heard before interlaced with remorse for another being.

_**Sincerity**_...Aizen had never possessed the sound of it.

"Because, it's not reality." Whitey said gravely, his expression hard as if carved from stone. "There is no heart within their chests-" she felt Stark's pain. "-they have no sense of right and-there cannot be coexistence between us..Soul Society forbids it."

"You're _wrong_!" The Shinigami woman fired back hotly.

"Prove my words false then!" Whitey snapped back.

"Shu-Shut up!" Lilinette roared, unable to hold it in any longer. It angered her, the audacity of a Shinigami -any Shinigami to act as if they knew her and Stark. As if they knew what they felt - what they ate - how they existed - everything was wrong. Wrong and maybe Aizen was a liar and a bad man and maybe -just maybe everyone was too.

All she had Stark had wanted...were friends. Comrades. Anything to ease the loneliness of being alone, of being too powerful. But the woman Shinigami wasn't dead. She had stood near them and hadn't succumbed to anything. Lilinette had too much despair to hope, but not enough to crush her spirit. Yes, that's what it was...spirit.

Not heart.

"One part is true about what Whitey said!" she snapped, thumping her chest. "We have no hearts-" The Taichous stared at her, in particular with confusion about the moniker.

"Whitey?" Whitey questioned aloud.

"I think it's 'cause your hair's white, Ju-kun." Said the hairy one.

"-but I-I'm not gonna let you kill 'er either!" Lilinette shouted in a determined rush. The woman Shinigami gaped at her then as Lilinette turned, coloring, she stuck her hand out defiantly, with the glasses clutched her small fist.

The woman took them numbly. Lilinette sucked her teeth, "don't be gapin' like that! You look like a fish when you do!" The hint of a smile twitched, rare though it was to be recipient of one. She turned, refusing to lose her nerve. The two Taichous stared at her - Whitey with an expression close to incredulity, Hairy, applying greenish light to his numerous wounds, shook his head.

"Stand back, kid. Go play with your dolls!" Whitey said roughly, "Sakurai has chosen to forfeit her honor-"

"Shaddup!" she snapped, charging at him with a burst of Sonido. Whitey's grimace flashed into her line of sight as her wild swing missed - his hand shot out and captured the tip of the short Zanpaku-to, flinging her high up into the air as though she were weightless. A feeling of uselessness gripped her - was this the extent of her strength? To be punted around like a rag doll? The notion made her screaming mad as she grappled the air to gain traction. Palms stinging from the force, she eventually came to a halt. Breathing hard, glowering at the calm alight of the Taichou, a short distance away.

"I have no wish to fight you-"

"So, what? I hafta fight you!" she snapped impatiently, waving her sword around.

The sickly-looking Taichou gave her a stern look that she halfway didn't understand the source of. "You'd give your life to protect Sakurai?"

A little taken aback by the forcefulness in his tone, Lilinette pouted and scrunched her shoulders. "Dunno. You just seem like a bad guy! Besides! Aizen-sama said you were all bad guys!"

He frowned at her logic. "Now you're not making sense." He shrugged nonchalantly, "just seems like your heart's not in it."

"Shaddup I said!"

...

_I have to go now_.

She thought she heard him say it, or maybe it was just a thought in her head. An imaginary balm to soothe her wounded ego, her numbing body and maybe -just maybe shut the door on that aching thing in her chest - (damned heart)

Her equally tear-filled eyes remained to the side, fixated on nothing, doing nothing but blinking at the spreading blood of her own body. Go then. I don't care. It was like that night again- replaying horribly in her mind over and over like one of Rose's stupid CDs or Shinji's jazz records.

It hurt- hurts still-too much.

- "Don't go please. Please!" -

Her little mouth creased, snaggletooth (Shinji and Kurosaki the idiot liked to call her) biting down, sinking into the dry flesh of her bottom lip. A fresh wave of pain wanted to carve open her chest, bleed her dry of feeling. Just beneath the surface, she could see the 'happy' memories, the 'good' memories interlaced with Aizen's face and laugh.

There shouldn't have been any 'happy' or 'good' but there were.

A quiet shffting got her attention. An edge of dark grey with a black over hovered into her vision. He knelt, his voice quiet above her.

"Thank you for telling me how you feel, I have no regrets now. You despise every part of me and probably will forever." A sigh. "You have...every right to and though, Sarugaki-san, you may hate me to say it again..._I'm sorry we ever met_."

_I'm sorry you ever crossed Aizen's path and mine as well- everything I am around or care for..will always turn to bitter dust. For I am...an Elemental_.

Her throat burned with stupid useless tears.

-and she felt like the ground was falling from beneath her.

The rustle of cloth.

"I wanted...to return this."

His hand hovered down in her line of vision dropping something down near her face.

"I'm sorry to not have given it back to you a hundred years ago."

It was...the tiny paper dragon Kirio had helped her enchant with kido.

_If he had truly betrayed them why had he kept it?_

...

Kazeatari ignored the excited mutters of the Shinigami fools.

Aizen had broken out - but how- she didn't care.

Rizu's spirit pressure which had been emanating faintly from the north, was on a sharp decrease. Only with Byakko's sharper senses, could she still feel the faint flicker. Straightening from her leaning position against the side of the tent pole, she started to walk forward, intent on leaving- when a voice stopped her.

A male chock to the brim full of laze and smile. "Off to the battle, Namaiki-san?"

Urahara was everything but pleasant. The man stood several feet behind her, wearing a disarming smile full of mystery. Kazeatari reminded herself to lash out like she wanted to, was a direct violation toward everything Kei and Kagami had built. Their proverbial tower must be kept standing at all costs.

She tightened her smile and flashed it over her shoulder. "What do you think, Urahara? I tire of waiting on the sidelines." Since Ishida's arrival, she had thought that the young Quincy would stick to Kanzaki's side, they were friends weren't they? Yet something niggled at her...why would Kagami have been worried about leaving the camp when Kanzaki was fairly capable when he wasn't flailing around like a headless chicken? Osore was still there and she too was there. Along with...Ishida.

It had not escaped her, the remembrance of the ether weapon, the fifth unstable element made stable by compression into a high-powered bow. Could it be-? Kazeatari weighed her options against her promise of watching the Shinigami. _But, dammit-! Rizu needed her!_

...and being a Captain meant more to a subordinate.

"Whose battle are you going to effect?" Urahara tried another tactic, effectively freezing her body to the spot. She was reminded of her own challenge to Ukitake and wondered when her words had ever been thrown back at her.

"That's none of your business!" Kazeatari snapped, knowing she was being rude. Simply goading the man to be even more infuriating than he already was. She could feel his smile behind her and click of geta heels as he walked past her, fluttering the ridiculous little white fan to the side in her direction. "On the contrary, Namaiki-san. The outcomes of the battles are of the utmost interest to me."

Her smile slipped.

"Whether they are assisted or not." Urahara offered with a toss of dubious charm.

...

"Permission to go and engage the enemy- Tosen Kaname, sir." It wasn't needed of course, but under the circumstances, Kanzaki was holding up fairly well. Which was surprising considering the man's usual foibles of getting overly stressed. Akashi could see it was a front, but could the Shinigami?

Urahara had strolled off and was talking fairly pleasantly to Kazeatari whose rigid stance made him wonder whether or not she was debating on cutting sandal-hat man to bits. Yamamoto was glowering up at the sky, gaze eventually lowering with a nod to Sasakibe. Ishida was tense and seeming a bit green on the gills every time he glanced at Kanzaki - and Onikage was jabbering about tearing Suzumushi to shreds, in his head.

_Shut it_, he thought to the sword spirit. Contrary to the bloodthirstiness of the weapon, he disliked the sight of blood, a fact that amused certain officers to no end. Pushing aside those thoughts, he saw caught Kanzaki's nod and brief, "good luck."

"Thanks." He said offhandedly. In all honesty, he simply wanted any excuse to leave the company of the dour, imposing personage that was Shigekuni Yamamoto. The old man's despise was palpable and while he hated being put down by someone who was an equal, didn't want to get into a shouting match with volatile Shinigami.

..._and they called Kazeatari scary_. To him the Elemental of Wind was a sweetheart compared to the old man. With a respectful nod to Yamamoto, he set off into the sky after Tosen, wishing someone would destroy the pedestal the oldest Shinigami in Seireitei was elevated upon. His thought train was broken by another flash of a crackling step go past him.

"Old man?" Then as his eyes sought what his senses traced, the blow was dealt.

...

Claws raked inches above Kira Izuru's chest. The hollow mask of lion flickered out of sight, the collision so swift, Kira's startled eyes barely had time to recognize the familiar crushing reiatsu, enough to choke out a hopeful, "commander?" Yamamoto landed on the pillar flicking stray droplets of blood in a line from his sword. The tang still burned, wizened eyes following the crashing descent of the Arrancar's body.

"Commander?" Kira tried again.

Yamamoto barked out, "tend to your comrades!"

The Fukutaichou of third, scrambled to salute while stumbling up to his feet. "Yes, si-" just then an ominous rumble came, the sound of a piercing torrent that grew stronger with each belting wave echoed up from above and then all around. Kira cried aloud at the sound, his scream lost in the burst of pure sound. He sank to his knees, clasping his hands to his ears, desperate to block the screaming reverberation from driving him insane.

Only Yamamoto stood tall, his fury growing.

Far down below, the Arrancar channeled energy into his paw, great armored thing it was, lifted, thickly furred toes-like fingers twisted and slammed down, a shockwave was sent thundering into the earth to erupt at the end of his sonorous howl.

The three of the four pillars in the sky crumbled from the bottom up.

"Kido...?" Kira mouthed as he suddenly began falling with the rubble. _Had the traitor Aizen taught his foul minions the sacred Shinigami art of Kido?_

...

"Ah. Seems Lion-san is holding his own." Gin commented appreciatively, shading a thin hand over his eyes, peering down. From their vantage point, the central battles seemed to be winding down save for the Soutaichou's entrance. Three of the four pillars shattered to disseminate pieces. The auburn-haired lion amidst the destruction, parried back with tooth and claw, the vicious swipes by the fire-wielding Taichou of First.

"Yes...though there is another approaching us." Tosen murmured sedately, seeing not with blind eyes but feeling the dark reiatsu pierce the clouds. "Huh?" Gin glanced about, frowning when met his slit-eyed gaze. "Are you sure?" A flicker of a shadow preceded the swirl of black haori, a brown-haired male leveled a slick-looking katana at the ex Ninth Division Taichou's throat. Aizen flicked coldly appraising eyes upon the newcomer but said nothing. As regal as a Lord, as callous as a blade.

"Tosen Kaname." The Soul reaper intoned, forming a swift rope of kido to lash about the blind man. "what is the meaning of thi-" he started to draw Suzumushi only to have the mysterious man haul him away in a burst of speed.

"Mah..Tosen-san's very popular these days." Gin chuckled after a long moment. Two spiritual pressures skyrocketed in the distance. Aizen absently rubbed at his temples, "indeed.

...

The blade glanced off the side, vital organs protected by thick platelets of bone girding flesh and muscle underneath. One pillar still stood and he placed himself before it, the great lion pacing - deciding- choosing- never had he imaging before the monstrous brute could possess supreme intelligence.

It seemed this one did.

The lion struck for his left, feinting when he moved to counter and instead was lashed heavily across the ribs by a rapier whip-like tail. Blood immediately flew out of his mouth. To every strike he dealt, the creature returned it double like some warped retribution.

In fury, he swept low, sending wave after wave of flesh from bone searing heat at the lion. Sure the fire would smelt the armor. Instead, a volley of whistling sound like a whine was tossed out to combat the fiery heat. Disbelievingly, he watched his Blazing fortress be reduced to smoke, the lion charge forward aiming for his old throat.

He felt old. Not with a human's understanding of age, but with a soul-aching weariness.

His body moved by instinct, wrist swinging upward, the blow breaking upon the hard platelets like nothing, immense rows of beautiful, glittering fangs like ice crystals snap close to his face, but Ryuujin-Jakka took the blow, blade between the maws of the beast.

Heavy paws lifted, swiping, raking cloth and flecks of blood. Shigekuni felt the pain, some part vaguely amazed that one such as the creature had been able to wound him. The teeth champed down, Ryuujin-Jakka's blade beginning to pulsate with burning heat. "Withstand this," he said remorselessly, pulling back, unleashing a controlled firestorm within the jaws of the Arrancar.

Almond-shaped blue eyes widened beneath the thick white mask, letting go, the beast roared feebly as the flame consumed it within a burning wall of charring flesh. Unrepentant, he ignored how close death had been to tearing him apart and turned, gaze lifting to the last remaining pillar and the pale blond Kira Izuru atop it with the bodies of the other three guards -

- then, then, his guard was down.

Peace had been a security blanket, a dampener when no one was there to challenge Soul Society, an intermittence of rest before the next cycle began again -

Teeth lining a maw that smelled of burnt flesh, blackened, his mind provided the details, sank unforgivably into his arm and tore savagely at the muscle, a mortal rush of pain dulled his senses - claws tore across his back deceptively feather light never drawing a modicum of blood.

And he was away, shunpo carrying him half a field up into the sky, useless arm twitching, muscles ripped but whole. _Raw_. The pain was incredible. Shock greater arising with an even greater fury as white fabric floated from his back.

The haori...

Smoke steamed off the body of the armored lion, half-closed eyes opening wider to see the black symbol of First Division drift triumphantly from the teeth of the beast to the ground.

The lion roared with a sound not quite unlike laughter.

...

"I don't know..." Shinji echoed him, tart, still apathetic from the eyes. But even Toya could see the underlying bitterness resting like a mantle over the ex Taichou's shoulders. Shinji wore the mantle of Taichou in that moment but was no more recognized as one than he - from the Juppongatana.

"Take eight of the high-ranking Shinigami of Gotei 13, turn 'em into Vizards and ya got an arrest order on your hands." Sakanade waggled from skinny fingers. "One of execution by dawn if they'd had their way." Somehow, those words spoken dejectedly, like a recitation one knew by heart brought to mind and ...he felt sorry. Damned sorry but made happy in an uglier way. Here was a man who'd had everything and lost his beliefs, his cause and world all because of what he and the others had become.

"Shinji, do you hate the Arrancars?" Toya asked, his searching the blond's angular face. "And-and, the people of Assiah?"

"The creatures who inhabit the fourth world are nothing to Soul Society." The Taichou's words rang ghost-like, he remembered. The recognition flickered in Shinji's brown eyes too.

"I.." he scowled, teeth flashing. But he couldn't get the words out. Seeming to change his mind. "My fellows despise it all, can't say much for meself. I mean what opinion does mine stand in the scheme of things?" Shinji laughed in a self-deprecatory way that Toya failed to see where his amusement lay.

"You'd be surprised how much that matters."

"Now you're soundin' like one of those happy-go-lucky freaks."

"..." He suppressed the urge to laugh. "That is one thing I've never been accused of."

"Yeah?"

"More like unstable, prone to depression fits by a friend of yours."

"Hachi?

For a moment the oddness struck him. There he was having an almost normal conversation with a man he had claimed to hate - wanted to kill - that last bit he hesitated on. "Yes, not a bad man in rank and file. It was never our intention to harm any of you."

In all honesty, no one wanted this war...

...

The blow landed hard enough to crack her ribs. Takara swallowed her silent gasp, retaliating with a knee-jerk reflex. She caught the brace of his arms, crossed over his narrow chest and went spinning away, catching herself along a trail of reishii.

No one wants to hear reason. She thought it was terribly sad to waste life. Even more so with one as youthful as her opponent. Takara backflipped up, meeting his barrage of punches. Were they all just mindless animals who enjoyed fighting? The question she posed in the recesses of her mind remained unanswerable.

Haretosora played alone in the sandbox under a clear night.

Kei was probably fighting some battle Takara could never help with, in another world. Kazeatari-san was waiting for everyone to come back and..Kagami-san was facing his past..meeting it like Toya was.

A change in the air made Ggio stiffen, his nostrils flared almost cat-like.

Then, he chuckled, "ahahaha! Seems as though the elemental didn't make it back. Wonder who had the honors of dispatchin' her?"

Takara glowered, cracking him upside the head with her fist. To her surprise flecks of bone flew away. Golden eyes matched her glare, flashing dangerously. "Don't be talking about Kei-san like that!"

"Why-"

She popped him furiously in the jaw, kneeing his gut simultaneously. Ggio lost his equilibrium, spinning away. Takara flash-stepped after him. grasping the front of his white Gi. "Because-" Takara breathed, descending down with him. "Kei-san can't die." she hissed inches from his face. Ggio's mouth worked in a snarl. She got close, closer until their breaths were shared.

"You're crazy!" his feline eyes flashed.

She lightly pressed her lips to his, effectively ending his tirade. After a second, she pulled back and delivered a skull-cracking headbutt, pitching him into the nearest building. Haretosora snorted softly at her wielder's actions. _"I think Keiko's influence has been a bit too prevalent lately."_

"Yeah well, she was a good teacher." Takara murmured, wiping a hand across her mouth, her gaze wandering off to the distance. With a silent step, she vanished, reappearing on the damaged boulevard where she easily located Haretosora's fallen scabbard. Sheathing the blade she slipped it back through her sash and broke into a brisk pace, coming upon the glassy barrier as Toya dispelled it with equal kido force. Her eyes dismissed the blond male in Shinigami robes standing back, eyeing her curiously.

That, she ignored.

What she didn't, was Toya's turn at sensing her reiatsu and greeting. "Lieutenant! How's-" at that he broke off, her fist flying and planting squarely in his face. Takara landed with no little grace and glowered furiously. "You meathead! How dare you act all happy when I've been.." her face crumpled up but she rejected tears and instead settled for a frustrated noise. "- so worried about you!"

Toya remained hunched over, clasping his nose to make sure it hadn't been broken. Somewhere in the realm of the Zanpaku-to, Kage was laughing his boots off - which didn't help Toya's mood any.

"What was that for?"

"For being a jerk, you jerk!"

The blond man snorted and tried to hide it as a cough. Takara sent him an evil glare which immediately shut him up. Once Toya was sure his nose was still in proper alignment, he straightened, saying, "isn't there a rule about not hitting superior officers?"

"And isn't there a rule about desertion for one's own whims?"

They glowered at each other for a few minutes.

He relented eventually, sensing like with all previous battles, the Lieutenant was always right- or generally got her way whichever came first.

...

Omaeda was dead. While the loss wasn't great, Kagami paused still, dropping down to close the bloated man's staring piggish eyes. Blood spots dotted the wrinkling heavy jowls and further on a gaping hole on the left pectoral bore the traces of Soi Fong's reiatsu. The woman's brutality failed to surprise him. He glanced up, taking note of the positions of the combatants. From Hitsugaya's horrified look, he guessed she had used Omaeda as a shield from Barragan's aspect of death.

_She had sacrificed a subordinate to land a hit with her Ban-kai_.

He didn't see much good it did. Glimpsing Soi Fong's triumph short-lived. He had nothing against the woman, yet the memories were bittersweet those that came to mind. Seconds before rising, his eye caught on a crinkled edge of white sticking out of Omaeda's robes. Curious, he hooked his fingers around it and tugged it free.

It was a scroll bearing an order inked by Yamamoto himself. It called for the arrest of all thirty-five officers of the Juppongatana - _and anyone who claimed ties to their false logic_. There was an added order for Soi Fong herself to escort the Erementar of Fire to First Division after capture.

He felt no real surprise, rolling the scroll tightly up, the image of the old gnarled hand painstakingly writing out the hateful words. Would Shigekuni's hatred never end? Kagami slipped the missive within his robes and stood, flash-stepping just below Soi Fong.

The Second Division Taichou let a brief scream, plummeting away from the Segunda's corpse-like release. He calculated the exact spot and caught her in a watery profusion of Sazanami's genei. The Shinobi glowered at him, her face screwed up in intense pain. He saw the reason for it in her shriveling arm.

"You'll be taken care of, Shaolin." He murmured soothingly, casting a quick glance to Hitsugaya's small ice-encased body hovering to the left, he decided to head back to the Juppongatana camp, with the Taichou of Second in tow. Seconds later he landed, Sazanami's smooth control gliding down Soi Fong's battered body nearby. Kanzaki spotted him and strode toward him, "oh my Gods! Is Soi Fong-"

"No," Kagami snapped fingers at the two medics loitering on the outskirts of the medic tent. One was Ruka, the other a bewildered brown-haired kid who from the badge, Kagami saw was the Fifth seat of Sixth Division. The two officers scrambled to them.

"Dress any wounds Soi Fong-Taichou has, also see what you can do to halt the aging on that arm." He said briskly, pointing to the frail-looking appendage so different from her sleek muscled physique. "I would suggest a temporal displacement spell to seal off the contaminent from further spreading, otherwise her life will be in danger."

They saluted him, "yes, sir!"

Kanzaki looked between them, watching them unfold a stretcher from a medic pack and finally to Kagami who rubbed absently at a nasty cut across his cheek.

"So what're you going to do now?"

"Hm? Oh, go back out." He wiped the blood flecks from his fingers and dropped a hand to the hilt of the Ripples sword. He nodded to the approaching imposing presence of Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia following in the man's wake. "How's everything, Kuchiki-Taichou?"

"As expected, I presume." The Noble responded gravely, his composure never ruffled. Kanzaki gazed at him and wished he could have had even half the poise of the Shinigami.

"S-Sir, what do you think of Yamamoto Keiko's absence?" Rukia blurted out, then went on faster, "what I mean to say is...she didn't come back with Ichigo."

Kagami's gaze dropped to her, narrowing slightly, but not unkindly, he said with a shrug. "We'll just have to wait, won't we? Kei's a strong girl. I'm sure she'll show up yet."

"But...Ichigo said she was dead."

He was on the point of turning; Kanzaki caught the faint stiffening. Then the relax into a faint smile. "That boy...thinks many things." Kagami responded shortly, "So, I don't know how to answer that, Kuchiki Rukia-san." As if dismissing her, he looked to Kazeatari's silent approach. The Captain of Fifth bore a grim, almost wan expression.

"Kaze, I want you and Ishida to try and reason with Barragan Luisenbarn, if not, your orders are to dispose of him as you see fit." here, Kagami looked expectantly to the Quincy, to glimpse hesitation in the teen's manner. "Sir, with all due respect, I'd prefer to stay here for-"

Blue eyes didn't miss the flicker of a glance the young Quincy sent Urahara. His emotions hadn't quite settled after the brief fight with Hiyori and he was less composed than usual. "We're in the middle of a war, kid! It doesn't matter what you want! You do what the superior- pardon, your elders _say_."

He motioned to Yuka, "come along, please. I will require your assistance soon."

...

Everything felt different now.

His new perception was vague, hazy. Everyone had haze to their outlines. Like they were unclear, unreal. Everything had a sense of unreality to it. To the faces of the Shinigami when they laid eyes on him- their relief, their barely contained cheers were sickening.

To them he was a hero.

He was going to defeat Aizen - he had to defeat Aizen or else no one could. Inoue tried to touch his arm, he shrugged her off without a thought, casting a vague reassurance of a smile to her sudden frown. He had to reassure her like always. He had to take protect her because she was fragile - "Like you protected Keiko?" - the other voice said bitterly.

Said - ne demanded the answer - not asked. Never asked because the clear-cut answer was staring him in the face from the battlefield.

He told himself - kept telling himself she was gone (dead) and the living, his friends needed to be saved. He had to be their hero. He couldn't fail them and go charging across the desert like every part of him save for the piece of heart his friends had, insisted on.

He felt numb.

Each step a single eternity to his distantly pounding heart.

Aizen was ahead, the murderer, the traitor, looking as smug as ever. The arrogance of the man used to infuriate him - he tried to feel anything toward his battle - fight - that was seconds away. _Excitement from pitting his strength against a powerful ex Taichou. Hate toward the man for threatening all he held dear - his family, friends - world but Keiko was part of his world too and he had left her - __**dammit**_**.**

He clenched his fist tightly so tightly around Tensa Zangetsu that his knuckles whitened, numbing. That was inescapable. He had abandoned her to the sands of the desert to die by the hand of the Espada.

Aizen caught sight of him, smiling broader.

Ichigo couldn't bear the hesitation in his own step and set off, charging recklessly at the Shinigami, shoving the pain tearing his heart to pieces deep inside. He couldn't be made weak by it - not when his friends needed him.

When his black sword clashed against Aizen's, he promised silently to himself, _after everyone's safe...I swear I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for it - even if you hate me, please understand, Kei...they need me_.

He never answered the other voice, never responded because **it **_was a part of him_.

...

Toya kept the glow of kido on the fragmented bone in his left arm. His gaze wandered from Takara's back ahead to Shinji nearly at his side. The ex Vizard - now, Shinigami looked worried - truly worried from the grit of the too large teeth. It was surreal almost running alongside the man without trying to kill him. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. Was it the Juppongatana's teachings of ...tolerance that had affected him?

Even as he puzzled it, his steps began to carry him straight through an intersection and- he froze, spinning toward the east - where the beginnings of the residential area of the town began. Shinji halted as well, scowling over at him. "Hey what's a-"

"There's something-"

Takara stopped and walked back toward them, a concerned expression on her face. "What is it?" Toya slowly dropped his hand from his forearm, glancing sharply to Shinji. "Do you know where Kurosaki's house is?"

Surprised, the blond blinked and hesitated. "Um yeah...I think it's ...down there." Brown eyes met his, their three heads in unison swiveling down the silent roadway. Shinji took a breath in, "Why?"

Toya didn't answer him directly. _Couldn't_. "We've gotta check something out. C'mon!" Shinji shrugged to Takara and the Lieutenant nodded, following the Captain of Third's fast flash-step. Eventually they came to a tree-lined block, Toya unerringly lead them to a two-story building bearing the sign: Kurosaki clinic. In such a close proximity, even Shinji stiffened slightly his senses warning him that something wasn't quite right.

There was a strange spirit pressure permeating the building from the inside out.

One that wasn't Ichigo's nor Isshin Kurosaki's. It was unfamiliar - deadened almost. Not fluctuating like true reiatsu. Shinji met Toya's eyes and silently gave him the go ahead to go through first. Forming a rough triangular formation, Takara stuck closely to Shinji, her blue eyes wandering around the outside facade then tilting up, her hand lightly touching the hilt of her sword.

Toya tried the door, having the vague notion that it should've been locked. Glancing around, his shoulders twitched uneasily, hand reaching for the knob which gave way with light pressure. "Uh, hello?" Toya called, peering into a large open space. A small kitchenette was toward the back, he recalled what Kagami had said about Keiko during her memory loss. Toya shuddered and walked past the dining room, leaving his sandals on. Shinji peered around, sucking his teeth lightly. "Weird..doesn't feel like anyone's around."

"But then why-?" Takara glanced at him questioningly, she too as uneasy as the men. Toya shook his head slightly, his eyes turning upward to the ceiling. Slowly he made his way toward the staircase, detecting the trace amounts of that strange spiritual pressure. Carefully he ascended the other two at his heels, making the turn in the curve of the stairs not seeing anything until he was a few steps from the landing.

Blood.

He stopped.

Shinji nearly collided into him, Takara peered around them, her eyes widening.

In the late afternoon gloom, they glimpsed the splotches like rust in thick puddles. Toya reached the landing, avoiding the worst of it, his eyes traveled up the length of the hallway to the last door where the blood disappeared in sandaled footsteps.

They were from small feet.

His mind made note of the sight as he carefully skirted the spatters. The door to his left was marked with a 15 plaque, he thought it was probably Kurosaki's. The door to the right a few feet down was the bathroom which left the last two. "Amakusa..." Shinji began, as Toya went for the doorknob. There was soot marks on the knob, charred marks on the panel. The spiritual pressure was most concentrated there- the bad feeling emanating from the room behind the door. Toya glanced back at them both then turned the knob and nudged it open with his foot, watching cautiously as it inched open only to bump against something on the other side of the door. -_hadn't Captain Yamamoto asked to use their safehouse base in Arcadia for Kurosaki's family? So the house should've been empty_.

He thought so, snaking his head around the stuck door and starting back seconds later with what he saw. Shinji hurried to his side, Takara right with him, their shared glances went from Toya's whitened face to the ghastly scene within.

Bodies.

The room was tinier than Kurosaki's.

The girls were gashed open from throat to stomach, innards spilling out in gory heaps. Kurosaki Isshin was in front of them, a particular X-pattern to the cut carving him open that at first Toya couldn't place. It was the man's outstretched legs that had kept the door from opening. Takara covered her mouth with a shaking hand, feeling simultaneously sick to her stomach and incredulous- to the point of disbelief at what her eyes saw.

Seeming to have the same mindset, Shinji recovered first, placing a hand upon the panel and pushing harder at it. Wordless, Toya watched his efforts then slowly began to assist, with their combined effort, it slid by inches leaving a wider space to reveal the bloodbath. Gingerly then, they stepped inside, avoiding the copious amounts of blood - it had no scent? Toya stepped around Shinji and bent slightly to examine the swordsman style that had killed the ex Shinigami.

..._Goko-Juji?_

He could scarcely believe it.

Toya's widening eyes dropped down to the clenched fist lying at the man's side. He could barely see the strands of familiar-colored hair. Keiko...killed them? But how? Nothing made sense. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Takara come to the same conclusion, her lips moving soundlessly, _'can't be.'_

He shared her doubt.

Shinji bit his lip and scowled, "who do ya think did this?"

Toya straightened and glanced at the wallpapered walls seeing them streaked with burn marks and blood spatters. Having lived in close proximity to the woman for over a hundred years he could see the subtle signs that it wasn't her handiwork. Slowly, ever so carefully everything snapped into place.

"Someone is trying to frame Keiko." He pronounced after a shallow, shaken breath. "We've got to get back now!"

...

"Oops."

The small black-haired Arrancar flew down with breakneck speed, landing precisely, heavily right into his arms. Apache, jolted from the dizzying descent, stared into the face of her catcher and immediately tried to slug him. Kagami smothered his laugh, tossing her into the waiting sphere of Sazanami's power. Yuka watched wide-eyed as he flash-stepped after a dark-skinned Arrancar with ringlet curls, stunning her with temporary paralysis then tossing her to join the shrieking Apache who promised murder.

Then onto the final fraccion, one with long almost waist-length hair and who hid her mouth behind a belled long sleeve. Once she was caught, Yuka went to support Matsumoto Rangiku whom eyed the goings-on dubiously but wordlessly due to her battered state. Kagami breathed a sigh of relief once the medic and women had disappeared into the tent, new commotion arising down below at the state of the injuries. He predicted they'd have to draw off a Captain's reiatsu to replenish the Hokuto Shichisei before the day was out.

"_What_ are you doing?" Hitsugaya asked, hovering level to him. While the Ban-kai state of Hyourin-Maru remained mostly intact, he could see three petals remaining on the last ice flower floating nearby. When they vanished so would Hitsugaya's strength. He guessed he'd come at the right time.

"Being a peacemaker."

The boy prodigy's turquoise eyes rolled upward in derision but a vague smile flittered ghost-like on his overtly stern face, "I...wouldn't have expected anything else."

To that, he offered a smile and a nod to the Segunda. "They'll be along shortly to take care of him. Please stay back, Hitsugaya-Taichou. I will deal with the Tercera from now on."

The boy prodigy shrugged, "fine." And with some relief, powered down to his battered black shihakusho and tattered haori coat. Kagami clapped him lightly on the shoulder, some hope lightening the darkness in his chest. Hitsugaya was one of his favorites, an intelligent boy, youth had a way of accepting what the elders wouldn't. Hitsugaya had made no distinction between the one Arrancar in the Juppongatana and the next who was a Shinigami by race.

_Perhaps there was hope yet_...

"Take a look at this." Kagami by spur of the moment, handed over the bound scroll. "Omaeda-Fukutaichou had it." Small fingers reached out and took a hold of the edge. Turquoise eyes flickered to it, a crease furrowing a bloodied brow.

"Could you please tell me what it all means, _friend_?" Kagami finished lightly, flash-stepping to Halibel's altitude.

...

Turquoise eyes skimmed the sentences.

Reread.

Then repeated the action, turning over the parchment swiftly, he studied the broken wax seal and then back over to the missive, knowing the old hand as well as his mind knew Matsumoto's untidy scrawl when she managed to get any work done. It was Yamamoto's writing. His word - was law. Or perhaps, his whims were word - Hitsugaya puzzled over it even as Hyourin-Maru rumbled from deep within, voice icy, deep.

'Do not trust...'

He expected the spirit to say the elemental of water, brow furrowing as he waited. Hyourin-Maru hesitated with a sigh that echoed long in the ice-bound field of their mindscape.

'Yamamoto Shigekuni.'

"Why?" The word flew from his lips sharply. Demanding to know why after years of service, loyalty, his Zanpaku-to would choose to deny this order from a man who was a mentor, respected, _powerful_.

'Because...he is not the man they knew him as.'

...

"-ah, how do you feel, Soi Fong-Taichou?" an unfamiliar face swam hazily above her. Onyx eyes fluttered open fully, taking in the sight of the bespectacled girl who moved out of sight and returned with a human-type thermometer.

"Who are you?" Soi Fong mumbled, her voice coming out harsher than she had meant.

The girl blinked and smiled, lightly laying a hand on her forehead, brushing aside low-hanging fringe. "I'm the head medic. Yuka, third seat of Sixth, ma'am.

Soi Fong watched her narrowly. Sure enough there was an armband with some fanciful design on it that her blurry gaze refused to focus on enough to see. _Another one_. "Tell me girl." she murmured around the cold plastic edge of the tube. "What is worth more to you...your life or the cause you serve?"

The medic took the thermometer, frowning at the readout. "That's an odd question, Soi Fong-Taichou. If I didn't have a cause to serve, I wouldn't have my life."

"Explain."

"Well..." the girl bit her lip, a frustrated noise in her throat, the answer formulating but before it could be spoken a loud voice punctured the quiet.

"Please, Mila-Rose-Sa-" a muffled yelp. "-calm yourself! Tia Hal-"

The names brought no immediate faces to mind. Even then Soi Fong's senses tingled, her wariness rising as she forced her body upright, never letting the groan fall from her lips at the pain. Her snapping onyx eyes absorbed the scene fully, taking it all in - mind like a steel vise - quickly calculating the amount of reiatsu prevalent in each grey-clad conspirator.

She allowed a tiny grim smile to curve her mouth.

Five.

She was surrounded by wounded Arrancars and fools.

Soi Fong quietly slipped her hand into her kimono front, the scroll rested warmly against her cold heart. For a second, only a split moment of reality, she thought a vague smile, Yoruichi's lazy commands and chuckle rising along with a man's...punctuating a perfect summer's day. Then she thought of duty. The harsh black of reality seeped into her soul, clouding her vision.

There could be no peace.

No trust.

They were aiding the enemy.

She gave the order, within seconds, her black-clad shinobi had descended, she let out a breath. The girl - Yuka, stared at her as if she'd been the one to lose her mind.

"Arrest the Juppongatana! Arrest the traitors!"

...

"So we meet again, Halibel-san." Kagami murmured softly, Soryu urged him to take command of all the lovely undulating waves of watery aura cresting around her Tiburon-clad second form. Streaks of red splotched her deep caramel-colored skin, light aqua eyes gauged his movements carefully.

"Where are my Fracciones?" She chose to ignore his greeting, her tone concise, forceful.

A breeze ruffled his hair, carrying the stench of blood, burnt ozone and a dozen other scents which burned his nostrils to inhale. Kagami forced his inner gag down, letting his lungs expand with the inhale-exhale of air. This was the scent of war.

He despised it.

"They're being taken care of." He replied cheerfully enough, noting how her eyes narrowed at his faint smile, how her suspicions flickered down to the pitched black tents.

"What is your game, Shinigami?" she asked pointedly, not relaxing her weapon but not attacking either. Halibel was another whose calm outer facade reminded him of a human's, rather than monster, or creature like a mindless Gillian. Had her silence not been a deterrent, he thought they could've shared pleasant conversation on how to handle the raising of loud mouth girls.

"What do you want?" She tried another tactic. "You could kill me with one sweep, yet you do not. ¿Por qué, elemento?"

(Lit: Why, elemental?)

He closed his eyes tiredly. There it was again. Why couldn't everyone be on the same wavelength for once and actually see how useless it was to spill blood? He supposed it was partly Yamamoto's ancient insistence that Shinigami - Arrancar were natural enemies. In a way they were...but it was only the fault of the death Gods that made it so.

"I don't like wasting things." Kagami finally said, opening his eyes, fixating them upon Halibel's angular feminine face. A flash of anger sparked in her aqua orbs. "I'm not a 'thing', Shinigami."

"No. You aren't." He agreed easily. "Nor am I 'Shinigami'." His shoulders glided in a minute shrug. "I'm Elemento first, Capitan second."

"Is that how you see yourself as?"

"Yes."

"I see." She grew quiet, seeming unhurried, lacking distress when Barragan was sliced apart half a mile away. Kagami didn't smile at the Espada's death, though the old man was an odious boorish sort. Somewhere in the distance, a mild quake in the currents foretold of Sogyo-no-Kotowari's reversal effect, he sensed Sakurai at the receiving end and guessed that for the most part she had been successful in convincing Stark to cease arms. He did not think she was foolish enough to risk her life for them - at least he hoped not. Kazeatari would be most obdurate if forced to choose another Lieutenant.

Halibel hesitated, her eyes searching his face, probing for deceit. "You wish to...save us?"

"Three square meals a day, a castle with temperatures always at the perfect degrees, gorgeous gardens...and no war." He smiled his best, _charming_ smile. He sensed her weakening, her orbs sliding over to the distant tiny figures of two men _watching_ - faltered - he heard the roar of the iron lion, sensed Yamamoto's reiatsu closing in fast on Aizen - all without turning around.

He reached into the fold of his robes, maintaining his smile with effort, "you'll find I'm sure these terms quite - " when a new commotion began below. Now - he felt the smile tauten, freeze on his mouth. Now was the moment he had waited for.

_Soi Fong's awakening_.

His proof.

Her acceptance.

Halibel's eyes narrowed as a shriek split the air, echoing high to them. Kagami didn't have to turn to know Hitsugaya had froze. Caught between two worlds, gut instinct and a tiny seed of doubt sown into his logical processes. The Taichou of tenth stared down as aghast as any of the few beings in the sky.

Reminded all too clearly of the bridge that hatred refused to let be gapped.

Kagami flash-stepped in the same second Halibel's body began to warp, her own speed meant to take her down to the aid of her fracciones. He snatched at her wrist, warm fingers closing upon the cool bone of her arm greave, halting her descent with sheer force.

"Don't." Tightly, with more than a hint of authoritative command in his tone. Her startled aqua orbs flickered to his face, then away, a gesture of threat beginning to show in her stiffening posture. Kagami didn't immediately release her, no longer smiling, he stared hard at the woman, _willing_ her to understand.

"Halibel. _Stop_. _They_ won't let your fracciones be harmed."

He saw the indecision momentarily take a hold of her, glimpsed the grit of her teeth, the flicker in her eyes then abruptly she released a soft breath.

"I swear." He whispered softly, letting go.

Their eyes met, "it doesn't have to be their way." He said, shaking head slightly, pressing the folded paper in her hand. "Nothing has to end with one side in ruins."

"Aizen-sa-" she began just as quietly, gaze flickering to the far off figures in white.

"-has used you all." Kagami answered evenly, hating to say things about his friend, forced to cajole an Arrancar into accepting the truth of their meaningless to Sosuke's plan. Wishing it were not so, was a waste of breath, of time. He had long ago accepted the face-value lies Aizen spun and maybe...just maybe, Sosuke himself had stopped wishing to stand above all others - being God was a lonely place after all.

"I...must go."

_For there was only one way it could end for him once he had descended to the replica of Karakura town_.

He ignored her questioning look, hand sliding to Sazanami's sapphire blue hilt.

Aki fought Yamamoto in the clouds.

He was needed.

...

"Nii-sama! What should we-" Rukia grasped her Zanpaku-to, near to drawing it as the sounds of yelling and sickening thuds grew closer. Byakuya took half-step back, distaste crossing his expression as a Shinobi was flipped expertly over an unknown officer's shoulder, landing in a flat sprawl where he had been standing.

"Kuchiki-Taichou." A nod and a scuttle back into the fray. Kanzaki appeared around the otherside of the tent, looking frazzled and on the verge of yelling his head off. A most uncouth thing, except he did neither and gestured to the slice of ground between tents where the officer had disappeared through just moments before.

"Wha-what's going on?"

Rukia snuck a peek at Byakuya's expression to find vague annoyance like a shadow flittering over his serene countenance. "It seems to have begun in the triage area. They are..."

Kanzaki's strange reddish-colored eyes drifted down to the floored shinobi, taking in the outfit, recognition flickering.

"From Second Division."

He began to walk away, Urahara right behind him.

"Of all the-"

Her nii-sama paused, "your officers...you've trained them well." It was a compliment if Rukia had ever seen one. And while her mind was processing the fact that her nii-sama had deigned to bestow a smatter of praise on the man.

The man himself started to turn, a polite response forthcoming. For like the absent Ishida, Kanzaki Karasu was in truth, a respectful though easily flustered person. Urahara who was no more than two steps behind the Quincy, ahead of them, made a slight noise.

A sigh, satisfied - and withdrew as swiftly as you please the hidden sword from inside his cane.

"Don't move." angling the tip to the middle of Kanzaki's back. The tip of Benihime pressed harder into the center of the phoenix mon. Rukia stifled her gasp, the world was moving too fast. Everything was falling apart so quickly- her nii-sama spoke above it all.

"Was this your plan or Yamamoto-Soutaichou's?"

Urahara had always been underhanded, but even this seemed too much. Rukia found herself shifting from Byakuya's shadow, glowering at the man who was her best friend's mentor. What kind of teacher could the ex Taichou be, if his interactions were based on deceit?

"A little of both actually." Urahara replied, sounding to her immediate shock, amused. Like he was enjoying himself. Kanzaki Karasu shifted, she could hear the anguish in his voice.

"Those are..._my people_ out there."

"I know."

"_My family." _ The quincy grated out, strangled fury at war with a dozen other emotions.

"Nobody likes war, Mr. Kanzaki." Urahara said almost lazily. "But sometimes...we all just gotta deal with our losses-"

She unsealed her mouth, making the slashing motion almost simultaneously as her nii-sama did.

"Riku-Jokoro!"

"Sajo Sabaku."

The spells struck together, almost sheepishly, Urahara collapsed under the duress of both bakudo, his sword clattering away. Kanzaki spun about, mouth agape. Rukia was reminded rather surprisingly of a manga scene, from one of her favorite books. Megane-kun who was hard done by life, gets the girl, walks off into the sunset. Byakuya's voice like always, took her out of the unreality.

"Don't expect it a second time." Curt, to the point.

Urahara looked between them, finally to her. Smiling but with hurt in his eyes. Even his hat had flown off. "Well there's this and then there's that, Kuchiki-san. Have you chosen the right path?" Cryptic as usual. She snorted and turned her face away.

He irritated her even then, bound with double kido as he was.

Kanzaki let out a quiet breath and smiled slightly. "Thanks anyway." Black haori swishing as he turned, white bow of reishii forming in his lax hand. Rukia bit her lip and realized her legs were carrying her forward - after him. Why had she chosen this - Nii-sama too had, decided something implicit in those few seconds. Was it... 'family'?

Belief.

Warmth?

Or was it...simply, there was no reason, no logic behind Urahara's plan - whatever it was?

Whatever it was that had incited violence, Soul Society - the supposed side of right, had begun it.

...

Aki bore a gash on his side, fractured armor had given way to bleeding flesh. Kagami imagined the charred edges hurt raw yet the Arrancar showed no sign of pain sauntering to the side to allow him space in the clouds.

"So, it's come to this, has it?" Kagami asked softly, gaze lingering on the rips and tears in the black Shihakusho. The man heaved a sigh, rattling breath noisy from blood bubbles.

"You haven't learned your place. None of you have."

"Oh? And where's that?" He coolly responded, senses probing the outer lying emotions swimming in the man's psyche. Scowling suddenly, he retreated from the image there. "I should've known. How sick is your hate of us? How low can you sink to, Shigekuni?" Kagami tilted Sazanami, jabbing it at the impassive man, his voice rising.

"Why must we continue down this path time and again!"

_Why can't you see reason? _

The man gave him a terse, cold smile. "Empath, Mizuna. I see your power hasn't waned."

"Bastard..." Kagami murmured, feeling nauseated from the images he had read.

"It's only what she deserves."

Water's lip curled, blue eyes the color of the ocean sneered scorn born from centuries of endured pain. "_She lives_, Shigekuni." Kagami spat in a snarl. "She lives and has seen all that you have _done_. ..You're the one who has become a monster."

The only true sign of his words striking something within the old man's bent form, was the flicker of slitted eyes, a flare of fiery reiatsu fluctuating with the spike of emotion. "It's only what you all deserve!"

-TBC

AN: =.= original length was 25 thou+ then when I couldn't get into the spirit for angsty scenes to polish off a certain fight, had to cut it down to where the current point above. The short fight between Kagami and old man Yama was probably my fav scene (next chapter) other than ironlion vs the old man. *waves arms* my brain feels dry right now D: I start typing to update some of the other fics then stop after a few paragraphs. DX damned RL if only it would throwing curveballs at me DX (any errors of submission are mine alone, ignore them for now. It's late here...)

No flames-stupid comments-

Reviews loved ~


	98. Heartless Enemy

_I won't repent from this_

* * *

ShiKai CH.91: Heartless Enemy

Yamamoto sliced deeply - the breath of it whooshed, rippling Sazanami's sphere of influence. Kagami winced when the blow landed, tearing across his back in a murderous stripe. The old man circled him, "the mark of the beast. Does that not prove you're a monster?"

The air stung his cut flesh. Soryu hissed in displeasure from his mindscape, a corresponding blue glow steaming in undulating waves from Sazanami's watery tang. Kagami stepped to the side, his gaze fixated on the ancient Shinigami who did the same.

"No, it doesn't. Nor does it make us more human. It's what makes us different!" He said forcefully. Far down below, Kurosaki's clashes with Aizen were sensed not seen. _So it was as the Kuchiki girl said, Kei had not returned with Kurosaki_, he mused. Though it would make a difference to the end result, Kagami silently tallied the remaining reiatsus of the Taichous.

Yamamoto, lacking Ban-Kai's increase.

Ukitake and Kyoraku if reason failed, as well as Komamura. Hitsugaya and Soi Fong were injured so they were cut down by over half. Yoruichi's disappearance was also troublesome as he couldn't gauge her movements. With a subtle sigh, he soon realized he'd have his work cut out for him. Kazeatari would have to take Urahara on plus the rabble of Shinigami officers.

It was nothing they couldn't handle, of that he was sure.

Another sigh and he parried Yamamoto's thrust, shunpo meeting the other's head on, clashing in return with violent fervor. Sparks flew along with droplets of water. Kagami pulled off, his haori lifting, whipping violently with the arc of Sazanami's blade.

"Suiha-"

The old man braced his long sword, barely seen lips moving, "Ryuujin-Jakka..."

Water condensed, multiplying at his command into a cresting wave held back by only the minimalist of threads. "-nana-"

"First one." Yamamoto intoned, leaning in as if whispering to the sword. "Nadegiri."

"-Horyo!"

Water and Fire coalesced, seven roaring dragons smashing into a wall of burning fire. Kagami felt the embers gust around him and grimaced, swiping Sazanami's watery sphere around, puffs of steam curling from the charred atmosphere. The old man stood unscathed from the deluge, glowering half-lidded across the space. Though the situation lacked humor, Kagami knew Shinji's response would've been to laugh - their attacks had canceled the other out.

He chose a light chuckle, a sound so out of place on the battlefield as for the old Shinigami to regard him in a vaguely insulted manner.

"Do you dare to entertain the thoughts of leaving this battle with your life?"

Kagami lifted a hand, the sound dying slowly in his throat, casually he flicked back strands of displaced hair, wiping soot from his cheek in the same motion. "No, Shigekuni. I plan on it. I wonder...have wondered for the better part of a thousand years, what you truly thought that day."

An imperceptible ripple passed through the aged frame, Ryuujin-Jakka's tang smoked fitfully.

"Two thousand actually give or take more," water said conversationally, "...but how did you think Mara had died..?" Deep below the harsh outer facade, Kagami sensed the underlying stirring, a faint reaction to the name that only he was privy to. Perversely pleased by it, he continued in the same mild tones.

"What I want to know is...why did you think Keiki killed her?"

Yamamoto grunted softly, flicking out a wave of fire. Kagami slashed through it powerfully, cutting the blazing heat in a two-swath path around him. The ends of his haori frayed at the immense heat yet he still smiled.

"Don't speak-" the commonly deep tones broke, rougher, some emotion threatened to grip him. "..speak her _name_."

Kagami's blue eyes flickered down, "I could almost...pity you." The wasted centuries weighed the air, a reminder of past failures, loss, pain and war crushed the reflection of perfect happiness in his memory. A young man hand-in-hand with a nymph-like woman. Four figures watching - Keiki leaning against Earth- then abruptly it shattered. Breaking apart into jagged glass fragments.

"If you weren't so pitiless yourself." He finished in a quiet hiss, flash-stepping with the silencer technique, barely crackling the atmosphere with Shinobi-like grace. The old man loomed before him, a symbol of the bitter past - Kagami raced Sazanami- her power coursing through him, reacting with almost sadistic glee at rendering flesh and blood from her master's most hated adversary -

blue eyes widened.

Yamamoto vanished seconds before Sazanami performed the deadly Kosokuken. Kagami hastily dropped his stance, feeling the old man's triumphant glee near mania burst viscerally into his field of perception. Sickened, he half spun around to rectify his mistake - only to feel white hot metal sear across his back and through - he screamed seconds later from the full explosion of pain overloading his senses.

The old Shinigami smiled grimly, "pity, Mizuna?" The gnarled hand twisted the sword, preparing to finish the kill. "Unlike you, I know where my true enemy -"

Kagami's lips shook, his arm twisting back and down, ramming the translucent tang of the ripples sword through that of the ancient fire Dragon, a second of eternity passed and then the lesser blade shattered in a wave of light and heat. Stunned, the old Shinigami leapt back, the broken half of Ryuujin-Jakka lifting with his snarl, "defy my world until the end-!"

The elemental of water breathed hard, thick blood droplets spattered the dome of Sazanami's genei, sweat stood out on his brow. "Your world-" Kagami fired back furiously, "doesn't exist!"

"Beast!" Yamamoto screeched, hurling a firestorm of flame - Kagami saw movement from the corner of his eye, twisting to the side painfully in time to catch the fleeting muscular body of the lion. "Aki!" he yelled desperately, "Aki, no!"

The iron lion streaked before the torrid mass, charging throughout heedlessly, jaws opening, inner flesh searing from the boiling heat. At the last second, he broke through, lunging powerfully in a final bound upon the man who would deny everything of the world he knew - Yamamoto raised his sword a second later, the broken blade goring thickly, deeply through the Arrancar's stomach. The lion howled the cry of a wounded animal, his massive paws raking flesh and cloth from the Shinigami, body pitching forward as both began free-falling to the ground.

Kagami hesitated for a moment, his eyes still burning from the torpors of smoke and ash left from the old man's failed attack, then he snapped out of it, flash-stepping to the ground in a blur, senses probing - until he caught a flicker from a crashed in building to the left. Entering from the caved in ceiling, his gaze went immediately to the body of the Arrancar, blood-soaked mane lifting, almond-shaped eyes closing as he whimpered.

"Aki-!" Kagami muttered, realizing in the same second that Yamamoto had escaped. Knowing it would bring later problems, he still strode forward, dropping to the lion's side. "Hey, stay with me now-"

A spasm passed over the lion's masked face, within seconds his release melted away to reveal tattered grey robes clothing a lean wounded form.

"..l..ea..ve me."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Kagami said cheerfully, clenching his teeth the next second. His back throbbed painfully as he shifted, cursorily checking over the deep wound gashing open from the left pectoral across in a thick bleeding line down to almost the hip. Aki grimaced, breaths shallower.

"S..o..rry...I couldn't-"

The water element shrugged off his haori coat, rising halfway in doing so, then picking Sazanami's blade up from near his knee, began steadily shearing it into bandages. The Arrancar's eyes widened when he saw what Kagami was doing.

"Sir! Your-"

"I can't leave you, ne?" He smiled, winding the long strips. At silent command, slithers of water snaked up and cleansed the Arrancar's wounds of Yamamoto's reiatsu. Once it was done to his satisfaction, the droplets beaded off, evaporating in fine mist. Aki stared up at him in awe. Kagami motioned for him to sit up which the Arrancar did slowly, muscles clenching as his torso wounds stretched.

With effort, he managed to push himself into an upright position then Kagami dropped down again, winding the cloth tightly against the gash. "Sorry, there's no pins to keep this in place." He said, pulling the wrap tightly earning a slight growl that Aki immediately sent an apologetic look for. After a few more minutes, he finished, rising to his feet.

Sighing, he began disrobing from the grey outer kimono, tossing it to the surprised Arrancar. "Here, I'll just say you were being mauled by an Adjuchas or something."

Aki's eyebrows flying to his hairline were his only comment. Stiffly, he climbed to his feet as well, slipping the grey kimono over his own shredded uniform. "Thank you...Captain."

Kagami smiled tiredly, his eyes crinkling in the corners. "Don't mention it." His gaze swept out toward the street. "Now then I humbly apologize for my crappy shunpo, I swear Kimiko calls me a turtle every chance she gets."

Aki's mouth twitched.

He stifled a chuckle himself, "even Karasu has me beat on technique. So could you please spare an old man his shunpo?"

If he had been his release form, the iron lion would've roared in laughter. Instead, mindful of his ribs, he gripped the upper arm of the water element and streaked them from the east end of the town in teleportation-like Sonido.

...Hueco Mundo...

Unohana said nothing yet the woman's unease lingered just below the surface. Fourth's healer was polite enough not to draw swords on the matter but disconcerted to the point of softly intoning.

"You're not perfectly healed, Yamamoto-san."

"Well enough." Kei countered, meeting the woman's concerned gaze. "I know my own limits of when my body can't handle anymore." Then sent another look of meaning to Kotetsu-Fukutaichou who wasn't paying attention to the proceedings but was rather fixated on the other member of their little band - Ulquiorra.

Who stared back as impassively.

She wasn't surprised, he could out-silence even the most obdurate non-speaker. "Give it a rest, Fukutaichou." She called, strapping on Maouen. Isane blinked and hunched her shoulders, insecure about her tall height, slouching beside Unohana-Taichou, she peered out occasionally, distrust in her expression.

Kei shrugged minutely, dismissing the pair. Fourth's healers were well-known and their skils were undeniable save for the trouble it would cause were they not to be of the same mind as Unohana. With that in mind, Kei partially turned back and dipped her head, "thank you."

Unohana smiled and said nothing.

The element of Fire drew her fingertips over the atmosphere, ready to leave the bleak world behind. The last act was awaiting in Karakura town, its completion lacked she, the final performer. Aware of her role, Kei hastened to inquire of the silent Arrancar with a look.

_Is this where we part ways?_

His eyes lowered. "I will...accompany you."

She turned to stabilize the portal, leaving open a narrower one ostensibly for Unohana. In truth it would remain until Zoe or the twins crossed through it.

"There is one other..." he began than hesitated, when she glanced back questioningly.

"Kurosaki has...a split personality."

...

"Lilinette, show them the paper...when we get there." Rizu said with difficulty. The little Arrancar nodded and clutched the blood-spotted paper. The speed of Stark's Sonido made her dizzy to the point of nausea, but she kept her complaints down. Her head hurt every time she opened her eyes, the air itself stung her face. _Stepping in front of Sogyo-no-Kotowari's reversal attack had not been the most intelligent thing she had done - even reiatsu-less Nekomata-kitten had agreed. Only Ukitake's pity had saved her_.

The seconds ticked by.

Their speed petered to stop, his murmur floated above her.

"What the..."

Lilinette grasped his pantsleg for security. "Wha-what're they doing down there? Rioting?"

Rizu forced her eyes open, squinting in the light. They were a short distance from the Juppongatana camp, the brief bursts of kido light and yells came in intermittent spurts. She sensed the different bursts of reiatsu and bit out the answer she'd been fearing since Kyoraku had appeared.

"They're not rioting. They're being attacked!" she watched an officer with two long braids get sliced across the back, wince and spin about, taking a solid punch to the jaw. If she wasn't mistaken that was the medic assigned command over the rest of the medical officer team.

"What! But, I thought the Shinigami were allies?" Lilinette's near shout got her attention. Rizu breathed shallowly, her throat feeling dry. "Not all feel that way." at the center of the fray she sensed Soi Fong's smugness. Nekomata mewled weakly from Lilinette's arms in response to her anger.

Stark sighed, "what do we do now?"

"H-Help them of course!" Rizu snapped, struggling weakly.

Both Arrancars, one mild, the other loud, said together.

"You're not helping anyone."

"There's no way you can help!" Lilinette snapped back, bending low to snatch at something off the ground.

She thought of a response to that but couldn't get it out before they lifted off to the sky. The height made the blood rush behind her eyes, the sick feeling in her stomach to increase.

"Damn it..." she hated being useless in particular when her comrades needed her most. Lilinette snuck a quick glance at the color of the uniform Rizu wore and let fly the rock she picked up. A little nervously she watched it fly between a struggling girl with overlong braids and strike a black-clad figure squarely on the forehead.

'Good one, kid.' Nekomata rumbled kitten-like.

Lilinette couldn't suppress her grin when the shinobi collapsed to a heap. The Soul reaper who had been released, stared wildly around then spotted them, flash-stepping swiftly from the melee to the sky.

Blood trickled from the corner of the girl's mouth but she ignored it. "L-Lieutenant Sakurai!" the medic cried upon recognizing the sagging heap Stark held up.

"You a medic?" Stark questioned, not hoping for much. The Soul reaper nodded and wiped the blood from her mouth. "Yeah. Name's Yuka. You're the Primera Espada?"

Lilinette all but shoved the paper at her aggressively. "We're in the clear, Shinigami."

"What happened here?" Rizu demanded, concentrating all her effort on retaining the focus to listen to the girl. Yuka's eyes cast about, flittering down to the ground then back, antsy, hurried. "Captain Nanatsu ordered us to tend to Soi Fong-Taichou. I helped capture the Tercera Espada and her fracciones."

Stark stiffened but said nothing.

Yuka took in a deep breath, "they were alive last I saw. We - we were treating everyone down in the camp when Soi Fong woke up...she called for...our arrests. Then her shinobi appeared out of nowhere and started slashing everyone. It's been hell ever since." Another deep breath, hands reached out and plucked lightly at Rizu's shoulder. Yuka hissed softly, "Lieutenant! This is bad! You need-"

"I know it's bad!" Rizu snapped, glowering with heavy-lids. "Don't you think I'd have gone down to help by now if it wasn't?"

"Sorry. Sorry..." Yuka muttered apologetically, her hand withdrawing to fumble under the badge on her arm - air whistled sharply up from below. Stark sensed it first and snatched Lilinette who protested, jetting back several steps. Yuka did the same tardily, narrowly avoiding the streak of black angling up for them.

"Damn it!" The medic cried in frustration, snatching the hilt of her sword. Contrary to Stark's belief, rather than unsheathing it, clashed hard against the ninja blade, deflecting only with the scabbard.

"Why-" he began.

Rizu winced when the medic got cut across the shoulder, answering tersely for the occupied Soul reaper. "Orders. We're not allowed to raise weapons against the Shinigami." Lilinette balled her fists and wailed, "but that's crazy! Obviously they don't care!"

"Orders are orders." Replied Fifth company's Lieutenant, her frustration mirroring the Soul Reaper's and indeed Lilinette, who looked up to her other half desperately. He caught her look and shrugged with difficulty. The smaller one let out an irritated noise and her fingers twitched. Beneath Nekomata's misty body, the bronze plaque remained, a good weight of metal...

The shinobi cut down - the Soul reaper barely evaded the stomach gutting slice - Lilinette switched arms, clutching Nekomata one-handed, the plaque lifting, going back as she threw it - it struck the shinobi's hip, earning a mild howl of pain. Yuka took the second of concentration lapse and cracked the shinobi in the forehead with the bottom end of her hilt.

"Sword of evil." Rizu commented appreciatively.

"It's rather devastating if used properly." Yuka said, fighting off a grin, summoning a kido cage to toss the inert shinobi in. Lilinette dove after the falling plaque, swooping up neatly with it in tow. Casting a glance to the ground, Yuka nodded to the campsite. "Kurenai's using the centrifugal sweeper technique. It should be relatively safe to treat Lieutenant Sakurai."

Stark simply nodded, still uneasy with the remaining reiatsus hovering within the camp. Yuka slipped her scabbard through her sash, finally looking to Lilinette's pout.

"Thank you, little Arrancar."

...

"..Shinobi." Toya murmured in warning two blocks away from the Kurosaki clinic slaughter.

"Well fuck me." Shinji muttered, a grin fighting to take hold of his mouth. "Guess there are conspiracies that even Aizen ain't behind. So what'd this girl do anyhow?"

Toya switched glances from the encroaching circle of black-clad shinobi slowly tightening around them to the brown eyes of the former fifth Division Taichou. "She exists." Kage vibrated beneath his light, questioning touch. Toya palmed the hilt, "we exist because... of her."

That was true...wasn't it?

With Keiko, without Kagami...without the three elements, they'd just be lost in the wilderness, picked off one by one. He had been wrong all along.

The Juppongatana wasn't just a promise between strangers, it was...between _family_. And with that thought settling the burning in his chest, easing the blurriness remaining in his sight, he saw a mirage-like image of smiling people just beyond the dogs of Soul Society.

Holding hands

'See...they're happy for you.' Kage whispered. 'Gramps and Grandma...'

Toya inched Kage's gleaming stationary state out inch by promising death inch; he couldn't help but feel the sword spoke the truth.

"Let's show them...how we protect our family."

"Wow, sounds like a replay of 1900." Shinji commented, "just with a newer generation."

Takara didn't reply, couldn't because the lines were painted starkly clear.

_You do not kill._

_We are right._

_They are wrong._

_You defend all that you can_ - she released Haretosora's shikai in a burst of falling star light. Just as Toya wore a rare grin, withdrew Kage-Bunshin the shadow splitter, imitator of all Zanpaku-to in a shower of irradiant blackness. Somewhere too, Shinji called out his weapon, probably sighing at the folly of youth.

When it was over in a breathless second, the fading light still dazzled her eyes, she glanced around, the cloth enveloping her arms and flowing from her waist rustling in refractive starry waves. "Do you think it was overkill?"

Toya sheathed Kage, deliberately stepping on the arm of the nearest shinobi. Shinji sent her a wink. "Nah." Both men remarked. Again she was reminded on how strangely similar they were in answering. Toya's grin vanished suddenly, his gaze drawn to the small relaxing fist of the shinobi under his foot.

A low voice echoed up from between the lightly curled fingers.

_It was...Soi Fong-Taichou_.

Toya snarled something under his breath, shifting his heel. She closed her eyes as he ground down, cracking bone, erasing the communication between Second's commander and the scattered unconscious shinobi. It was a small act of defiance but well placed.

"Hey," Shinji called, crossing through the inert bodies to reach Toya. "So this all was a setup? Meant to capture that girl?"

Toya met his look solidly. "Not really. I should think it'd be pretty obvious, Hirako."

"Well 'scuse me if it's not!" The blond Shinigami snapped, scowling. "I'm no freakin' mind reader ya know!"

Takara looked between them, surprised her former third seat - now Captain, would respond to such childishness. Toya rolled his eyes discreetly, mimicking Shinji's stance. "Nobody ever said you were a mind reader and your Japanese is terrible."

She wondered where all the suave maturity had gone to.

Shinji's face screwed up at the insult, his buckteeth showing all at once, thankfully he sneered something unintelligible at Toya then switched topics. "If that's the case, then where is Ichigo's family?"

"Look! We can spend the whole day debating these things or we can get over there and stop something maybe or tell them what we've seen." Takara suggested reasonably, breaking into their monologue with a raised voice. Toya grudgingly admitted she was right, lightly resting his hand atop Kage's hilt, he turned to them. "Best outta three?"

Takara instantly turned an interesting shade of pink, wailing, "that's not fair! You know my flash-step isn't as fast as yours!"

He couldn't resist smirking then adding a shrug for effect. "Whatever you say, _Lieutenant_."

Shinji watched them, blandly remarking, "you remind me o' lot of me and Hiyori." He didn't add without the sandal-slap and this little blondie was a cutie with a fairly nice rack. Shinji thought he just might have found his first love - _again_.

...

Soi Fong crushed the tiny communicator in her hand. A static-flooded line had rendered it worthless to reach operations in the residential district of the Godforsaken town. Angered by their incompetence, she endeavored to get her breathing under control.

Perhaps subterfuge wasn't necessary.

The element of Fire had not appeared, word was, she had fallen in battle in Hueco Mundo. Soi Fong allowed a terse smile to slip past her defenses, her stride into the thick of the melee, calculated - as precision based as the side of her hand planted against the neck of the dissenter.

The boy collapsed in a heap.

"Follow my example." She barked, "gather them all. Let none escape!"

...

... "I really...lost it, didn't I, Ju-kun?"

His old friend leaned heavily on him, eyes glazed no longer dancing with life. Shunsui's wounds were bad, but nothing life-threatening. Jushiro was glad for that, keeping an arm slung around the other, their walk slow. It could've been after a long night of drinking games, too much imbibing - toasting life - instead two weary old men who had seen too much war.

At least that was how Jushiro felt aged, defeated. He had many hopes for the Juppongatana alliance, nonetheleast that for once there could truly be peace for everyone involved. How naive he had been...

"No, Shun. It's just one mistake in a line of many."

A nod. "Heh. You mean like that time when I tried to grope sweet Nanao-chan?"

He sighed, the joke in light of the circumstances still fell flat. "You know very well what I mean, Shunsui. Yamamoto-Soutaichou has..."

...

His hands wanted to shake. He had seen what she- what they all could do. What they were capable of. One wrong shot - a miss - and the volatile strength of wind would be turned on him. Uryu gave one last look, a glance to the far ground. He was glad he couldn't see Karasu anymore. The man wouldn't see the betrayal.

Had Urahara been right?

Was this right?

Was it true that they should not exist? It seemed a rhetoric born of many centuries one of intolerance. For a second he faltered, staring at the woman's narrow back presented to him. The silver gilt of the maple leaf denoting her status as Fifth's Captain, shone brightly, catching the fake sunlight, winking tiny flashes.

Kazeatari snapped her fan shut, her dark tiger's eyes rapidly searching the surroundings, then down - away, a sigh left her. He knew she had seen the disturbance in the camp. Soi Fong's black-clad Shinobi clashing with the few officers down below - Karasu was most likely occupied. Uryu found himself wishing the man luck with the skilled shinobi - then realized he had no right to.

He felt sicker then. Dry-mouthed as Kazeatari - his one time partner, prepared to descend, aid her comrades. Yamamoto said they had no right to raise a word against Soul Society, though not one to follow a Shinigami's order, Uryu found himself lifting his bow, arms sliding into their familiar position.

Kazeatari wasn't looking at him.

Her back was to him.

Was that how much she trusted him?

No matter. He released the arrow, shutting his eyes upon the release. The shaft shot forward, swift, deadly, accurate. Then nothing. No cry of pain or anger at betrayal. Nothing - but the silence broken by the silvery clang of a sword. Uryu released breath he hadn't realized he was holding and stared across the space to the unsmiling face of the Element of Fire, cutting his arrow to shards of reishii.

Kazeatari had stiffened but then relaxed, half-turning over her shoulder. "I thought...you were gone."

Kei smiled finally. "I'm here now. Don't think you can get rid of me that easily."

Wind forced a smirk. "That attitude like always."

The other said nothing, refocusing back to him with a coldness to her eyes. "What's this..? Our allies turning on us?" her fingers curled, a cube of grey-tinted energy encasing over him. He suddenly had a very bad feeling as her delicate hands formed a new set of gestures - a sudden sharp tug in the very center of his being leading him to cry out silently as the ripping/ tearing sensation spread.

Eyes watering he forced himself to lift his head, see beyond the translucent cube to her impassive face. The direction of her gaze drifted down to his hand, the tremors increased, Uryu felt more than _saw_ the links to his bracelet shatter in tiny explosions of red-white edged lights.

The final seal suppressed his spiritual pressure.

...

She couldn't believe what she saw - the two women alighting in the midst of the fighting, Ishida landing in a crystalline kido cube the remnants of his bow floating around him. Had the world gone mad? The elemental of fire still lived! Still breathed. Favored everything with a faint smile and immediately flung several kido spells around to disarm the combatants without harming anyone. That, Rukia had to give credit where due.

The shinobi attempted various dispelling measures without success, their glowers feeble when the full force of the elemental's smile fell on them.

"I expected full cooperation from officers of the Secret Remote Squad. Even more from Soi Fong-Taichou." Purple eyes flickered to the hard face of the second Division Taichou. Soi Fong had been only half bandaged, fresh blood had stained the pieces of white wrappings around her torso and arm. "Clearly the Shinigami have not taken proper note of our laws." The elemental prompted, her smile dipping. "For else they wouldn't have questioned our non-aggression pact."

Soi Fong-Taichou growled something.

The elemental tilted her head toward her. "What was that, Shaolin?" In the blink of an eye, the elemental stood before the trapped Taichou of second, the kido cage dropped to a puddle as the elemental's hand shot out and connected sharply to the cheek of the Taichou. Keiko's eyes fairly danced with a glittering malicious light. "You say we have no right? Based on what?"

Soi Fong nearly lunged out at her, but by some unseen command, the kido shot up again, sealing Soi Fong's punches effectively within. "We are what we are. In our case as guardians of death or the remnants of humans. It matters not. Any who challenge the right to live for any creature is considered an enemy."

A girl with two long braids and looking a little worse for wear, tentatively approached. "Uh, Captain Yamamoto? Your surcoat, ma'am." It was true, somehow the elemental wasn't the same without it. She flashed a grateful smile and took the black cloth from the officer's hands. Swinging it on, the black haori floated elegantly around her, the silver gilt glittering as she turned, "I must go now and assist our _allies_. I dare say, Aizen seems to be gaining the offense. I suppose I will head there first."

Does Ichigo know...she's alive? was all Rukia could wonder.

...

Lisa cracked her eyes open. How was she even alive? Hadn't she been cut? She had severely underestimated that ...thing. That girl - whatever she was -

"Hey, you alive in there?" A distinctly familiar add - rude voice prompted somewhere to the left. Lisa clambered upright, reaching up to fix her askew glasses. "Hi-Hiyori?" she blinked, focusing on the tiny pixie blonde standing a few feet away.

"Yo." The second voice drew her to stubborn ash-colored fringe.

"Kensei? I..I don't understand."

She scowled at their black shihakushos; Hiyori while being unimpressed nodded to Lisa, "check out yourself."

She did, seeing her old familiar shortskirt and familiar weight of a metal plaque on her shoulder. "But..what the hell does this all mean?"

...

"I still say we should've killed them."

"Shut up, Kiwako." He ordered in a monotone.

"What's Mr. Mummy gonna do?" The more violent side of Kozue Kiwako sneered, "lay a curse on me?"

Ren discreetly rolled her eyes, tying one-handed the knot on her bandaged arm. Tachikaze had gouged her forearm open, she was glad it hadn't gone any deeper. Out of them all, Seijin bore the worst wear, reddish black rivulets criss-crossed his torso between strips of soiled bandages. His face mostly remained covered, his visible eyes slitted and a grumble in his throat. She too preferred inane antics to the decidedly sociopathic young woman walking in step with them.

Dani kept her distance, seemingly lost in her own thoughts while Mai seemed to be counting the arrows left in her quiver. Amakusa had left an hour before. She sensed him at a relatively short distance away in the company of two others.

Kiwako's voice broke into her thought process. "I still don't get why we can't just-"

_Predictable_, Ren thought, cutting off Seijin's snappish start. "Orders. Can't you feel it? Captain Yamamoto has arrived. The battle is at an end."

...

"Are you angry at me...for leaving you?"

He yelled too loudly. Clutching the black sword which she threw a glare at, then promptly ignored. Ichigo hated to be ignored - she knew that already, but couldn't bring herself to care. Aizen was a few feet away. Aizen with his calculating moves and vague smile that scented of arrogance.

And damn it all. _Won't he shut up?_ Kei forcibly put her back to the yelling human and sauntered a step closer to Aizen, her attention fixated on Kyokasuigetsu. "I doubt you realize Las Noches is in ruins."

"Ah."

"You stand no chance of achieving your goals." So why do you persist? Why create this farce when with the blade you discarded, you could've had everything in the palm of your hand? She didn't understand his mind anymore. Maybe no one had. Aizen smiled softer and shook his head slightly.

'No.'

Her eyes widened a fraction. He moved faster than anyone but her could see. She moved as well, countering swiftly with a sharp upper cut. Kyokasuigetsu clanged, clashed, sparks flew and Maouen rang hollowly against the man she couldn't bring herself to _hate_.

"Do I need a reason, Keiko-san?"

Ichigo yelled something about letting him handle it.

She ignored - and pressed on, stepping a quarter of an inch to the side, letting her hand fall from Maouen's tapered hilt - the illusion of Kosokuken. Ichigo screamed at her to move. She twisted and caught the spinning blade, piercing it deeply through the chest of the ex Shinigami.

It was over...much too quickly.

"Keiko-san..." a drizzle of blood slithered from the corner of Aizen's mouth. Maouen had pierced an internal organ perhaps more. "Do you like...living?"

He started to sag, body caving in on itself.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Because..." most of his weight was focused on her. "I don't."

..._to be alone...alone with a power you're born with...separate because of a power greater than others...is a lonely life truly_.

Aizen leaned on her, his head falling, breaths shortening.

She slightly inclined her cheek to his, whispering softly a new promise.

"I will be...the catalyst that changes their world."

"Thank you." and the enemy of the world passed with a contented smile. One of a soul whom had finally found their place in the world.

...

"You're late." Urahara reprimanded with no little humor. The furtive shape of the woman slipped between the tents, coiling into a lithe body clad in tight black, her purple ponytail swished with the twitch of her shoulders. Situating the prisoners on the opposite edge of the camp had made it easier for her to slip in, reiatsu suppressed.

The guard was a nameless grey-clad officer. Not even a Lieutenant by the fourth seat badge on the arm. Yoruichi had dispatched him fairly easily, dumping the brown-haired kid in a motionless heap to the side, even then feeling Soi Fong's worshipful gaze.

She decided to spring Kisuke first. The kido used to trap him would be easier to break than the elemental's. With that thought, she begun the necessary hand-seals, preparing to dispel it with the equal force of Hanki Sosai.

Kisuke's eyes widened slightly, "behind." He commented too tardily as the crackle of Shunpo preceded the clack of a blade leaving its sheathe.

"You didn't strike me as a traitor, Bya-boy." She said easily, unafraid of the slender blade poised against her throat. Byakuya was close behind her, his aristocratic face most likely drawn up in a faint scowl.

"Neither did you." He admitted so softly she had first thought she had imagined it. At once Yoruichi's expression softened, "then why does it come to this?" She didn't mean the past, not the long years that Soi Fong gazed at her still reproachfully for, but the present. The why of their stances so clearly opposite of the end goal.

"Because...I cannot in good faith follow a system based upon deceit."

She hissed softly much as a cat does when confronted by a greater enemy. "Where is your proof, Byakuya?"

"It is in the arrest order on a charge of seditious acts..." He replied, softer more venomously. "For me and Rukia."

Yellow-green cat's eyes widened minutely. Had it come to that, that no one was immune to the madness?

"-He knows of my prior history and that of my clan's with the elemental of Fire."

He? Yoruichi paused for the term of gender and one face came to mind.

"It's not too late."

Yoruichi hesitated for a second, seeming to see another road, another path, not the crooked one which she walked with Soi Fong, but a straight one...where she walked alone.

She could not abandon Soi Fong again.

"Yes it is." She says feather softly, her slim hand snaking into her waist pouch quick as a shadow and withdrawing a poison senbon as Byakuya's slate eyes reveals a flicker of regret. Just another regret in a lifetime of them, for once Yoruichi couldn't bring herself to think he was doing the wrong thing. He was...choosing the best path to preserve he and Rukia alive - even if it meant turning his back on a Society that had failed his expectations for justice.

Who knew what right and wrong were anymore?

But. That did not mean Yoruichi could allow herself to let him be, no one could be let go until the day when the elementals ceased to exist as Soi Fong wanted.

The senbon flew in a short arc, piercing him above the collarbone. Byakuya released her instantly, plucking the metal needle from his pale flesh. She didn't want to see the expression on his face as the poison raced throughout his blood stream, simply had no time left to ponder the course she had chosen as the other Kuchiki - she had nothing against Rukia truly, nothing but pity for the girl who screamed 'nii-sama!'

Yoruichi was ...numb, shattering Kisuke's confinements. Spinning about to meet Soi Fong's onyx eyes in a pale sweating little face. Every second counted. Kisuke was right beside her as he always had been. Breathing the same electrical-tinged air, her shunko-sheathed arm quaked from the amount of power encasing the Taichou of Second, shook to the very marrow in her bones. The first blow sent cracks rippling into the structure - the second took every ounce of strength she could channel, shattering it completely.

Then they were together.

Rukia had dropped to Byakuya's kneeling side, withdrawing her Zanpaku-to with a snarl contorting her delicate features. They wore the robes of black still but in their hearts Yoruichi knew had given up the principal thing that had tied them together.

There were others coming.

Yoruichi blessed the Gods whom had gifted her speed.

They departed. Soi Fong for the battlefield, for a lie it was her duty to carry out. At the fringes among a multitude of black-clad Shinigami whose faces she didn't know, Kisuke clasped her hand - the reassurance lingered, that they had chosen the course of right...even if it lead them to Hell.

...

Aizen slid down to his knees, the life having drained slowly from the spiritual vessel. Kei tilted her sword hilt down, preparing as all Shinigami knew as their sacred duty, to perform Konso to truly release the soul of one long dead.

Yamamoto's voice stopped her. "Stop! The traitor does not deserve final peace."

She stiffened with the speed of the old man's shunpo.

Yamamoto after all alighted only a few feet away, Ryuujin-Jakka unsheathed.

Kei took in the measure of the supposedly feared man and felt nothing as she defiantly, deftly, perfectly angled her sword down and pressed the mark of a crescent moon (Assiah's mark) upon the brow of the dead Shinigami.

"I hereby declare...Aizen Sosuke absolved of all his crimes. May he depart in -" she hesitated, catching the tensing of the old man. A sure sign of the breaking point being reached. "Peace." she finished coldly, her gaze fixated on Yamamoto. Daring the old man to kill her where she stood.

The other Shinigami remained frozen in place.

Half-open dull eyes lifted, a mouth hidden by the long beard parted. "Monster." The old man said almost inaudibly, the word meant for she and Aizen's hearing alone. She was thankful distantly that the man could not hear the word, for it only confirmed their separation from humanity.

She let the eventual fall happen, Aizen's body vanished in a flurry of refractive little lights, a blood-colored butterfly soaring past the fake sky. Yamamoto crossed through, slashing at her mightily, letting his anger resonate hatefully through Ryuujin-Jakka. Kei brought her swordarm up, palm going to support the other hand - then hesitated, countering one-handed.

"You will not stop..." she murmured, Keiko stirring within her chest felt almost like another heartbeat. Frail. Fragile but undeniably there. He said nothing, attempting to lash her with kido simultaneous to his sword strikes. "Wasn't my parents blood enough for you, oji-sama?" Keiko shrieked, taking over for a second of a heartbeat. Kei resurfaced forcibly, her expression warping from twisted pain to a calm storm.

"Murderer."

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Try to the assembled." She offered, stepping back with Shin-soku, arms lifting from her sides, palms curled to the Shinigami - in a twisted gesture of open armness. "Tell them how you wrote your hate as a decree. How you cruelly pushed your own ideals while all pretending it was for the good of the world - how it was..." she paused for effect, her lips sliding into a cold smile. "For the balance. The Balance that never existed!"

The old man's shoulders heaved, bereft of the white haori, he seemed less than a Taichou, more of a Shinigami, more a shade of the man she remembered. "The balance needs-!" he roared. The closest, Hitsugaya, winced at the sharpness in his commander's tone, turquoise eyes lifting to hers.

"We provide the balance you fool! We the elements exist to keep the worlds in check!"

"Is it true?" Hitsugaya said after an intake of breath. "Commander, answer me! Does the balance to keep the worlds aligned not exist?"

She imagined a dozen recollections were racing through the Taichou of Tenth's mind. Things the Shinigami had done, ordered to be carried out...all in name of a lie. The Quincies were slaughtered for naught, even Kanzaki knew that. Heavy-hearted, pale with blood staining his white haori, Ukitake hesitantly stepped closer to the other 'Shiro.

"No. It doesn't." He answered in place of the commander.

Hitsugaya blanched, looking sickened.

"He killed...them...they were reborn after each cycle ended...to keep the worlds aligned." Ukitake announced, the weariness creeping into his voice. The old man breathed out an angry noise, "you disappoint me, Jushiro. Is it your feelings for this _creature_," here, a glare brimming with centuries of hate fixated solely on her. "That would blind you to the path of right?"

The Taichou of Thirteenth bore faint color on his pale countenance, yet did not back down. "What 'right' do you speak of, commander? Other than your own flawed logic!"

Hitsugaya made a noise of appreciation, disgust nonetheleast in his boyish face.

"Silence!" The oldest of all the Shinigami boomed, his voice ringing harshly all around. Kei stood back, the smile gone, but the vestiges of it lingering. For once in all her lives, someone...anyone had stood up for her. She would always be thankful to Ukitake for that.

"She is still a murderer as they all are!" Yamamoto continued, seemingly oblivious to even Komamura's furrowed furry brow; Kyoraku's head shake. Far behind, Ichigo strode forward, somewhat relief mirrored on his face, amber eyes lifting to seek hers.

"Where's your proof, old man?" Ichigo called, as rude as always.

And for once...once in her life, she felt a true smile form on her lips.

She was glad, damned _happy_ that he was alright and that he knew - _the truth_ -

Soi Fong's cutting voice spliced across the murmurs of the battlefield.

"Yamamoto Keiko is! And here's my proof!"

...

The dream was there, so tangible, so real Ichigo could stretch out his fingers and touch it.

Old man Yama wasn't who everyone believed him to be.

Soul Society was as dirty and corrupt - no surprise there. He had known it ever since the time of saving Rukia from her execution. _And_... and _she_ was smiling at him. With something akin to relief - the kind which unburdened a heart. He could forget the brush-offs, the cold stares, angry words. Ichigo could forgive it all - _for that smile_.

He told himself he wasn't dreaming that her smile said ' I love you.'

I love you too, he thought, unembarrassed, wearing his scowl/smile. _The hero gets the girl, the new day rises_. Of course it always does. That was life, that was reality - his reality. Ichigo knew for sure he wasn't dreaming- he was the hero..and she was the girl as it should be.

_The voice had said they belonged together_.

A woman's voice shattered his thought process, cold as steel calling out, "Yamamoto Keiko is! And here's my proof!"

_She couldn't be the enemy_ -

He froze in the act of turning. Soi Fong was the speaker, _a detestable woman who adhered to the law, a corrupt woman in league with old man Yama_... he thought so. She was. But why did Soi Fong have a piece of Yuzu's dress?

...

In a million heart-stopping seconds, Kei thought she had miscalculated. Forgotten something that tied her to the deaths of Zaraki and Kurotsuchi, incorrigible bastards they were, wouldn't have shown mercy to an Arrancar or a Vizard.

But, an older part of her resonated strongly.

She was too capable to have failed, planned everything perfectly, carefully.

This could not be a flaw of hers.

"Where?" she yelled unafraid, defiance flaring in her eyes.

Shaolin - ne, Soi Fong reached the line of smattered Shinigami, a cruel smirk on her sharp features. Even Ichigo stopped.

Kei wished he would turn around, he would look into her eyes and see...for that breath, she wasn't lying. Everything wasn't a lie. Her heart was laid bare as little of it that was left.

But he didn't.

"-the Kurosaki family lies dead in their home." Soi Fong confirmed, smugness radiating from every line of her battered form. Kei remained silent, motions stilled but inside a storm brewed. _Had the Omnitsu been desperate enough to slay Ichigo's family - was it true? Was Yuzu killed?_ Kei forced herself to stare - meet the gaze of the other woman, refusing to let her emotions show.

"My officers reported her reiatsu was discovered at the scene." With a sneer masked as righteousness, Soi Fong withdrew a tattered piece of a yellow sundress. "This should resolve any doubts."

Kei froze, everything she had built up shattered into a million shards. It was undeniably there. Though she _couldn't_ believe it - how - _how_ -

Ichigo spun about and saw her horror - and lost whatever it was that he'd had before, that connection to her emotions. He read it as something else. "Y-you...killed them? You killed Yuzu and Karin?" his tone was ragged, his expression a tumult of rage and horror. Kei stared at him, the words, the denial wouldn't come.

"Before coming here."

Ukitake's expression worked between doubt and something else undefinable. "No, no! She was in Hueco Mundo! This cannot-"

But even his voice of reason was drowned out by Ichigo's almost feral shriek of fury.

He charged at her, blurring past the hands that tried to restrain him, past Yamamoto -

She was numb, bereft in an ocean of memory.

Thoughts floated hazily through her subconscious.

_I..._

_I thought..._

_I believed we could be happy_.

Tsukikage's serene castle made whole by her heart, warped, transforming into utter ruin in a heartbeat. From the blackness, Kagami's sedate, calm voice much like the ripple of water into a brook spoke phantom-like from memory.

_"Because of what we are...everything around us will always turn to bitter ash time and again."_

How true.

Her hand closed on Hakuya, her distant violet eyes refocused to his twisted face and she moved by instinct. The pure white blade crashing with the discordant melody of a heartbeat against the black blade of Tensa Zangetsu.

He pressed on relentlessly, attempting to break the guard of the horned sword. "Why! Tell me why!" he screamed at her, spit flying to her cheek. "Why what?" she asked calmly, so very calm. Yes. She understood Aizen's 'solitude' now, his deep wish that was never granted. It could not be, because it would erase everything he was.

Everything he had been born with.

Just like her.

He made a strangled noise in his throat. A cross between fury, a lack of words and everything perhaps fraying at the edges of his vision too.

Kei slid her glance from his face to see Kagami alight on the edge of the battlefield. From a distance, water and fire's eyes locked. Her expression rippled, pleading for only a nanosecond of her existence.

_Please, let this end_.

Water whose empathy was greatest out of all who lived, felt the enormity of the torture cutting her insides to pieces. Kagami nodded ever so faintly.

_I know what... I have to do_, like with all her duties, Kei knew it as subtly as a blade's edge. As keen as the breath of cutting wind. That did not mean she was at peace.

She never would be until his face was gone from her sight.

Kei let herself get pushed back, her sandals scrape, her grip on Hakuya lax.

Ichigo was breathing hard, so hard as though he couldn't breathe.

"I want to know..."

"What?" She asked, soft with a look she had accrued over the lifetimes. It lacked guile for the searching eye, the carelessness of comfort tossed with the gentleness of a soft voice.

It was _her_ smile.

But wasn't in the same breath.

"WHY DID YOU KILL THEM? DO YOU ACTUALLY HATE ME? IS THAT IT?"

She waited for the interminable length of a heartbeat for the familiar anger, for the rush of almost dizzying power flooding her system in response to her will. Kei found none of it. Only the sensation of his spit on her cheek growing cold, a reminder of the ice within her own blood.

Cold.

She was _so_ cold now, frozen inside like Shirahime's beautiful hell.

Within the ice sheets, she could see herself _reflected_, as she was.

A Captain, first and foremost.

A Captain that had to lead, to guide the few.

"No." Kei lightly said, lowering her eyes to Hakuya's silence, the faint trickle of power the cracking of a heart. Then as sharp as the edge of the blade, she sent him skating violently back. "You're unworthy of even hate."

It was true.

Kei didn't miss with the nuances of his emotions. The flicker of pain, evocative of the foolish little organ in his chest - the heart. The heart that wanted any excuse, any blind reason to trust again.

She wouldn't let it.

_Not hers._

_Not his_.

They would taste bitterness, drink of it deeply like the sweetest wine until their hearts had caved in. With that thought burning in her mind, she tilted her chin up at his brimming confusion at war with pain and so many other things and found it somewhere within her to smile.

Smile - like Gin always said to.

Smile despite the fact that her happy ending, her chessboard had been captured. Kei didn't want it back. With the radiance of the fake sun above, the scent of Aizen's blood still on her, she was...tired. Too weary of _war_. Too weary to shore up her falling tower.

"You're nothing but an incipient speck to me."

She refused to see it - the bob in the line of his throat, the hard swallow the longer he stared at her. Yes. The world had gone mad. It had tilted its axis and she was close to losing everything. Kei had felt the feeling before, knowing as each step, each smile she tossed off carelessly was acid to her insides, burning her soul as deeply as Ulquiorra's death to her human self had scored unforgivable wounds into her heart.

"What did you think?" She sauntered forward, casually knocking aside the black sword leveled at her. With her other hand she slipped Hakuya into its sheath, leaning close, closer to him, enough so that he could feel her breath on his face.

"That I the element of Fire could care for a lowly human?"

He slashed at her, the same anger flooding his face from before.

She danced back, lightly laughing, laughing with a breathy tinkle. "Before you scream at me," she extended her hand, fingers splayed against the atmosphere. Through the slats between her fingers, she could see his face. "Before you curse me to Hell. Before...the truth became a lie...remember this was your choice." Her fingers closed on air.

Kei shinsoku'd from sight as he cut fiercely down at where she had stood. Half a field away, she reappeared. He spun about and screamed at her, made up of words she no longer cared to hear. Ukitake looked after her somewhat stunned.

"Are you-"

Because of the man's genuine heart, she paused and managed a tiny smile. Hitsugaya as dazed as the rest, seemed unsure whether or not to second the question or grasp his Zanpaku-to.

"It is a _lie_, Ukitake." Kei murmured with a sniff, she half-tilted her head back, turned to look back over her shoulder. "They're in...Assiah. Waiting for us to...come back."

He knew he imagined the last word, for her lips closed with the same, tiny sad smile.

_Together_.

...(AN: I don't like to insert notes, but for this short piece, bear in mind his thought process isn't normal) ...

The voice was silent now - waiting with fervency - patience born of eons in the darkness. The boy was quaking - inside - clenching his sword so tight his skin broke, more red glistened under the light of a false sun. He could barely breathe - yes that feeling _- I know it_.

Not I - we - _I_.

Forcefully he wanted to expand lungs that no longer had breath - inhale - exhale - the motions of existence - but it would never be enough. - it hurt to breathe the air your beloved no longer wanted. A quiet voice puncturing the silence - that brimming sensation of the soul - _"..for this I have burned my soul."_

He trembled, shook, reduced to a quivering heap encased in fragile glass. Blood slithered from the corners of a sensuous mouth, fingers clawed the void of ground, not the air - not the atmosphere. Eyes so vivid burned with the sealant of tears refusing to fall.

Kurosaki couldn't breathe, stepped forward with teleportation-like Shunpo.

The slender back with silver gilt was away, a tiny speck already. She had raised the borrowed scabbard of Sazanami, blocking the short sword of a Shinobi, almost callous in flipping the weak being over her shoulder and down, then pivoting up with an almost impossible spinkick, embedding her sandal into the windpipe of another.

She wasn't perfect, far from it.

They had all surpassed the level Aizen stood upon - _long ago_. Even with that sublime difference between Kurosaki's current level and hers- he could not kill her like he had threatened too - she caught sight of him from the corner of her eye. They could both sense it - she did not want to see him -

Flipping around, she sent another would-be attacker in a flat sprawl, less careful, cracking bones with the fall. Her glance strayed to Water, urging him subtly - but not soon enough - for Kurosaki was upon them, snatching at her arm in the midst of everyone.

Skin - upon - skin contact.

He relished it.

She jolted as if burned, _the irony_.

Hair flew, as he yanked her back, balance tipped she nearly stumbled back around - her lovely face the portrait of wrath - a burning weapon forming between fingers swung in a graceful arc, tip posed elegantly to the edge of his throat.

Water had shrunk away from the smoldering blade, proximity had rendered it necessary to evade, gasp useless - as well as Ukitake Jushiro's shoving of frozen figures, calling the boy's name over and over - _Kurosaki-kun, stop. This was all just a misunderstanding_ -

Yes it was.

No one understood anything - not she - not they - not he.

The urge to laugh was unbearable now - for it was the sound of a heart breaking -

"This was your choice."

The boy yelled something in her face - something ridiculous - tripe that was laughable. Their connection was severed, bleeding like a lost limb. Yes, stay still while I decide whether or not to take your head. But she wasn't stupid, never was.

No - _let's talk things over_ -

No questions - where's your evidence -

No belief. You would never do that to me. You would never do that to us. The boy lacked it all in the space of a heartbeat, of amber and violet meeting, of the coldness like unbreakable ice dampening the fire in her eyes. With her God-like speed she could've taken his head thrice in as many seconds.

The tip of her sword pierced at the line of the adam's apple, but went no further. For a second the sliver of violet flickered with softness and it was gone - breaking his hold viciously with the flat of the Demon sword against his shoulder.

He saw her back -

This - was - their - fate - _time and again_.

The seal began to break.

...

"Kei-" in the distance, Kurosaki yelled.

Kagami rubbed at the bridge of his nose tiredly. _Wouldn't the boy ever shut up?_

"-wait!-" _I didn't mean it_.

She wished he would shut up. This was your choice. Every decibel of his voice sent needles of pain to her chest. Kei had not thought it possible to feel so much _pain_. She had always been able to lie - hide her emotions behind an ice cold mask. With every step she felt the centuries tear apart the hardened layers, baring the soul of someone she once was.

_It's too late - let me be - numb_.

Kagami kept shooting her quick glances from the corners of his eyes. It was only his way of ascertaining she wouldn't collapse - leaving him to deal with everything on his own. Kei began to wonder if it showed on her face - but she refused that thought immediately. Not even Water's empath ability was strong enough to penetrate the layers she had built up over herself, if she didn't want them to.

"We will begin preparations for immediate return to Assiah."

"Is that wise?"

"What else is there to accomplish?" Kei demanded pointedly, unable to keep the snap from her tone. The man beside her sighed, looking tired at the same time as saddened. "If you say so..."

She didn't respond further to him, gaze sliding to the side, by latent consent they lapsed into silence of a few more heartbeats. _Why did this feel familiar-? _The sensation remained consistent, disturbing her

_Sky._

_Blue._

_Crimson is blood. _

_The scent came sharper, copper. Dusky_. She forced her legs to keep moving. The Juppongatana camp wasn't far - not far - _a scent of dust dampened by rain_..then the memory came crystal clear, _of eyes, tearing, trickling from gold-tinted irises, longer strands copper-brown locks_ ...

She felt sick - that face hung over everything like a pall of the blackest kind. A taint she could never forget - She stopped walking, dimly Kagami asked if she was alright. But she couldn't answer... _there were arms gripping her, clasping her so tightly_-

"For this I have burned my soul."

"What?" Kagami asked, looking at her sharply now.

"... Why can't _you_ stay with me?..." she thought she heard distantly before a soft sob.

_You are against us_.

The words slipped from her lips as though they were meant to be there.

_It's just like_...

"I never want to see you again."

The ground began shaking.

A reiatsu skyrocketed behind them. Kagami spun back, his eyes widening. "That's-"

...

"You've made your choice, Ichigo."

What choice? He questioned. In his mind there was never one presented. She was the one...whom needed to be made to _see._ His vision of the battlefield and paralyzed Shinigami split into another of the future he dreamed of. Her and his family. Holding hands. Marriage and being together...

"_Forever_." Whispered the voice he knew so well.

Kei dropped the hammer onto his heart simultaneously. "I never want to see you again."

Then he knew.

The memories flooded his head, emotions swelling in his chest love.

He grasped the sides of his head and began rocking back and forth, sobbing brokenly, oblivious to all.

_Keiki._

A woman's back.

Her profile and flowing hair like black flame.

_"I never want to see you again."_

..

_Akane_.

Screaming and tears.

"Why...why did you kill them?"

Confusion and his hand reaching out. "I did it all for you, Akane-san."

Why won't you see...that all I want is for you to-

..

_Angelique_.

A horrified whitened face.

The falling rain.

A man's pierced body, blood raining down.

A scream.

Running.

Always turning away from me.

When all I want is for you to-

..

_Kei_.

Their last reincarnation.

.

"What I offered in gentleness, now I will simply take, my dearest _aneue_." The voice declared.

"Take it all away!" The boy cried at the darkness.

The mirror shattered.

A figure swathed in malevolent light smiled, golden-brown eyes dancing.

"I will."

They became one.

...

His eyes opened, the serpent's flicker passed through them.

"-love me. That's all I ever wanted!"

-TBC

AN: C: this enters the last arc of the story. Recommended listening is: What have you done- WT and Heavy Prey- Underworld Awakening soundtrack (find them on Youtube)

No flames~!

Reviews loved ~ *-*


	99. The Elemental of Earth

_The bond starts to loosen...feel the earth shake_.

ShiKai CH.92: The Elemental of Earth

_"There is one the Elements fear." Water with a sad gaze._

_"Don't ever speak his name again!" Fire's scream, eyes blazing._

_"We will not speak of our past...if that is what you wish, Keiki-onee-san." Wind's solemn vow._

The whispers became too much. Her eyes flew open to the bright sunlight, her body in motion, pivoted around, the reality she knew blown away by fate.

"Oh. Oh, Gods..._no_." Kei whimpered, covering her numb lips with a shaking hand.

...

The first breath was sweet. The subtly sculpted chest expanded beneath a broad expanse of solid black. He breathed in - and rejoiced at the simple action. The Shinigami nearest - stared, gaped like fools. Their names evaded him.

...Kurosaki's memories...

He wore a tiny frown. _No that was unimportant_. He breathed in a second time finding the air less sweeter, a pungence tainted it.

"Kurosaki-kun?" Questioned a dark-eyed male. The man bore heavy wounds but remained upright, speaking, curiosity in his manner. Earth glanced to the swords slung through the light-colored sash. Katen-Kyokotsu. The blades rattled in their scabbards though no one but he _heard_. The man whom had spoken, suddenly frowned sharply, "Kurosaki-"

The weapons were..._afraid_.

He smiled almost childishly sweet. "Don't be afraid little swords." so speaking, he extended his hand casually, the man followed its descent, seeming curious still as his palm hovered close above the gold-capped hilt. "You won't feel much pain." It was a lovely feeling, the pure explosion of power so readily spilt. To make sure it was a clean kill, he elevated his reiatsu, pinioning the man's feet, fine cracks splayed outward beneath the sandals.

"Shu-" An elder white-haired male began.

The other's eyes widened, breath undulating out in distorted ripples. He smiled tenderly, "Be gone from my sight." The power coalesced, expanding in a crushing wave. Blood burst from the man's staring eyes, flew from parted lips. Earth watched in satisfaction as a choked scream frothed in a gurgling stream from the Shinigami's throat, his eyes bugged out wildly as his chest sunk in as if a giant fist had smashed into his body - and twisted.

"Round..and round we go."

The Shinigami squealed, a high-pitched tinny gasp of mercy - perhaps? The thought was amusing. The noise cut abruptly as his windpipe caved in, eyes bursting from ocular sockets like gelatinous jell. A final spray of blood lanced his outstretched fingertips; he wasted a moment, admiring the vibrant hue; _so lovely_. The silent scream of the swords faded. Carelessly, he peered between splayed fingers, catching sight of the sickened, horror-filled expressions of the stunned Shinigami; a copper tang scented the breeze, the longer tips of his hair lifted from his shoulders.

"Chiri-Gui."

The first screams cut the silence like shattering glass in a continuous refrain.

The air was sweet again.

...

"-we're out of bandages."

Rizu groaned feeling her arm being prodded. When it didn't stop, she snapped, her eyes flying open. "Goddammit, Hana! Get your paper-" she faltered immediately as a bunch of heads swiveled in her direction. The wide-eyed boy whose name she couldn't recall, scampered back with repeated apologies.

"Who's Hana?" Stark's slow voice came somewhere to her side.

"The fourth seat of my Division." She answered crisply, not failing to glower everyone else into resuming their tasks. Stark noticed the unique power of her glare and was silently thankful that he was not the recipient of it. Eventually Rizu turned to him, nodding to the peek of white wrappings under the black edge of his white jacket.

"Everything taken care of?"

"...Yeah." Stark wasn't entirely comfortable conversing when in Las Noches he had spent his time slumbering when not attending Aizen's meetings. The woman affixed him a softer look dropping her gaze after a long moment. "Ah. The little one-?"

His gloved hand couldn't resist creeping up to scratch at the side of his head. Awkwardly. "Oh, Lilinette. She ...went off with some Shinigami." His voice dropped lower. "They watched...Barragan's fight."

She hesitated, "a friend-? Of yours?"

"He couldn't have been called _that_." Stark corrected dully, "Aizen-sama took us from the desert. Ironically the only thing that kept us from each other's throats was rank, power and his word."

She made a slight noise in the back of her throat.

He didn't dare hope it to be understanding. Hope, was a nice word. Yet one unknown by all Hollows. Stark shifted his eyes from tracing the angular tilt of her jaw. She had a hard face, one the slats of black hair framing it did little to detract from. A medic approached; feeling useless, Stark tried to hunch his long body against the wall, averting his face to the black canvas when the rustle of cloth indicated the bandages were being checked on the Shinigami's torso.

At length Rizu halted the medic's ministrations. "Which of the Lieutenants have come back?"

The shaky medic was the same one she had frightened before, hesitating, he chewed his lip to pieces. "Um uh...yourself and um...Shihoin, Shimizu-"

"Which one?" Rizu demanded.

"Kimiko." He answered immediately, "She brought back a Charlotte-" a light shriek came from outside as if on cue. Stark grimaced at the volume, the sound not so unlike Lilinette when in a determined mood.

"CHARLOTTE, QUIT TWIRLING AROUND!"

"-Chulhoorne. Lieutenant Shihoin was forced to end Calius' life. Aside from you and them; Captain Amakusa and Lieutenant Shimizu from Third are both MIA, Fourth's Elbe isn't present and Sixth's Eremiyasho has barely regained consciousness."

She fought off the urge to ask - _what's a Charlotte?_ - deciding she didn't need to know, instead. "Where is Karasu?"

"Captain Kanzaki is observing the main battle to the north of here. Captains Nanatsu and Namaiki are somewhere in it as well as Captain Yamamoto."

_So...she had returned_. _But where were Elbe and the twins?_

The ground rocked with a distant tremor, the air frissoned with an undulating wave of far compression. Rizu jolted from it, her hand thrusting away the light covers pulled to her waist. "What the hell was that?" she swore, stumbling to the tent flap. Stark followed more slowly with the contingent of medics at his heels.

"Lieutenant Sakurai! Captain Namaiki will flay us alive-" Yuka broke off with Rizu's sharp shushing motion.

"Quiet! Something's happening out there!" Rather than face the sea of anxious faces behind her, Rizu stepped out, hobbling weakly to the grim figures - more like statues they were, of Hisrio and Kimiko. A large curly-haired Arrancar that pirouetted somewhere in the background, she assumed was Charlottle Chulhoorne.

"Sakurai..." Hisrio acknowledged coolly, hawk-like gaze bearing harshly toward the north, a scowl twisting his haughty features. Kimiko twisted her hands but otherwise hardly showed worry- Rizu thought it was ingrained nobility that kept them from expressing undue emotion.

"What's going on?" she addressed them both, "I thought Aizen was dead-"

"He is." Hisrio said matter of factly, faint green eyes flickering to her.

"Then what-" another tremor swept the atmosphere. Rizu was instantly chilled by it, her skin crawled with malaise, a strong desire to leave - get away - far away from the source of the wrongness temporarily took control of her. "_What_." Her voice was fainter, Hisrio's eyes had gone to the distance, then abruptly went back to her face as she tremulously finished.

"What...is _that_?" Rizu's hoarse whisper was ended by a yell from the front edge of the camp. "Help! Help me please! Nii-sama's been injured!" Kuchiki rounded the corner of the medic tent, supporting Kuchiki-Taichou by the arm and shoulder. Yuka immediately responded, fairly flying forward, taking out a small clipboard from her apron pocket, "Kurenai! Get over here! Take Kuchiki-Taichou into the sick bay!" she called, slipping into full-medic mode. Rizu felt her wounds twinge and guiltily attempted to hide in Hisrio's shadow. The ex Noble frowned at her, nodding to the flurry of medics, "what about this one?" he indicated Rizu. She could've killed him on the spot and would've attempted it had she not noticed a certain misty kitten still recuperating with Lilinette. All but forgotten, the few Arrancars milled around eyeing the proceedings with bemusement.

Yuka looked up startled from her prognosis on Kuchiki-taichou's neck. It was hard to say who was more irritated - he at the flailing hands of the medic team or she when she spotted Fifth's Lieutenant hovering several feet away. "Get back in there on the double!" the normally soft-spoken third seat barked out like a Military drill sergeant. Peeved at the command, Rizu stood her ground, scowling daggers at the medic.

"Need I remind you that I am higher-ranked-"

"-and need I say that you are a patient in MY WARD!"

That cowed Fifth's Lieutenant for a few minutes. Backed off into a proverbial corner, she fumed in silence while Lilinette whispered to Stark, "medic-Shinigami is really scary when angry."

"Tell me about it." Her other-half muttered.

Yuka heard, sending them an angry glare, snapping, "what did you say?"

Wisely the Primera duo backed off, wide-eyed. Neko-kitten mewled, sensing imminent danger.

"Nothing."

"Good." Yuka turned back to her team of medics hastily dragging off Kuchiki Byakuya - who looked very irritated at the push-pull of many hands grasping his haori coat. His sister lingered in their wake, attempting to conceal her emotions. Yuka came to stand beside her, reassuringly saying, "don't worry about him. Kuchiki-taichou is strong enough to withstand this. It was only a minor flesh wound." Rukia half-nodded, forcibly turning away from the tent flap they had disappeared into.

"Would you like to rest in the mess hall?" Yuka asked more kindly, to which the girl shook her head slightly, "no, no. Thanks for...everything." the Shinigami hesitated then lightly gripped the hilt of her sword, turning fully in the direction of the distant battlefield. "I have to go." Rukia said stronger, "I still have friends out there."

...

The ground began to shake, multiple swords were drawn, eyes darted around nervously.

Kei at the forefront beside Kagami felt all the weight of the ages bearing down on him at once. There was another...

Even as her mind grasped onto the faint memory, a tremor spliced the air, a Shinigami closest to the fringes of their group was cut apart into bloody chunks of meat. Kei took half a step back, her expression working in fear and disgust.

"Ge-"

A quaver in the air swept the first line of Shinigami.

Appendages flew with scraps of cloth and screams of horrific pain.

"Get off the ground!" Kei shrieked as the next piercing sound roared up for their line. Over a dozen black-clad figures scrambled to follow them, faces a torment of terror. Kei felt a spatter of blood lance the air where she had stood, missing her legs by seconds. "Is it-!" Kagami asked, throwing a sharp glance to the Fire element beside him in the sky.

"Chiri-gui." Kei spat, scowling as the wave rippled through the atmosphere. "Dust-eater-" she winced with the next wave, a whistling compress that wiped a quarter of the remaining Shinigami to bleeding torsos, hands and feet flying off.

"We- we've gotta do something!" One of the closest Shinigami burst out suddenly. Kei and Kagami turned to stare at him - She got it out first, "Retreat."

"What...?"

"If you want to live. . ." she breathed, turning her head to look at the Shinigami straight on. "RETREAT!" her screech startled the man, echoing and rebounding in the wide open space, waves of claustrophobic horror racing in her veins. Kagami stared helplessly around; mostly Kei had gone unheeded. Down below, Soi Fong flash-stepped in an intricate pattern evading every stroke that fell upon the other slower, _doomed_ Shinigami. Kagami winced when the dull _shunk_ shot through her body. Bone, muscle, tearing - the rod splintering her rib cage. A rain of gore shuddered from her thin body splashing into the already blood-soaked ground, her half-scream clawing at his heart. A few feet away, her target appeared unimpressed, gazing at her writhing form vainly attempting to free itself.

A few still standing, rushed past her, swords withdrawn from scabbards, metal blades glinting in the sunlight. Four charged in a semi-circle, their faces studious expressions of grim determination - Kagami scowled, flipping Sazanami from her sheathe. Kei had a moment to stare at him, wonder exactly what in hell he planned to do when a wave of water spliced between them, shooting down with precise control. Earth frowned slightly at the deluge, simply flash-stepping half a field back, the crest of water cutting off his power temporarily. A few Shinigami yelled in surprise, retreating away from the wave to avoid being caught up in it.

Kagami withdrew Sazanami's power to scatter as mist, slipping the sword back into the scabbard at his hip. "It would've left a bad taste in my mouth if I hadn't done anything." he answered brusquely to her searching look. Kei averted her face, a flash of guilt visible for a moment. When she spoke next it was in a slightly strangled tone. "Save as much as you can."

Wordlessly he watched her descend - vanish completely from sight - reappear far below beside Ukitake whom was beside the remains of Kyoraku. Though Kagami couldn't hear the words spoken he understood the gist of it, as a portion of black-clad figures broke away from the main body - why they had chosen to station the lower-ranked in the northwest quadrant of the town, he would never know.

A few challenges came from Yamamoto - the tall furred Komamura-Taichou as well. Ukitake yelled something back, drawing even Hitsugaya from the main force. Kagami swept his gaze to the east where the lone figure stood - watching as well - curiosity present. There may well have been no animosity visible - Kagami didn't attempt to probe beneath the underlying facade, not desirous to know of the emotions that simmered beneath the surface of the elemental's psyche as he fully beheld Fire.

"You." Kagami turned slightly, addressing the nearest Shinigami. The man looked a little surprised, blinking owlishly, "me?" for surety the Shinigami poked his own chest. Kagami narrowed his eyes at the lack of intelligence some of them possessed. Sometimes he couldn't bring himself to believe these were Seireitei's elite.

"Yes, you. " he snorted, "lead these guys straight to the Juppongatana camp." He noticed the Shinigami hesitating, on the verge of interrupting the order. Annoyed he snapped, "now! You all want to die here?"

They all flinched and scrambled to shunpo in the direction of the camp.

Satisfied, he turned back to survey the battlefield once again, catching sight of the small girl in black breaking through the main bulk, racing forward, heedless of the dangerous beast lurking behind Kurosaki's face.

...

Who was this tiny girl? The tiny speck wailed at him, grabbing fistfuls of his garments. Was this one of Kurosaki's friends? the thought wasn't improbable even frustrating it was to find that Kurosaki's memory was terribly incomplete - perhaps due to the stress of the awakening.

He thought this one's name was - _Rukia_.

"Leave me alone, Rukia." He intoned flatly in _the boy's_ voice. Sure that once she was dismissed, the tiny speck would flitter away out of his sight. Therefore he was unpleasantly proved mistaken when her expression showed outright shock, her fist pulling back to slam into his face.

Her fist...hurt. The sensation of physical pain was _rare_. Of being physically aware of the host's body, experiencing their pain was dull, barely felt. He blinked, wincing, somewhat stunned that she had punched _him_.

"How dare you try to shut me out!" she roared, every petite inch of her fiery, _annoying_. The pitch of her tone was enough to render her worthy of decimation. "What do you think you have- a choice?"

A..choice? That made him pause. "Of course I do." She stopped yelling, staring up at him with something like hope. "Then, Ichigo..?"

"I have a choice of either ripping your head off or gutting you slowly." He explained, simple logic simply flooring her. The girl stared at him, her mouth working as though to speak but no sound came out, her hands released the fistfuls of clothing as she nearly stumbled away from him.

"Who are you?" Kuchiki Rukia whispered in horror. Her name came back fully along with a twinge of stirring from the nucleus that held the boy asleep. Earth fought with the new emotion, crushing it down under waves of callous apathy. A familiar voice reached his line of hearing."Kuchiki- dammit! Get away from there!" Sometime in between his lapse of concentration, Keiki had landed, her body language betraying her emotional state. One hand was outstretched toward the tiny girl. It suddenly occurred to him with that action of hers - that she must cherish the Kuchiki girl's friendship. For why else would she worry so over the annoyance?

Gradually logic came to him. A light surge of power trembled the air, manifesting as a dozen thick green tendrils, two pinioned Kuchiki Rukia's legs, while her wide open eyes gaped at him, the third shot around her neck. Twisting around.

He shot Keiki a smile as the vines began snapping the girl's neck.

...

_No. No. No. No. No!_

She watched Kuchiki's stunned face change to one of gagging terror. The girl's eyes bulged, tiny squeaks issuing from her crushing windpipe. Kuchiki scrabbled uselessly over the thin green appendages, her body twisting wildly unable to do anything.

Kei winced at each choked scream, her blood freezing in her veins.

No one deserved to die like that. No one. Impetuously, she gripped her sword, sending a thrum of energy into the straight thin blade, instantly a vibrating ripple spread throughout the tip to her hand. She set off, warping into the narrow space in a second, her sword flashing, the reverberation scattering the torpor of whipping vines aiming for her. Kei lashed at them, eliminating the nearest threats before refocusing her gaze back to Kuchiki, pivoting and slicing downward then across, darting forward to catch the girl's heavy fall. Twitching spasmically, Kuchiki made a gurgling noises, clawing at her red-burned throat. Ascertaining a second's breath of the Shinigami's aliveness, Kei felt the air currents change, a literal impinge into her field of control. She swung back with as much force as her unsteady balance could fuel, clashing dangerously close against a black spear.

Golden-amber eyes danced, he smiled; she scowled at his happiness, being pushed back by the pressure put behind the swing. Kuchiki was a dead weight that she had to support with one arm, the other bracing Maouen.

"Not bad." _He_ chirped. "Not bad at all."

She retracted her wrist, sharply striking to the side, deflecting his next movement. Kei felt her arm tremble from the blow, pulling off backward with her speed. He looked amused at the ploy, preparing to follow with a barrage of ground-shattering attacks. Beneath her sandals already an ominous rumble began, knowing she had little time, she crisscrossed Maouen, cutting the air with waves of thickening energy, causing the tang to ripple in undulating motions. At the last possible second, she flipped off the illusionary Kosokuken, appearing to drop Maouen. Kuchiki dug fingers into Kei's side, whispering hoarsely. "..don't hurt him. Ichigo's in there..somewhere."

Kei turned slightly to her, adding as her hand shot toward and grasped Maouen's hilt, "I know.." and finished executing the move. Centrifugal force combined with a revolving center created a sideways whirlwind. The blast thundered effectively forward, tearing across the ground, the velocity of it gusted back, whipping their clothes and hair. For a moment it seemed that it would continue on, obliterating the man that stood calmly in the fore of the storm. Strands of longer coppery orange hair flittered across his high cheekbones, unconcernedly he stared at it straight on - she _knew_ why. Why such a weak attack would never harm him. But it was still shocking in a way to see her suspicions confirmed.

Kuchiki was left speechless, horrified into a single syllable that summed up every fear the girl possessed. Beyond every doubt, absorbed into every fiber - beyond anything what her mind could comprehend of the Shinigami's orderly world - Kei felt a surge of pity for her lack of understanding, something her puny brain could no longer accept.

He stood unscathed just by elevating his spiritual pressure. Kei though accepting of no easy win, stepped back holding Maouen out in front of her as a guard, wishing Ukitake would hurry in herding the remaining Shinigami away. Her thoughts distracted, she missed the instant of swift speed, stumbling back when his shadow loomed over her. Even Kuchiki reacted by stiffening against her side, unsure of whether or not to draw her Zanpaku-to or mouth in voiceless fear some unknown syllable of terror.

"For you." He slipped something into her hair. She pulled back, tearing out his shadow and presence fast, airborne, breathed hard, tossing a quick look to see the majority of still living Shinigami off the ground - it was enough - there were still some huddling around Yamamoto, flocking as a last guard. She had no pity for them, turning away she sped off for the Juppongatana camp, ignoring Kuchiki's protests lost in the surge of flight.

She never saw the form of a kimono-clad woman enter the bloody field.

...

"Setsuka." He pronounced softly, the spirit had come at a second's notice. Materializing in a hail of flower-scented spiral. The Aizo no Ken wore a light purple kimono parted midway down a narrow chest, a darker violet bodice peeked through. Around her waist was a thin obi tied in a small bow at her right hip. Setsuka's face was elfin thin with a sharp hint of cruelty to the finely dark lashed eyes.

"I wonder what you plan on." She said, coming up to stand behind him. Her bare feet made no sound, festering bandage covered arms crossed heedless of the spirit flies crawling over the soiled strips. Her image of infected beauty repulsed many of the Shinigami, amused she watched their swords clank, knocking nervously together. Earth remained unimpressed by their fear, tilting his head askance at her. "That is one thing you needn't concern yourself with."

Setsuka scowled sweetly at him, "fine. Before I do your will, I must ask when Ilena will come back?"

"That woman is dead, Setsuka no usayami. You know that."

The sword huffed at his flat pronouncement, walking around him, forward. Dipping her hand into her trailing sleeve to produce a long reed flute, knotted red string trailed from it ending in a tassel that swished brightly through the air as she raised it delicately to her lips.

"You're mean. I don't care about what you want...but remember our deal." she murmured, her mouth resting against the tiny holes of the instrument. Earth simply smiled as the first _sweet_ notes danced like dust motes on the course of the breeze.

...

Kei landed in the thick of the gathering. Tossing off Kuchiki to the head medic Yuka, glancing once to notice Byakuya's strained, whitened face among the rest. Kagami much slower alighted closer to the tents, calling loudly to the assembled. "Everyone! We're pulling out! Get ready for immediate evac! Now!" the volume of his voice drew Kimiko to detach from Hisrio and start making the rounds, striding around to gather Second's officers. Kanzaki wordlessly looked to Kei, she shook her head, waving aside the white badge medic fluttering nervously over a few cuts on her arms.

"No, that's unimportant. We need to-" as she spoke a treble of energy rippled in the distance. Her words died in her throat. A few of the Juppongatana and Shinigami, including Rukia stopped what they were doing - and stared in horror to the distance where a column of smoke was rising.

A glasses-wearing woman that had arrived in the throng of Shinigami mostly unnoticed in the general deluge, confirmed aloud, their suspicions. "Yamamoto-Soutaichou." She bore the armband of Eighth's Fukutaichou. Kei turned to her, looking past many others. "All the more reason...to get out of here. Hurry up." she slowly looked to each in turn, legs already moving propelling her to the front end of the camp past the tents. "Hurry up! We're leaving in five minutes!"

"But ma'am-" began Yuka, hurrying after her. "Won't there be injured?"

"You felt the magnitude! There's no possible way anyone survived the blast radius." Kei spat unsympathetically with hard eyes. Taken aback, Yuka nodded numbly, "true but then you mean Yamamoto-Soutaichou lost his mind-?" at that, many others looked their way alarmed.

Kei reached out, placing a hand on the girl's forearm. "I'm not saying that. I just mean that what he is encountering is something...beyond what he can handle." Kei began striding forward again, coming soon upon Ishida's silent glower, with a brief snap of her fingers, the cube dissolved, his shock hesitance in immediately rising.

"Why? What're you-"

"Shut up!" she barked, silencing him immediately. "If you want to die then stay here! Just get out of my sight!" she started moving past the stunned Quincy who belatedly spun around, reaffixing his glasses as a gesture of nervousness. "What about Kurosaki?" Within the kido he had been unable to sense anything of what went on. Attempting to search now was useless without even a modicum of spirit pressure. Slowly the Fire element turned, a strange sort of look on her face - one of part regret, part something else.._bitterness_, Ishida identified it a moment later when she smiled coldly.

"Who do you think is the cause of all this?"

...

"YAMAMOTO!" Roared Saijin Komamura, the ends of his fur charred, his haori coat fraying at the edges from the blistering heat. "Have you lost your mind! Answer me!" Ninth's Taichou hastily blocked a swipe from the burning tang of Ryuujin-Jakka. Yamamoto's arms moved jerkily - as if controlled by an unknown force. Saijin threw a vicious glance in the direction of the strumpet, the smiling woman whose power had turned the greatest friend the furry Taichou had ever known into a slayer of comrades.

It was her doing, he just knew it. Komamura fought off his superior, Tenken's summoning useless in the close quarters battle. To his surprise, a quiet command issued from the elderly man. "Leave.."

"Commander!" Komamura demanded, unsure if he was serious. Under pain of death he refused to leave the man's side.

"Go now!' Yamamoto ordered stronger, sending a glare to the last remaining Taichou on the field. In that breath Saijin was ready to condemn those whom had fled, had abandoned pride to follow life rather than stay to fight on. Tears swam in his yellow wolf-eyes, "sir, I-" _can't_.

"GO!" As if dismissing for another day, the aged Taichou pulled away, swinging accusing eyes to the other who stood farther back, watching the south with an apathetic disinterest. What was Kurosaki did not seem like Kurosaki, rather another who walked, spoke and breathed in using the boy's lungs. Komamura felt a chill-like malaise prickle his brown fur.

He understood then what his commander wished to do.

"We will meet again." Komamura affirmed, stepping back, withdrawing his shikai. Loathe though every fiber of his large being was, he chose to obey the order. The strumpet glanced at him, but did not lift her weapon of malice again. Saijin cast one last look at his brave superior before vanishing, keeping the tears from flowing with belief.

...

Yamamoto's sharp senses pinpointed Komamura's departure, noting the wolf's distance before affixing his hard gaze on the slim-built male. He had not changed - the same careless smile, dancing eyes and tousled hair. Every inch was as memory depicted him as - as Yamamoto remembered. _Bitterly_.

At length, the fourth Element addressed him, eyeing him narrowly as though sizing him up. "I see the centuries haven't been kind to you, Shigekuni."

_They never aged_.

The wench tossed him a look and seemed to dismiss him as a threat. Her pointy nails slid and began to pick at the cuff of her bandaged left arm, a rain of tiny white maggots cascaded to the ground, evaporating into spirit particles the second they touched the burnt-black pitch. He knew she was a weapon - one who exerted a sort of mind control over enemies. Yamamoto reflected bitterly on the losses he himself had occurred and forced his mind not to wander, staring with renewed hate at the man.

"Do you speak of yourself?"

The other adopted an expression of slight bemusement.

Yamamoto went on, "you whom was sealed up in the lowest pit of Jigoku...do you dream of your immoral love being reciprocated?"

"No." Earth said calmly, "it already is."

The old man's eyes opened fuller, surprised at the answer. "You-" he began and then the Element was no longer there, alighting directly into his field of vision, tip of an obsidian spear poised to his jugular. Ryuujin-Jakka lifted accordingly, prepared to fight to the death to rid the worlds of the abomination before him. Earth smiled at the overt threat, saying softly. "You've assisted me greatly, Shigekuni." That same almost _angelic_ smile of innocence was wreathed on the other's face. The one he had worn while destroying everyone's lives. The reflection stung something bitter in the hidden recesses of the old man's heart.

Yet again he felt himself - young - horrified at the fall of comrades - asking the very same question, an irrevocable thing of curiosity fixed by lack of understanding.

"Why?"

It could've been a million whys - of life, death, existence and loss.

For an instant the old man's infallible wisdom garnered by ages of life fell away and he was the same young man whom had stood in the warm sunshine outside the castle walls and proclaimed himself a defender and guard of the Fire Element. Hadn't he taken pride once in that station?

_How had he forgotten that?_

As he grasped at the feeble strands of memory, the Element of Earth looked upon him with something akin to _pity_. After another length of a heartbeat, he at once said, "living is a greater burden." Cryptic as the spear slowly lifted from Yamamoto's racing pulse.

"I do not doubt that will be the case for you as you watch powerless to cease my hand."

...

All around in the Juppongatana camp activity swarmed as grey-clad officers from Second down to Sixth mobilized. She passed Osore who looked a little worse for wear but sent her a thumbs-up sign indicating his assignment done. Kei felt little relief there, swiftly going past the four tents, unsheathing Hakuya. Tension remained thick in her uppercut swing, the slats of the dimensions falling away at the white horned-sword's slice.

The spill of sunlight from Assiah failed to warm her. Kei lingered for a moment in the pool of it, refusing to let her emotions over take her. In her mind's eye she could see Mizu- ne, Kagami's neck twisting, death rattle forced out of her crushed windpipe. Unconscious of it, tears formed, blurring her eyesight. Suddenly annoyed by it, she rubbed the back of her hand over them, taking her hand away when a rumble expanded beneath the ground, fanning out to send tingles up her sandals. Kei stiffened immediately, her gaze swinging to the direction of the tents and the first few waves of panic hitting the saved Shinigami and the unsuspecting Juppongatana officers.

Fear knotted in her belly, cold sweat slicked her grip of Hakuya. Feeling as though she were taking a plunge into the darkness, she raced back, breaking into the first line of trembling Shinigami. Hisrio strode forward from the throng, unsheathing Houou-hime as Kimiko did the same, calmly ordering, "get back! Everyone take Captain Nanatsu's lead!" The purple-haired noble sent her superior officer a small grin, "get them to safety. Let us Lieutenants handle it."

A little surprised, Kagami hesitated, "Kimiko, I...no. _Thank you_."

Kei wordlessly watched her fellow Elemental began herding the pell-mell rush of officers toward the front end of camp, surging around her in a tide. Kazeatari as well, paused, looking to a bereft Rizu Sakurai. Kei saw Sakurai's bandages peeking beneath her torn robes.

"I can fight-" Sakurai started, obviously affected by Kimiko's words. She looked appealingly to Kazeatari, "-kido. I don't have-"

Wind seemed a on the verge of speech, the only agitation present in her calm poise, the tight hold she maintained on her short Wakizashi sword. Before she could, a gruffer male voice called hesitantly from the end of throng. "Sakurai-?"

Kei glanced, seeing it was Stark. He too had been wounded. Lilinette clad in a short kimono over her scanty Arrancar uniform, clung to his leg uncertain about everything. She remembered Ulquiorra then, shifting her focus to the figure at the fringes. He had appeared as silent as always, hands in pockets, glance sliding from her to the heated battle ahead.

Were you waiting for me? she wondered. After a seconds' contemplation, Kei found she couldn't meet his emerald stare with as much composure as before. She couldn't keep Ichigo's face from her mind - yet that in the same coin became a flipside and another's smile. Forcing herself to remain deliberately cool, she cuttingly interposed, "Sakurai and Kazeatari, stay behind. We need someone to remain with the Arrancars." She strode forward confidently though inside she was quaking. Kazeatari looked taken aback for a moment then shook it off, adding quieter, "are you sure-?"

Kei swallowed with difficulty, anything remaining of the last meal she'd had, instantly turning to ash in her stomach. "Of course. There's something I need to check on as soon as we return to Assiah..." that she trailed off on, foolish it was to care, she worried for Yuzu and Karin's safety. Isshin, she could care less for, but said nothing further on the matter only adding softer, barely out of the disappointed Sakurai's earshot. "We must hold off until Takara and Amakusa return."

...

"You're the Elemental of Earth." Kimiko stated flatly, brushing strands of hair from her eyes. Hisrio had assumed a side position, ready to unleash his fiery phoenix at a moment's notice. Their opponent remained unfazed from the challenge, wearing a look of innocence upon a face that was neither Kurosaki Ichigo's nor anyone Kimiko had seen before.

"I am." He said; she let her gaze absorb his attire, from the black hakama to the strange clean-cut high-collared coat over a black and brown with vague-patterned kimono beneath. On his arms he wore dark brown bracers of leather, fingers lightly curled remained at his sides. "But how did you know?" she watched his expression change from puzzlement to faint happiness like the clearing of the sun on a stormy day. "Did Keiki speak of me?"

_Keiki - Keiko?_

Kimiko shook her head slightly in the negative. "No. She's..forbidden anyone to speak of your existence." Was it her or did a shadow darken the plains of the man's expression? "Nadeshiko told me ..who you were." She went on, inching her gleaming sword out inch by inch. "Nadeshiko also told me how you can control weapons of your Element but it depends on the strength of the wielder's will."

He assented with a slight nod, refocusing with a subtle mental pull on the sword in her hand. Kimiko felt the resulting electrical repulse, refusing to let go. Hisrio shot her a worried glance but said nothing, suppressing his emotions. Like with all true swordsmen, he adhered to the no-mindedness of skill and focused instead on Houou-hime's silence.

"Ah you have some then." Earth said sounding bored. "Intriguing, girl. Please step aside now. I haven't the patience to deal with you right now."

Subtly irritated at the dismissal, Kimiko knew better than to charge in blindly. "Kusabana, Nadeshiko." she intoned, dropping the sword to the ground, seconds before meeting the ground the body of the blade warped transforming into a mass of budding creepers that spread like a garden of paradise. Houou-hime's shrill shriek pierced splintered the atmosphere, her silent call command summoning the sleekly feathered phoenix to alight on Hisrio's outstretched arm.

"More irritations." Earth murmured disinterestedly, calmly reaching over his shoulder for the tip of a weapon she could barely see. Steeling her nerves, Kimiko adhered to Nadeshiko's whispered instructions, commanding the blooms to open in a fragrant wall, hiding her from sight momentarily. On their brief flight to meet the elemental head on, she had told Hisrio of her plan. The ex Noble imitated Kanzaki's flash-step counting down to a silent mark of time.

_One_. They split off.

Two. Things she couldn't see in her blind rush forward, shot up from the ground, destroying Nadeshiko's heavy blooms into disseminate petals. Hisrio veered sharply in the rain of flittering scraps, the burning tang of the fire phoenix smelting ripples of heat off the gleaming surface. Unafraid, Kimiko felt all the exhilaration of the moment splice deeply into her soul as the two weapons crossed - cleaving through the throat of the Earth Element.

Kimiko and Hisrio finished the cut, ending in a perfect x-shaped pattern. Blood spewed from the twin paths scoring the flesh. A slow drip of red fell from Nadeshiko's thin blade. She waited - breathless still - for the inevitable fall of body.

None came.

"Oh my." Earth sounded surprised, lifting a hand to his throat. "I do believe you've cut me."

At that second, Kimiko froze, feeling the pointed tip press against the back of her head. An incessant, light pressure that only increased, stabbing through her hair to her scalp.

"Now do you know what happens to bad little girls?" He asked teasingly. She tilted Nadeshiko's bloody blade sideways to catch the image of the smiling Elemental poising the tip of his spear to her head. Kimiko felt a plummeting hopelessness drown her.

"Kimi..ko." Hisrio ground out, sounding strained. "Goddamn you! You bastard!"

She realized with the subtle pressure against her back, that her comrade had been pinioned down by crushing force, unable to do anything but watch - she bit the inside of her mouth to stifle her sob. "Hisrio, tell Kagami.." she knew she was going to die. She dropped her gaze to the steady drip off of her sword. "Tell Kagami...I'm sorry-!" she felt the tip pull back readying for the final plunge through her skull.

The Lieutenant of Second waited for the pain - the blackness of finality - then nothing. Her eyes shot open, the pressure remained - shaking. She didn't dare turn, glancing instead to the reflection that met her startled eyes. Earth was literally grasping one-handedly the opposite wrist, seeming to fight himself in the indecisive tremor that rocked the weapon and body.

"She's just one." He mumbled tightly, speaking through gritted teeth. "Just one, boy-!"

With that, a new realization came to her. Kurosaki was still inside the body of this thing. Immediately a surge of pity arose for the human. She couldn't imagine a parasitic-like soul living inside her - attempting to erase everything she was. Kimiko gripped Nadeshiko tightly, feeling with his distraction, the heaviness lift from her legs. Surely even Hisrio had been freed. While holding out little hope for her own survival - she wished for his and ducked down sharply, aiming for the blindspot to the ribcage. Nadeshiko lanced a track of red across the cloth, rending flesh even as she pulled off, evading the slash-stab of the spear.

Earth wore a crooked smile flicking his weapon up from the ground as though the wounds were nothing. The mad glint remained in his eyes, "next time." he promised softly, switching glances to the one who alighted, sword drawn.

"Next time _I_ will see. You both are just two more I must rid the earth of."

Kimiko saw his eyes fasten on the Fire element.

"We will have our affectionate reunion, aneue."

Even Hisrio noted the change, confusion slight in the drained pallor of his angular face.

Earth flash-stepped from sight, vanishing so swiftly that Kimiko gasped, a cry too tardily rising in her throat. Within a second he reappeared with teleportation-like Sonido in front of Kei. The Captain of Fourth's eyes widened as he lifted a hand from clasping his bleeding throat, lightly pressing the pad of his thumb against her parted lips - leaving a smear of red.

"_Soon_."

Kei snapped out of her shock long enough to stab the air viciously where he had stood only to encounter nothing.

...

Unohana held Isane back, the portal sealed up, leaving them in an alleyway of the recreated town. The one before them eyed them with interest, dropping his gaze to Minazuki in her hand. Out of all her long years as a healer she had never felt such waves of repulsion crawl in her flesh then at that moment. Isane's breath was tight, tension making her hand shake around the hilt of her Zanpaku-to.

"Taichou?" Isane prompted cautiously. Unohana reigned in her emotions, shaking her head slightly, now was not the time to approach this .._thing_ with fear.

"You are not Kurosaki Ichigo-kun.." she stated quietly, unable to gauge its next motions. It paused seeming to think for a moment then add with a strange sort of tiny smile, "I am and you are Unohana Retsu, wielder of the Minazuki sword."

"Isane.." she saw the look in his eyes and stepped more firmly in front of her Fukutaichou.

"Y-yes..Taichou?"

"I'm sorry."

The ground shook with an all enveloping roar, swallowing up Isane's scream seconds later.

...

"...it came from this way!" Having been left with a few chosen Shinigami, Orihime soon found it unbearable to wait, slipping from them and traversing the familiar streets of the duplicated town, searching for any sign of a friendly face. She hadn't long to go before she ran into Chad, just leaving the Shoten. Together they headed back out, meaning to go straight to the battlefield despite the ominous spirit pressure that had exploded outward from there.

It wasn't until several blocks into the downtown section that they first heard the distant echo of screams. Chad ceased his heavy step, speaking rare words laced with concern. "Inoue, that felt like Unohana-san."

Her eyes widened, "but...oh! I hope they're alright!" They continued on, racing down several blocks, barely feeling the strain of the increased pace. Chad kept it to himself how the flicker of crushing spiritual pressure had felt like Ichigo's_, for a moment_. Except magnified to a level beyond what Ichigo had. Those thoughts disturbed the giant when they came to the end of the block. It formed a T-section with other streets, the boulevard was strangely silent lending a surreality of being the only two left in the entire town. Orihime paused beside him, sweeping the business district carefully finally saying sharply, "listen!" True to her word, he too caught it:

The sound of footsteps.

Hesitantly they both went together stopping simultaneously as an orange-haired figure stumbled out of the alleyway up ahead. Chad ran his gaze over his friend's battered form. Ichigo was clad in a ripped black shihakusho, blood spattered his face and ...he seemed...lost?

Orihime was the first one to break the silence. "K-Kurosaki-kun!"

The sixteen year-old started at the sound of high-pitched voice, turning to stare blankly at them. Chad saw the vacant look in the amber eyes and wondered what else he had failed to help his friend in.

"Hey..guys." Ichigo said, a trace of old confidence lilting at the end.

-TBC

AN: thanks for reading (must leave now) any proofing errors are due to haste and I apologize for them (will beta-check thoroughly later on)

No flames!

Reviews always loved :)


	100. Blood of the Kill

What have _you_ done?  
Is this what _you_ wanted?  
What have _you_become?

* * *

ShiKai CH.93: Blood of the Kill

...Fake Karakura town, one hour before...

Regeneration on a cellular level faltered far below expectation. Why? Awakening initially from the imprisonment dividing the original complete soul had at first seemed a success. Kurosaki's immense spiritual power had quadrupled from its prior level, asserting him as once again Elemental level, beyond that of even Yamamoto Shigekuni. Probing various parts of his mental stores, he found Kido knowledge and Kuro no madou intact, whole.

The problem lay with a force that had slipped beyond his control. The Zanpaku-to, Tensa Zangetsu had taken the item necessary to him - _Ichigo's memories_. Earth kept on at a minimal speed, occasionally dropping down to street level to give the spirit of the Aizo no ken time enough to catch up. Setsuka's speed while registered above average, remained languid as if the past one hundred and fifty years she'd spent locked away in the mindscape field of flowers had been detrimental to something other than her waning power. Will alone had been what preserved the sword.

_Indomitable will_.

He could not say it was respect which made the spirit respond to his weak call. _But mutual goal_. Earth knew it was selfishness that kept them on this path - he stopped on a plated building, the windows reflecting a fake sun. Setsuka's light footsteps thudded, unheeding of the gravel lining the rooftop she walked up behind him, stepping to the side, saying with some surprise, little or no compassion in her flat tone.

"I thought you could heal yourself."

"I can't after a fashion." He responded thickly, finding it difficult to speak with warm salty blood flowing down his air passage. The wound would not heal. It was an aggravating sort that throbbed with the influx of breeze, stung raw and coated his hand with gore.

It hurt, but pain was something used to. Like a muscle torn, or of pain that would've destroyed a lesser soul. He knew it all and stood staring off into the four directions, attempting to conjure up a map of the town his other half had spent the better part of sixteen years trying to protect.

"Go to the east." Earth commanded softly, finally a vague image flickering in the recesses of their shared mind. Genbu stirred, a link between he and they and Setsuka no usayami strengthening. He sent a mental warning to the fourth guardian not to overdo it. The sword spirit was formidable enough - something perhaps showed on his face for she snorted softy, her narrow onyx eyes crinkling in the corners.

"You're one to talk. As if I could possibly damage _you_." she even sounded offended.

"It's your overzealousness that I wish to curb." The elemental said drier, flicking her a glance. "Do not tarry anywhere for any reason unless you find Urahara Kisuke and or Shihoin Yoruichi. Otherwise proceed directly to the Urahara shoten. Do not forget there is also a space beneath the store reserved for training. Check there as well."

"And how precisely am I supposed to know who these creatures are?" she referenced the first portion of his command, skepticism like a frog oozing off of her. He scowled at her, injecting the right effusion of annoyance into his even tone. "Kisuke wields Benihime. You shouldn't have a problem recognizing her. Yoruichi would not leave his presence in this case, I'm fairly certain. If you find them, simply incapacitate until I arrive."

The sword spirit nodded - his hand shot out and latched firmly on her forearm just above the soiled strips of fermenting bandages. Earth was aware of the smell, a sickly sweet odor of rot spreading from her flower-scented skin. "Do not," he warned tightly, the more human part of him recoiling inwardly from the female spirit. "_Kill_."

They were almost violating lovers' closeness. Setsuka's thin lashes framed her slitting eyes, her thinner upper lip curled over straight even teeth. "I will not _play_ with them if that is what you are afraid of. As I recall, your word is command." _Not even trust_. He smirked, by tacit consent releasing the sword spirit. Setsuka seemed repulsed as well by the previous contact, disgust on her face before she turned away.

"It's like a sickness with you and her." Setsuka murmured, unbelievably wearing a small smile. He looked toward the quadrant of the fake township where his old home lay and not far from it, two spiritual pressures traveling through the two dimensions to reach Karakura town.

"Some say so." he lifted his blood-stained hand to his throat indolently, lightly pressing against the pulse on the side of his neck. The thick wet feeling was replaced by a clotted tight sensation. The woman's comeback was a light shocking trill of a laugh, tinkling in the air, a violet petal swirled to the gravel where she had stood.

He cast a glance upon the withered petal and ground his heel on it before heading out to meet the woman whom possessed the strongest sword of healing - _how fortunate he was_.

...Assiah, forest fifty miles from Arcadia...

Kuchiki Rukia had her entire world crash and burn before her eyes.

_- were our bonds nothing to you?_

She was barely catching her breath when the second wave came. Shock washing over her, undeniable the urge was to flee. They were told to - by the girl she had once thought she hated. Now, now...she wasn't sure anymore.

_That same girl had saved her life_.

They were being herded away, a flux of grey-black and some white toward a portal at the front of the camp. The medics stayed to the side, a funny lot they were, in white aprons and heavy canvas knapsacks. Some like the Lieutenant of Fifth had to forcibly be dragged off by one of these little medicos.

As odd as it was, Rukia realized with a newer appreciation of the main group, no one asked why there were Arrancars in the assemblage. Or why her Taichou and Hitsugaya-Taichou had lead what was left of their Squads on the ground, away from the Gotei 13's main force. She had not heard anything above a few yells of 'traitors' had considered the notion along with her nii-sama's act on Urahara but hadn't appreciated it until then.

She wondered if she was a traitor - breaking through finally into the warm sunlight of Assiah's beautiful midday. Breathless - exhausted, she glanced around to see the clearing populated by many different faces. Some recognizable. Others not. It was too peaceful here, she soon thought, attempting to catch her breath. They had been left in the confines of a heavy pine-wooded forest. Scents of fresh pine needles, clean sweet air filled her lungs. Rukia took a deep breath breaking off with a gasp of relief when someone touched her shoulder from behind.

"Re-Renji!"

"Hey." The redhead said softly, splotches of red had long dried on his shihakusho, a few more streaks painted his face, adding the myriad of black tattoos. Uncaring of masking her emotions, Rukia leapt at him, practically jumping into her friend's arms.

"You big idiot..." she mumbled, clinging on to whatever she could reach of the big oaf. Renji helped her by folding his long arms around her back. "Yeah yeah ...I'm just glad..." his voice cracked at the end. "You're alright."

...

Hitsugaya's world was orderly. There was wrong and there was right. You fulfilled your duties to society and gained respect upholding the laws. However there were inconsistencies in his equation of life.

Inconsistencies became problems.

Problems...however small could change the world.

The Elements were not oversights nor were they problems.

"Hinamori!"

He thanked the powers that be, for their existences. Without, Hinamori Momo would've been another casualty on the field - and perhaps he would have been as well. The doe-eyed girl still had round dark circles painted beneath her pale skin. Still trembled and shook looking as though a faint breeze might destroy her fragile self. Hinamori's face became a patchwork of joy at seeing him.

"Toshiro! I was so scared you hadn't made it!"

He didn't blush rather stayed stiff when she hugged him - forgetting station in the simple joy of being alive.

"Dummy, you're the one who needs to take care of herself. Me, I'm strong." _You're not_. Hitsugaya did allow a slight moment when Hinamori broke away pouting at the suggestion that she was weak, to brush stray strands of dark hair from her cheek. Elsewhere, Kuchiki had been joined by Sixth's Fukutaichou. It seemed Abarai had been in the thick of things judging by the blood spatters he bore.

Hinamori was still pouting, catching his hand lightly between her own. "'shiro...Soi Fong-Taichou was strong and-"

His jaw tightened, the woman's last moments had been unbearable. The images were semi-burned beneath his lids. Thin green vines perforating her stomach, dragging lengths of ropey red intestines out in gory wet heaps. It was enough for the gorge to rise in his throat. Hitsugaya covered Hinamori's hands with his other, lightly squeezing them, before turning away unable to speak.

The last few were streaming in. The newest Division known as Sixth in the Juppongatana. They were a bunch of medics headed by the third seat. Their numbers were ten altogether meaning they were a greater number than the previous five whom only had seven seated officers per Division. The medicos were keeping company with the two Lieutenants from First and Second, firing off rounds of multi-questions. Behind that group came the Captains of Second and Fourth - the Water and Fire elements. Wind had stayed with the main group whom had entered Assiah first, keeping an eye on her rebellious Lieutenant and pacing agitatedly near a fringe of low shrubs.

Now, Namaiki went forward as he did, looking from each in turn.

"What are we going to do now?" Namaiki spoke first. Hitsugaya wished Hinamori had not followed him, hovering behind him nervously with knotted hands. A few of the others noted the arrival of the Captains, a general rampancy of unease setting over the evacuees.

He knew it had nothing to do with them, themselves, but of Kurosaki - whom had lost his mind in every sense of the word. Hitsugaya had not thought previously that anyone was capable of so much power - the very edge of it picked up by his senses. Of course he had been proved wrong.

A few more streamed in, one - he was surprised to see, was Ninth's Taichou, Komamura. The wolf Taichou glanced around, glowering at the Juppongatana Captain beside him. Kei and the others moved a little to the side, giving them room to step comfortably. She sent a quick appraising look over the surrounding anxious faces and snapped her fingers - sealing the portal.

"Now then. To answer Kazeatari's question, I have to ask firstly that there be no division of feeling - no animosity -"

As if on cue, someone cleared their throat awkwardly, slipping into the forefront of a space beside Third's Lieutenant Shimizu. The petite blonde had arrived in Komamura's group along with a final eight others including an Arrancar she had been directing her Captain to give over to the medicos to take care of. That seemed unimportant in light of the fox-faced man smiling - giving a tiny wave to Kuchiki Rukia who gasped and stared.

Hitsugaya's hand shot for Hyourin-Maru immediately, as did several of the Shinigami, hissing, "Ichimaru Gin-!"

"Lower your weapons!" Kei snapped and when they didn't, whipped out in a note of skill and grace her own sword and leveled it at _him_. Hinamori squeaked in fear, "Toshiro! Do as she says! Please! We mustn't-"

"Ichimaru is a traitor-!" Hitsugaya overrode her, refusing to back down even an inch from the fiery weapon held at his shoulder height ready to sweep his head from his shoulders. The Captain of Fourth stared him coldly down, her lovely features a harsh mask of fury. Beside her, the element of water exhaled a sigh, but making no move to draw his sword.

Hitsugaya wasn't surprised to see the majority of the Juppongatana do the same.

When it came down to it, they were fierce, united in their beliefs. Though a traitor like Ichimaru didn't deserve such steadfastness - Hitsugaya couldn't hold up the pretense of his understanding any longer. He did not understand what had happened in the replica of Karakura town - he did not understand Yamamoto's lies - if that were true. But he respected Ukitake as sempai still - speaking of the man, the frail Taichou's voice cut through the dissension.

"Stop it everyone! This is not the way to be! We cannot fight amongst ourselves!" and strode forward, swatting at the blades pointed at the black-clad Shinigami or the reverse, of the Shinigami threatening a Juppongatana officer. Ukitake reached them last, laying a hand on Hyourin-Maru's gleaming base rather than chastising the Captain of Fourth. Hitsugaya felt there was something more to that - but didn't dwell on it, pulling his sword away from his sempai almost rudely, tapping the blade once against the sheath before sliding it in with a click. Fourth's captain did the same, slower. Adding quietly, "thank you, Ukitake." her weapon flittered off to become a large skeletal bird which darted to a nearby branch, watching with beady flame-blue eyes.

Hitsugaya recognized the creature from their first entry into Assiah, recalling very clearly how he had been close to total defeat by _her_ and it. Seemingly unafraid, the Captain of Fourth folded her arms across her breast, a faintly sardonic smile forming on her mouth. Hitsugaya was aware that Matsumoto had come up to stand beside him, sending reproachful looks to Ichimaru - that was a mess he wanted no part of.

"I presume none of you know what any of you faced- in particular I speak of the Shinigami of Soul Society."

A ripple of murmurs spread throughout the large group. Hitsugaya noted that the Juppongatana officers were unanimous in agreement - save for the three Elements. _Three_. Then he wondered why the number bothered him. Up until that moment Hitsugaya had labored under the delusion that Kurosaki Ichigo Shinigami substitute had merely lost his mind - for whatever reason and had turned his sights upon new enemies in the guise of old friends/allies.

It seemed he had been utterly and damned wrong.

"No. I can see from your faces you think it was a simple case of insanity." Kei wore an eerie smile of amusement. "It is however...much worse than that. What you saw today, was the final of the four, the missing Element of Earth."  
...

The clearing had gone absolutely silent with her proclamation. Kei stood outside herself, hearing only the distant breaths of a score of lungs inhaling and exhaling and the sound of her own heart _pounding_ in her ears.

_It's just blood rushing through the valves of my heart_, she thought, the truth not quite laid bare in the silvered sunlight filtering through the fringes of sharp green needles. The green it hurt to look at, secondary memory filling in the gaps - _I don't want to think of you_. And so she looked but not quite absorbed the faces staring back at her.

"As proved by a moment's exercise in futility, none of you Shinigami from the highest ranked Taichou down to the lowest seated officer stand a chance in a frozen Hell of besting the Earth elemental in combat." _Nine of the strongest Captains of the King's guard fell and the final four lingered on death's true door then._

_You have no hope - nothing - what are we going to do now?_

Awash in futility, Kei briefly moistened her dry lips, "an alliance. Unification is the only hope we have left." she tried not to appear as nervous as she felt inside. Shaking, unsteady as though the ground were falling beneath her feet and she couldn't quite catch herself. The feeling was unsettling when there was nowhere left to fall.

And even though she knew - dammit. The past had loss where the present only knew of the mistakes. _Tsukikage was indefensible_.

"It has been stated that we would withdraw back to the walls of the castle. However, that is a strategy that is fallible." More noises. Discontent. Gasps. Startled looks from Kagami and expectant officers. The head medic in particular rose from attending Ggio Vega's fractured ribs, a stern look on her young face.

"With all due respect, ma'am. We have plenty of injured that simple triage in a forest cannot hope to-" she knew the end of that flatly delivered statement. As if by sheer logic the third seat of Sixth Division could correct their reality. "Well you're going to have to make it work." Kei said, not unkindly, but with enough force that the girl colored some, obviously not expecting that answer from a superior.

"As for the rest of you..." she trailed off, sensing something off. As if she were forgetting something. Kei dismissed it after a second's thought, continuing on in the same confident tones. "If there is no other opposition, I want eight of the best kido casters to head out in groups of two to each of the four points of the compass. Begin sealant spells to sever Assiah from the other three worlds."

"You mean to isolate this world?" Hitsugaya sounded faintly shocked. "What about the balance and - and Soul Society-!" some of the Shinigami nodded, others like Kuchiki and Abarai looked with wan, serious faces. Kei eyed the Taichou of tenth narrowly, "yes." coolly. She hid her irritation well, very calmly challenging the small Taichou with her eyes. "Unless you want to..go back? Die in another field in another place." He swallowed hard, turquoise eyes hiding the shadowy emotion of fear. Kei smiled, just a hint of it on the edges.

"Don't think too much about it, Hitsugaya-Taichou. We all have those we want to keep safe." For emphasis, her glance flickered to Hinamori, sharp, dropping down to meet his scowl without a trace of disdain. "I trust you understand my meaning."

A moment of silence descended like when she had first addressed the gathering. It was broken now by an unexpected gruff male voice.

"Whatever the others choose is entirely up to them to break coda and therefore honor. But I...I have only come to retrieve my Fukutaichou, Iba Tetsuzaemon and the Fukutaichou of Ninth, Hisagi Shuuhei."

She half-turned, looking past Kagami who raised a brow at the lumbering form edging into sight. "Komamura-Taichou." Kei murmured, "You speak of suicide." Her flinty violet eyes met those of the small yellow ones set deep into the furry face. "Over half of Soul Society's elite," her voice rose higher to a frantic hiss. "were _decimated_. You were there! You saw what _he_ could do!"

"I saw..." Komamura began, unfazed from her stare and tone, his long snout twitching, voice rising to match hers, "what cowardice can do! The Gotei 13 were disgraced today- by fleeing!" He threw pointed looks in Ukitake and Hitsugaya's directions. The frailer Taichou paled but remained with a hard frown on his face. Hitsugaya, a scowl. Both wordless in the face of the accusation. A few Juppongatana officers edged away from Komamura, eyeing his bulk doubtfully. Kei stood her ground, remaining the only one Captain not cowed by the Shinigami's words.

"If we would have stood together-"

"You would've been annihilated!"

"You underestimate-"

"No, you _fucking_ underestimate one of the four constituents of the world!" she snapped, vociferous enough so that even Kagami flinched at the volume. He had decided it was time to step in - vocally soft as usual even when Komamura's animosity radiated wiltingly around forcing the nearest Juppongatana officers to give the giant Taichou a wide berth.

"Could we please speak civilly on this matter? If Komamura-taichou wishes to leave - and if his subordinates wish to follow they may do so." The Captain of Second's voice had dropped down to a soft hiss, blue eyes cold, implicit warning in them. Komamura locked gazes with him and failed at staring him down.

"However, once Assiah is sealed, none of those who go, may return. We will not have our officers condemned by your foolish actions. Do I make myself clear?" Kagami finished smoothly, without a trace of compassion lingering in his even tone. Kei was reminded of course that despite standing as second only to Kanzaki, he was more than just an alchemist creating pots of gold for their vaults. He had been commander over a Division which had no major upsets and ran well as could be expected with a Lieutenant like Kimiko Shimizu, for over a hundred years.

Takara, from Third, was the better if not best second only to Elbe,_ had they already arrived at the rendezvous point?_ Loyalty made Kei make that distinction. Kagami was very capable then - in wiping Komamura's visible antagonism to nothing but grudging acquiescence.

"Fine." The wolf Taichou agreed gravelly. The Element of Water's look didn't soften but rather he jerked his head to the side. Komamura allowed courtesy in movement, cautiously making his way around the clumped together groups. It didn't extend to his Shinigami comrades. Ukitake remained silent if not exceptionally pale - but did not speak of reconsideration. Hitsugaya, the same if not on the subtle defensive as Hinamori Momo clutched at his sleeve. It was steadily becoming apparent to each and every being in the forest clearing - there was relative safety in numbers - _with the Juppongatana officers, and by understanding, the other three Elements_. Kei's lips quirked a little deprecatingly at that.

The medics of Sixth had commandeered a quarter strip of ground, hacking away with their swords in a crude manner to create leafy beds for the still-unconscious Fraccion of the Segunda's. Others like Fifth's Lieutenant were made to sit on a nearby bush pile to recuperate from her reiatsu-less state. Sakurai wasn't pleased - neither was Jinteki who after being stitched together by time threads, remained rather pasty complexioned and ill-humored after losing to the Septima Espada. The bunch of little medicos looked up surprised from their work at the furry giant's approach. Hisagi and the other three guardians of the Karakura pillars were possibly the least unharmed - save for Sakurai and Jinteki.

There were six other Shinigami rendered unconscious from terrible wounds.

Kei had noticed a surreptitious handing out of the skin-knitting salve officers below Lieutenant carried. The medicos used this and cloth strips dipped in water from a nearby stream to wash the wounds and apply the Hokuto-Shichisei to heal the majority of the flesh rips. Yuka paused in her green-glowing healing to calmly admonish him. "Taichou, with all due respect to your station and wishes, Hisagi Shuuhei and Iba Tetsuzaemon are still my patients." She made a tiny gesture to the fact that bare-chested, Iba was having his ribs checked over by a brown-haired kid and light green pungent-smelling salve applied to burns on his back by a girl whose apron was bloodstained.

Komamura took in the scene with visible vexation. Hisagi stirred from the leaves farther back, jarring a bruised forearm in the process. "Komamura-Taichou, I have to agree with..." he shrugged to the surroundings. "...the general consensus." He needn't have spoken it, the proof was in the pale, frightened faces of the lower seated officers - and the unyielding stance of the Taichous. Kuchiki Byakuya in particular, retained an adamant air that only the nobility could effect. For support, his sister and Fukutaichou stayed near him, as he gave his choice in the matter.

"I will not endanger Rukia nor a comrade's life in the pursuit of defending a society that adheres that our existences are seditious to approximate execution." He said coolly, betraying not a single thing that could pry apart his feelings on the matter. A few stared - whispered at the puzzle he had presented them with. Kei's expression softened in understanding, meeting Byakuya's slate grey - _wordless_.

_- "I'm sorry." -_

_- "There is nothing to forgive." -_ The look in his eyes said.

"I'm staying with Hitsugaya-Taichou. His choice is mine." Matsumoto chose to pipe up, to which Hitsugaya sent her a curt nod of thanks. "We're staying as are the Shinigami loyal to Tenth Division."

Hisagi shrugged to Komamura, "you heard the lady. I'm staying too...for Rangiku-san's sake."

The matter was closed.

...Fake Karakura town...

The scene forced a whimper from Orihime's throat. _Choked_. Muffled by her trembling hands. Kurosaki-kun stayed back, already having fully looked over the narrow alleyway, the filthy pavement cracked into a multi-spiderweb of striated lines spreading outward from a central crater. Chad had gotten as close as he dared to the unstable fault-line and knelt, from beneath a curtain of dark fringe staring solemnly at the shattered remnants of two bodies.

"Who- who could've done this, Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime looked to him for the answer. Because if Kurosaki-kun didn't know then the whole world didn't either. It was a philosophy she adhered to even when deep down she knew secretly that he didn't know or want to have all the answers.

The orange-haired boy's eyes shifted, his scowl became more pronounced. "That bitch Yamamoto Keiko, who else?"

"Not, Kei-san!" Orihime squeaked, scandalized. "She would never do something so horrible!"

"I agree with Inoue." Chad grumbled, rising to his full height. Kurosaki-kun's facial muscles twitched as though finding something displeasing about disagreement. "There doesn't seem to be any trace of her reiatsu here."

"She's good at masking it." Kurosaki-kun argued mildly, affixing a penetrating stare on them. Orihime twisted her hands glancing back and forth thoughtfully. "I think Kei-san might've left after that horrible spiritual pressure descended -" she missed the wry flicker in Kurosaki-kun's amber eyes. "-so I really don't think she did this!" Orihime caught a note of condescension in Kuroskai-kun's, "_hn_." Noncommittal at best.

Chad glanced at his best friend and Orihime floundered somewhere in between with her doubt. She had seen Kei-san's devotion to Kurosaki-kun - even willing to give up her life for his! There was no greater sacrifice than that! Orihime's eyes filled in recollection of that moment in the lonely fifth tower. "No! You're wrong, Kurosaki-kun! Kei-san wouldn't have done this! She-"

"Oh yeah?" Kurosaki-kun wore a scary look on his face, a half-smile like a shadow over the sun. "Wanna bet? Soi Fong said that bitch killed my family. I'd be willing to bet she'd kill anything that happened to not fall into the perfect category of her game." he said it with such bitterness that Orihime felt on the verge of believing it. Then she shook herself, sprays of bright orange hair bounced over her shoulders, "no, you can't believe that! Kei-san loves you! She would've died for you!"

Chad looked between them now, only a bystander, silent, willing to follow wherever Kurosaki-kun lead. Orihime watched disbelief dawn - then something strange, like hope? But it seemed off on the usually cocky boy's face. That off part was gone before she could fully analyze it.

"Aneue would've-" then he caught himself.

Orihime hesitated, the voice that had issued from Kurosaki-kun's lips infinitely different from what she knew_. and_... "sister?"

"Sorry. Just thinking of Karin and Yuzu. I'm worried about them." he turned to leave, a peculiar expression arranging itself on his face. Orihime had a strange notion that Kurosaki-kun was picking though a trunk of theater masks trying each on before choosing to wear one - and he didn't always pick the appropriate one.

"You could be right about _this_. I suppose we won't know until we head on back to my house." Kurosaki-kun said amiably to them one moment, without wasting a breath on invitation they were already included. Chad looked to her and she nodded slightly trailing up the short alleyway back onto the main street where their friend waited.

Kurosaki-kun looked them over and added in a quieter undertone to himself - why did she feel as if he were addressing someone other than them?

"But I swear if that fucking bitch laid a hand on them, I'll tear her to pieces with my bare hands. Whether _you_ like it or not."

...Unknown realm...

The first sensation Retsu had upon opening her eyes, was of being swamped, held down in a thick constantly flowing swirl of bodies. Like mud - no. Like an ocean of bodies swimming. Arms flailed. Legs kicked. But the blows didn't hurt. She tried to politely ask the owner of the elbow to remove it - but it seemed that her vocal chords didn't work properly.

Retsu struggled to pull herself out of the writhing mass, touch her throat only to have the hard-work rendered null by the simple fact that she was..._a head. No torso, no spinal column_. That was medically impossible to retain consciousness and ...

She remembered - the cracks - spreading beneath their feet.

"I'm sorry." _I'm sorry I can't protect you_. Isane was like a sister to her, a worst kind of pain that was to know that you were going to fail - the paved cement beneath their feet caved in, Isane panicked, her face a mask of terror, leapt upward to escape - but something shot up after her. _Something had grabbed Isane's legs and dragged her screaming down into the earth_. Retsu saw it all, had the images burned into her last thoughts - writhing, wriggling things like large worms wrapping with sucking mouths on her arms and legs, dragging her deep before the darkness surrounded her. Thick and white like eyeless maggots gorged on rot tearing **her** apart. _And muffled, throttling like the screams of the dying, Isane shrieked mindlessly_.

Retsu resurfaced from the memory, suddenly lifting her eyes across the way to a place she had not looked before - her vantage point was high, a narrow space like the width of a corridor yet so large-seeming to her searching gaze. Across was a wall, red-patterned with velveteen swirls like vines twisted around...

_Isane!_ She opened her mouth to yell but of course no sound came out.

Her Fukutaichou was frozen in a shriek - face contorted by fright amid of myriad of other faces - Shinigami.

It took her another full long moment of numbing realization to understand ..

They were _within the walls_.

...

The red-patterned hallway was blissfully empty. Tensa darted down it, straining constantly to hear any sounds that would herald the arrival of the hebi and kame. The shifting patterns on the wallpaper had at first repulsed him - the faces twisted in agony or rage, silent mouths screaming into the emptiness. It was a horrifying kind of existence. Tensa could feel the brush of many different - thousands possibly of consciousnesses and reiatsus feather-light against his face and body.

He shuddered at the T-section, shaking off the malaise crawling through his skin. He quickly glanced up both ends before choosing the most lit, down the opposite end he could occasionally catch the strains of some rendition on an ancestor of the piano. The heavier strains seemed garbled like a recording. Not liking the intrusion of noise into the silence of the cave, he went on, opening the first door he saw. The brightness of the outside hallway he stood in shed some light into the must-scented confines of the room. An arc of illumination fanned out several feet into the gloom, Tensa peered intently, probing to find it dull - one of the few spaces not thickened by that oppressive spiritual pressure.

He opened the door wider, noting another door snared by the light, set into the opposite wall of the room. Seeing nothing in general distasteful about the room, he closed the door he had entered by, gently. Once the light from the hallway had been cut off, Tensa was plunged into very near darkness. He didn't mind it so much, the light blue of his compressed reiatsu providing vague enough glow for his gaze to wander - a refractive rainbow-like glint coming from a tiny light-colored object directly ahead. Curiosity got the momentary best of him, going forward, he peered closely at what seemed to be rows upon rows of shelves set deep into the wall. The object in question which had garnered his attention sat in a half-clamshell. It was - he found, stretching his fingers out to capture the item, a sea pearl roughly the size of a small strawberry. Baroque in shape, the misshapen quality reduced nothing from its inherent creamy polish.

He nearly dropped it once he had indentified the trace amount of spirit pressure like a residue clinging to the white pearl. Water...it had belonged to the Element of Water. Then, he swept his gaze upward, objects coming into sharp definition. A katana. A small Umajirushi bearing a crest of some ancient lord. A cluster of reddish gold feathers seemingly plucked from Suzaku herself. Scales of a green-blue sheen, a length of fine muslin that shone in the slight illumination with a tiger's stripe. A mother-of-pearl comb and thousands of different things.

_What was this room?_

As if speaking the thought aloud, a voice responded solitarily from the darkness.

"Do you like? This is one of my favorites places."

He spun around, coat flaring out over his legs. A face loomed from the darkness behind him, short slats of copper-brown colored hair framing the sides of an oval face. The man was undoubtedly handsome, for now there was no outward sign of aggression.

But that within a dual-side of a coin.

He backed away to the side as Earth approached, keeping his eyes fixated on the man as he reached for something on one of the shelves, replacing it with a frayed red ribbon and taking up a moth-eaten stuffed dog. Tensa thought it was simply a toy until the brighter illumination from the other's reiatsu glowed eerily in the withered eye sockets of the tiny canine.

"My dog Alette." The Elemental responded to his look, "aneue gave him to me on our shared birthday." He clasped the dog closer to his breast, seeming uncaring of the tiny patches of ancient fur that wilted off the corpse. Earth stepped back, turning slightly to bend down, seating himself in a large old wingback chair that Tensa hadn't noticed before in the corner. Earth set the dog on his lap, resting a largish hand upon the bare spaces of skull interspersed with patches of long chestnut fur.

"Our mother drowned Alette." Earth intoned, materializing a handful of sand in his palm and slowly upending it to sift slowly down on the stiff corpse. "She laughed while she did it. Alette's spirit told me that...when I first made contact." A subtle glow spread over the tiny outline, a pulse quickening in the air with something that Tensa had come to realize was the gravity of the Elemental's power. To his silent shock, the thing in the man's lap moved.

Wiggled and barked. _Like a living animal_.

"You can...bring the dead back to life?"

"What do you think?" He responded with a lift of a mocking smile. Patting the dog's head to quiet it. "Alette loves me as he did in life. Blind. Dumb. With only a rudimentary intelligence this animal loves _me_." The moon cutter noticed the solitary edge present. With the brighter illumination, sharp pinpoints slanted into the amber gold-flecked eyes.

He saw only a sharp kind of loneliness buried deep within.

_How many sides did this man have? _

_Two? Twenty? A thousand? All different facets that hopelessly snared the heart to a monster, the cruelty to kindness_. The fact that this being could converse so calmly, evoke pity even was monstrous in itself. Tensa fought down the sickness rising in him and slowly, surely backed away from the figure seated in the moldering chair cradling close the corpse of a tiny Pomeranian.

The Elemental's smile lingered hauntingly in the darkness.

Tensa fled - far from the damp cave with living walls and creature, not stopped by anything or anyone nor stopping motion entirely until he had entered the largest building still intact in the ruinous mindscape that was his. The encroachment of the fourth guardian's mindscape had been nearly whole - complete - unhindered. The last part rankled him, sending tremors to rock the concrete he stalked on, casting furtive looks into the recesses of the building.

This was supposed to be _Ichigo's heart_.

The biggest and most protected place - Tensa's step echoed forebodingly up and down the 4-way section of corridor, a tiny flash of motion and a red spider crab-walked through the patch of sickly illumination filtering in from the line of large windowpanes. What little flesh was exposed, crawled with chills, he lowered his hood over his raffish dark hair and hurried on.

Another two turns and he crunched something - no that wasn't quite right. The paper crackled beneath his boot heel crisp like a crinkled piece of foil. He stooped to pick it up - the only thing amiss in the quiet heart and turned it over to find it was a picture of _Kei_.

He was disturbed.

The eyes were cut from it.

Refusing to be wasteful, he pocketed it, scrunched it tight beside the other precious object of the boy's identity. He touched it once to make sure it was there - and continued walking, heading toward the central apex - the very heart as it were, of the empty echoing building.

He wasn't aware of it at first, just walking - until the glow became brighter. A phosphorescence. A stilted quality to the air. The heaviness came from reiatsu - though it held some familiarity to the one he had lived with and breathed for sixteen years there was still something about it that made him apprehensive, quicken his steps to reach the final set of double doors.

Through them he found his answer.

"I-I-Ichigo?" his quick tongue failed him. The question of his wielder's name was all he could repeat softly - pleadingly -

The tiny hebi clasped a jug to its red-sweater clad body. The inside of the jug brimmed with dark brown dirt ...more of it cradled the rippling bubble of translucent membrane in the center of the room. Ichigo was bared to the waist inside, cradled on his back by tubular formations perforating his torso and lower half. Pustules bubbled up on the surface of the membrane expelling sickening quantities of _pus_. The infection spilled to the floor adding to the filth.

"What have you done to him!" The sword snarled, the words finally (finally) coming unglued from his throat. This was hurled as an accusation to the little child tipping the contents of the jar he'd been holding on the bubbling mass on the floor. It took Tensa several moments of unmitigated anger and harsh breaths racking his thin frame to realize why the two very different reiatsus - were thickening the air.

Ichigo was being sucked dry of _his_ power.

"You -" words failed him.

"Shhh." The hebi hissed over its shoulder, snake tongue flicking out from the tiny chubby-cheeked child's face. "Ichigo is sleepin'."

Something snapped in the moon cutter's fragile psyche. Frail because of his hurt - afraid of hurting her - kami he never ever wanted to hurt her - and the absolute fear of losing his master and her in the same breath. This thing was chastising _him_.

He was moving before the action had even registered - was approved by his mind.

And the terrible sound of a hand striking soft flesh came next.

Tensa drew in long ragged breaths, his hand still upraised. The hebi stared up at him, reddened cheek suddenly damp with tears. Even if it was one half of the most feared guardian beast of legend, it was still only a child inside.

"I wish you hadn't done that." The elemental called lazily from the doorway, approach unseen.

He forced the words out, defiantly, steeling himself for the inevitable crushing weight of reiatsu - one that would force him to break like the other swords did. _Shatter irreparably_. "How dare you defile his memory - " and try to tear it from mine - " -of Keiko- damn you- damn you to-"

Then, the hebi piped up, blinking at him from under coppery lashes and gleaming crimson snake eyes. "Oh you are wrong, moon cutter. Keiki-sama is master's beloved."

_What...? _

"There is nothing." The hebi said enthusiastically, "he wouldn't do for her. Why move the heavens if she so wished it."

His shocked gaze slid to the one who lounged in the doorway, surprised to see the hint of a flush on the man's face. But the elemental was smiling, still gesturing for the hebi of Genbu to approach him which the child readily did, trotting over like human children did, accepting the hand that patted his mop of curly copper locks once the hood had fallen back.

"Go play with Alette please."

"Okay!" the hebi chirped and toddled off out into the hallway, where the rusty barks of the tiny canine could be heard. "So you see now? Now with a child's honesty how my feelings are?"

He was still wary. "Words from the tongue of a snake mean nothing. It isn't a child like you say. The fourth guardian is older than an epoch." It was only logic but the elemental seemed to find it amusing, for his lips quirked in a slight grin.

"Aren't we all?"

"What do you speak of?"

"Not what you see." The elemental strolled in, casually pacing to the gelatinous membrane which held his sleeping reincarnation. "None of us are what you see." he said as if it righted the world on its axis. Tensa thought it was the only kind of illogic bred of a twisted mind. From the open door, the sounds of the hebi playing with the deceased dog filtered in. _No_, he corrected his thoughts. There was a certain madness inherent in everything about this world. "Clarify your meaning?" he preempted, fixating a bland, bold look on the other male.

Earth half smiled, dragging his hand across the outer dome-like shell causing a rippling effect in the cocoon. From within, the boy perforated by thick extensions of fleshy ropes, shuddered and stirred, a strain of discomfort rippling over his face. Against better judgment, Tensa drew nearer, staying to the opposite side of Earth, staring in stunned fascination at his wielder.

"...you..kill...you." Ichigo mumbled in the throes of some nightmare. For an instant, the faithful sword was worried - concerned - wishing he could awaken Ichigo from whatever hurtful dream was tormenting him. The sword spirit was aware however of the elemental's scrutiny - the cool slit-eyed gaze flickering to him. _Why did it feel like something was ...off?_

"..tear her apart.."

Then with that new, whole-hearted whisper the sword stumbled back, unable to simply comprehend what he had heard. "Can't be -"

"It is ..most regrettable but we do not share the same desires." Earth explained, some apathy commingled with regret. Tensa finally looked the male in the eye and saw clearly the emotion winning out. "You did this to...him. So he..."

"Let me tell you something about the human psyche, Tensa Zangetsu. Ichigo's heart was corrupted by pain...he was unable to handle it." he hesitated, "like _I _was able to."

That the sword doubted.

"Right up until the moment before I sealed his power away, he thirsted to spill Keiki's blood - and that no matter whom she wished to clear her path of, I could not tolerate."

_You would never hurt her_.

"So you see? Why I must do this?"

He stiffened at the sweeping gesture of the arm, knowing deep down that there was no place to run. He was trapped within the proverbial belly of the beast and Ichigo - the master he would've died to protect - was his worst enemy.

The Earth element observed his expression and laughed softly, striding slowly but surely closer and as a result the moon cutter stepped backward, trekking in muck and slime and grit until his back hit the wall and the other was a breath away.

"She doesn't love any of us." Tensa hissed, a last throw in the element's smiling face. "She loves-" he winced as the hand appeared - so fast - over his face so that he was staring into the lined palm of the thing.

"-Schiffer."

"Once. But I doubt anymore." He decreed calmly as if it were fact. Not supposition. And even as the moon cutter struggled to grasp onto the threads of reasoning - think desperately - of any way to salvage some part of ..Ichigo.

Two things happened at once.

He seemed to be colder, shrinking. Falling until his legs buckled and something clanged nearby to the floor. Lying sideways, cold steel cheek pressed to the dirt-covered floor, his mouth remained frozen in words that would never be spoken.

_Forgive me...for failing you, Ichigo_.

The element of Earth stepped back and dropped down to a crouch, picking up the static form of Tensa Zangetsu and the memories of the human known as Kurosaki Ichigo. He didn't smile anymore.

It was a picture of the boy's family.

...Fake Karakura town...

Kurosaki-kun didn't know the direction to his house.

Orihime hadn't been there loads of times, but enough so that she kindly pointed out the opposite direction he was about to head in cutting through a deserted intersection. If it hadn't been so eerie like out of an alien-invasion movie, she would've appreciated the absolute detail put into recreating a fake Karakura town.

As it was, she was too worried about Kurosaki-kun. He seemed distracted, twitchy, _odd_. She caught Chad's eye, as he slowed to fall in step with her, leaving Kurosaki-kun to take the lead. They couldn't converse openly - she wasn't even sure why she hesitated on that. The gentle giant beside her, seemed to feel the same, catching her eye and shaking his dark mop ever so slightly.

_He_ was mumbling to himself.

She caught none of the words but it was disconcerting nonetheless.

Then, they reached the residential district - walked up through it and to the Kurosaki clinic. One or two blocks back she thought she'd seen the smashed pieces of some sort of walkie-talkie lying in the middle of the asphalt and blood droplets with smatters of reiatsu fragments that were too weak to discern their original source. Orihime had flinched at the old violence lingering about then but nothing could've quite prepared her for what lay in the twins' room upstairs in the Kurosaki clinic.

A whimper smothered behind her hands and tears. Chad patted her shoulder awkwardly before filling up the doorway with his form and Orihime retreated to the landing, sobbing quietly.

"Ichigo?" Deep, solemn. Chad was a better friend than she. For he could offer comfort. Kurosaki-kun didn't want _her comfort_. She tried to stifle her sobs, afraid even then that she would be thought of as a burden. Rubbing at her face, she heard the murmur of Kurosaki-kun's voice.

"Hey do you know where my body is? I'd like to feel human again.."

That wasn't an odd request, but even she wasn't sure where Urahara-san had taken Ichigo's human vessel. Chad neither, hearing a negative grumble. Orihime finished drying her tears and had begun massaging her temples in a way that Tatsuki had taught her that soothed the nerves. Now wasn't the time to be a burden - _she had to be supportive - she had to_ -

Orihime's hands fell from her face, she half spun about sensing the change, a pitching in her gut. Chad had stood just outside the room at the end of the corridor, giving full attention to his friend - their friend.

"Then you are of no use to me." Kurosaki-kun stated very softly; Orihime had a second of Chad's vaguely surprised look, before she started forward, "Kurosaki-"

But then gravity slowed her motions, slow-walking when she wanted to run, the string of words flew from her lips in garbled distended syllables.

"Ku-ro-sa-ki -"

Why was Chad's head flying from his broad, capable shoulders? Bouncing down the hallway with a look of permanent surprise on the Mexican's dark features.

Red droplets spattered from the severed arteries spraying her tear-encrusted cheeks and her pink blouse. Her hair floated out around her, an expression of not-quite understanding on her face and wide open mouth. Chad's large body was crumpling down and someone else was striding out of the room. The gait, the face - everything was_n't_ Kurosaki-kun's.

Orihime remained frozen in the act of forward motion, the law of gravity turned against her. The _not-_Kurosaki-kun strode past Chad's headless form and zeroed in on her. There was no other word for it. Orihime might've rejoiced at any other point - any other moment to have those beautiful amber eyes fixate upon her as if she were the only thing in existence - but not now.

Her mouth fell open to scream - but only a strangled cry came out.

"Most unattractive." _Not_-Kurosaki-kun said, looking her over, amber eyes riveting again on her face. Orihime was taken away and back by the force behind them. Such a terrible ferocious thing lay behind those eyes. She wanted to speak - entreat Kurosaki-kun to hold her and soothe her tell her that Sado-kun's head _was_n't staring up at her from the floor, decapitated, loosened muscles with it and his tongue lolling out touching the wooden floor beneath her feet.

It was a horrible - ugly sight but Orihime couldn't blink give her eyes that mercy of a shut-in behind lids. Gravity wouldn't let her. As if to command her attention, the floor vibrated, the air wavered like a living thing and she felt the stable ground vanish beneath her feet.

"Do you know, Inoue?" He hesitated and there was an instance of Kurosaki-kun looking out at her from those beautiful eyes of a hunter. "Where my body is...?"

And of course poor in-love Orihime wanted to answer. She wanted to give it back to him what he seeked but in the same breath didn't know how to. She felt utterly useless dangling on an invisible string inches from the floor. She sweated and tears sprung to her burning eyes.

_Where was Rangiku-san? Wouldn't Rangiku-san tell her how to answer and help Kurosaki-kun?_

"N-no." she whimpered, forcing the sounds out of her throat and onto her leaden tongue and lips. "..sorry." _I'm sorry for being worthless to you again, Kurosaki-kun_.

"Hn." His palm leveled in her face and gravity became a force like how Ochi-sensei taught it was. Orihime flew backward and crashed heavily down the stairs, wood shattering, the floor tilting and upending like the world was. At the very bottom amidst the rubble and tide of sickening pain, she stared up at her one-time friend and beloved for five lifetimes and laughed - laughed until the tears came and she even laughed more 'cause she was the girl Kurosaki-kun would never look back for.

And it was_n't_ alright.

...

"Where to now?" The spiral cascade of flower petals formed behind him. He cast her a mildly searching look and the sword shrugged, "nothing. It appears that Urahara hadn't returned back there. I suppose he might've fled to Soul Society like Ryuujin-Jakka."

The elemental seemed to digest this and nodded slightly after a few minutes.

Setsuka glanced back over the townscape and then swiveled her gaze back to him, a lift in her brow indicating surprise. "You've healed."

"What?" Reverie broken, he hesitated pondering her meaning before touching his throat lightly. "Ah..yes. It's not perfect yet, there is some susceptibility remaining." The hint of smug satisfaction like one whom has consumed a full meal crossed his face, "Minazuki was most assisting in mending my flesh."

"I have no doubt about that." Setsuka muttered, discreetly hiding her revulsion. He said nothing more only indicating with a mocking chivalric gesture for her to proceed first. The sword hissed imprecations under her breath, glowering at the portal he had opened with ease - crisscrossed bands of concentric light flared in the space between. A barrier from the fine electrical charge on her skin bristling from even the light contact several feet away.

"We'll go directly to Assiah. It's a lovely country from what I recall of childhood." He instructed from somewhere behind her. "Kurosaki Isshin isn't dead like what the Shinigami would've had Ichigo believe. My father awaits most patiently in the city of Arcadia."

"Are you going to kill him?" Setsuka asked pointedly over her shoulder.

"No. I'd rather make father proud with what I aim to accomplish in the four worlds."

...

Two hours.

One-hundred and twenty minutes.

The four teams had been sent out.

No one had moved very fast. Kei observed it even as she frustratingly - waited for Takara to tally a count, register the names and ranks and get the printer set up on battery life. A few more sheets were printed on spare paper - the medics bothered about needing iodine and bandages.

Kei roughly estimated while flurry of movement went around her- that they'd had nearly sixty rolls of two-ply gauze and several rolls of Hospital-grade tape. She had a vague notion that Kurenai - a plain-faced nearly slack-jawed kid had wasted a good deal of the 'bandages' when he had panicked over the very gruesome sight of Sixth's _homunculus_ Lieutenant - ergo the sight of blood. The man now had his limbs fully attached and a few cuts healed. She suspected that a few more incidents of wastefulness had occurred and the same little brown-haired kid was to blame. Which as a result came the supply shortage.

More trees went down.

Branches hauled with more than a few scratches gained. The space became wider and the large group spread out with Takara hovering near the clusters, checking and rechecking her data on the Satcom. An interval before and Kei had approached Komamura, asking in quiet tones of the old man's health - a polite term for asking whether or not he still lived.

The wolf Taichou hadn't so easily resolved her hard-line suicidal stance, probably thinking it was an affront to his own abilities. Kei hadn't cared at the time, noticing that now the wolf averted his gaze from hers, unwilling to hold it.

"He ordered me to save myself." Komamura growled softly, very much aggrieved by it. She had said nothing else to the Shinigami, unsure of her own feelings on the matter. On one hand she hadn't had revenge - _if the old man lived. If he did not then_...

Kei sighed, wishing Takara would hurry up and assemble the team. Even as she huffed softly, stamping her sandaled feet occasionally, arms crossed over her chest, she steadily felt unease steal over her. A subtle kind of menace to being that defied natural order. She wasn't afraid of the old man. Not anymore. Never since her last reincarnation's birth into his closest circle. That was fate's doing of that she was sure. Still with the sense of perturbation came the onset of chills rippling across her exposed arms. She ceased keeping an eye on the surroundings and rubbed absently at the skin of her forearms left bare by the kosode. A stir of wind swirled across the clearing lifting a spiral of scattered leaves from the low-lying shrubs.

She flicked strands from her face before deciding on the inevitable fix of her falling mane- as annoying as it was. She moved off to the side, reaching up both hands to unfasten the loosening ribbon threaded through the strands. Getting it free, waves of light-colored hair fell to her shoulders - and something fell from it to the ground. She didn't miss the sparkling flash and went after it unthinkingly.

Her hand hesitated over the innocuous thing - Ukitake's voice came from close by.

"What is-"

But of course she saw. And froze, bent over, fingers inches from the small pinwheel hairpin. The quality was something only found in an upscale merchant catering to Seireitei's nobility, and was ..._very familiar_.

_**He slipped it into my...hair**_.

She snatched it up from the pine-needle covered ground and turned it over in her hands, eyes locked on the red slivers glinting on the dull silver stick. _He took it from Kyoraku. My God, he hasn't changed at all_.

_"__**For you."**_

Blood. Her eyes took in the measure of the dried rusty droplets. "I'm sorry." she heard herself say dully, numbly. She half-turned as if to walk in the opposite direction but was stopped surprisingly by Ukitake. He held her back, grasping her in a strong grip despite his older age.

"Don't-" she faltered under the weight of his hand. Kei bit the inside of her mouth harshly and swung her gaze back to the kindly brown of Thirteenth's Taichou. "-take everything on yourself. You weren't to blame for Shunsui's death."

"Ukitake-" she began; his hand slid up her exposed skin to cup her elbow and gently lead her back around. His gaze was intent on her face, neither angry nor judging. Kei _refused_ to see anything other than that, shivering slightly when his free hand brushed stray strands of hair from the corner of her mouth. Somehow, the air thickened with that tiny gesture, there was a frisson of something she didn't want to define.

She knew it was useless wishing someone would come - preferably Kagami, even though she knew deep down that the man before her would never _ever_ harm her. "Ukitake..I thank you.." she reached up slowly and slipped the pin into his palm, making sure his fingers had closed over it before she stepped back. "For everything."

_He would have to understand_.

She prayed he did. They were in the middle of a life or death situation. A precipice from which they could easily tumble into the darkness. And she...she was - _The reason for so much pain_.

"Keiko." Kagami said, turning sharply to her, the very screen of the satcom rippled, the static waves breaking up the connection. A pale-cheeked Takara stood beside him, her eyes large in her face, "K-Keiko..." Third's Lieutenant _whimpered_.

_The kido failed. Toya and Hachigen Ushoda's - one of the best damned casters and a former sub-commander of the para-military force..._

And of course she damned well knew. Knew why her body was reacting in a frightened, sickened way. Why her hypothetical hackles were raised and many others were completely ceasing motion and staring at each other and then up the wide open blue sky above them.

"Where?" she asked simply, flatly.

"Near the closest on this side of the west. Entry point," Takara lost a little of her fear, reading off the coordinates without so much as glancing at the screen. "Two-hundred miles point sixty-four on the compass, predicted destination..." she hesitated, swallowing with some difficultly. "The city of Arcadia."

"The girls..." _had __**he**__ realized they were there?_

"We don't know if they're there." Kagami interposed hurriedly.

Takara looked between them, using her free hand to type rapidly on the qwerty keyboard. Kei felt her insides plummet as the Lieutenant curved her arm in, the small rectangular screen facing outward fully. "Yes we do." Takara said evenly, only a slight tremor rocking her voice. "This feed was from six hours ago."

All she could think of seeing the frozen still from the surveillance feed, was the passing thought.

_Why is this happening? _

...City of Arcadia...

Kurosaki Isshin wasn't having a good day. Moreover a good year. Being a widowed father was trying enough without having a woman he considered the epitome of evil being his son's dearest. The thought alone kept him awake most nights, souring his stomach in other times. All in all it had not sat well with the man to accept a modicum of concern from the very same woman. For although she possessed a fine face, a polite disposition that was inborn from birth as a Noble, she had all the qualities he feared.

Power.

Influence.

And damned if he could not see her face and see Kanae's. Kanae that stupid girl who had saved him seconds before dying - his deepest guilt side by side with a lack of being unable to save his wife made life barely tolerable. He stared around the rather large open space of the common room and glowered at the tasteful decorations. Sunlight streamed from a huge skylight above in the slanted high ceiling, many rooms adjoined that one leading to smaller bedrooms, four bathrooms and a kitchen area roughly the size of his kitchen and dining room put together. It had not occurred to Kurosaki Isshin that she had money.

On a fit of whim and just plain damn curiosity he had wandered into the silver-plaqued quarters that bore a nameplate with her name on it. Inside had been a nice room with a lovely view of the bustling downtown center and a closet full of clothing from one of Japan's premier department stores. Everything had the tags still. It seemed the owner did not visit the townhouse very often.

Isshin had wandered from there back through the maze of rooms and mentally counted the block of five-story brick buildings dressed with facades of ornate cornices and other old-time details like out of the ancient Western world.

Five.

With an addition across the street surrounded by a bakery and a milliner's shop that had a SOLD sign on it. He was willing to bet that sixth one was under title-holding to one of the Juppongatana. He suspected they owned the whole row, outfitting the quarter full of gleaming appliances, furniture in subdued elegant design and technology that was top of the line as far as the surveillance cameras he'd accidentally stumbled upon in one of the front rooms went.

Why anyone needed surveillance on a street they owned was beyond him. The street did connect to a crossroads however, a thoroughfare he now watched, crossing several rooms including one the girls were comfortably sleeping in, on a beige chaise lounger. From a huge bay window with a convenient window seat he looked out over the antiquated city and inhabitants dressed closely similar to a mix of high-collared suits for the men and detail-laden clothing of the women. It was a world where time had slowed. The streets were cobblestone, the streetlamps beautiful works of green metal and fluted glass sconces interspersed on sidewalks that were smoothened from years of life traversing them.

The air was fresher, sweeter than the pollution-laden world of Earth.

And- Isshin's musings were temporarily halted. He had espied someone..that hair. Even as he failed to grasp sight of the figure slipping through the milling civilians, his anxiety lessened. That head of vivid hair he'd have known in the dark.

Ichigo.

His son.

But why was Ichigo passing by the townhouse? Was his idiot son confused as to the location and simply looking around-? That all seemed probable as Isshin considered throwing open the sash and sticking his head out to yell directions. In fact his hand had already lifted, shoving the curtains back clangingly on the metal rod above, decision made to open the window. It wasn't until a few moments later when he had unlatched the ancient brass hardware and shoved the panel upward into its metal casing that his eye fully captured the face of his son.

Ichigo was spattered in blood.

Isshin knelt on the soft cushion of the windowseat and simply stopped his motions, eyes fixated on the form moving slowly along the side of the street two stories down. His boy was clad in black - a past hip-length over jacket that had a high square collar, beneath, the kimono was lighter in color richly patterned it seemed to his scrutinizing eyes. Ichigo's bright hair was also longer, flatter, the tips just touching the collar, the back end slightly lifted as if ruffled.

"D-Dad?" Yuzu's voice punctured his attention. Isshin half turned, glancing over his shoulder to see his little strawberry-blond girl rub her eyes and frown at the sunlight streaming in the open window. Yuzu was clad in soft pink monkey-patterned pajama pants and matching top. Her short hair was ruffled from sleep and she carried the stuffed body of the mod soul with her.

"Everything's alright, honey. Just go back to sleep." He ordered with false cheer. Yuzu seemed slightly more alert after the eye-rubbing and glanced around the spacious office with its corner desk bearing the Oleander seal of Fourth Division of the Juppongatana corps.

"Where are we, dad?" she asked somewhat louder, swinging her gaze back to him. Isshin cracked a grin, a niggling-nagging sense beginning to prod harder at the edge of his consciousness thought. He recognized the extension of himself that was Engetsu desperate it seemed to speak to him. _Not now_, he thought to the weapon and refocused back to his daughter, hearing movement from the other room heralding Karin's soon arrival.

"Somewhere safe." Isshin said, plastering a fake grin on his face. "Hey you hungry? I'm sure I saw some of that strawberry pocky you-" then. Then. Something prickled the back of his neck, a ripple of flesh-crawling phobia like a child's absolute terror of the dark flooded him suddenly, unaccountably. Isshin wore his fake smile, noticing Yuzu's sudden stock-stillness, her blinking stare beyond him -past him. The door opened a little wider behind her and Karin appeared, still sleepy-eyed, in navy shorts and a T-shirt.

He suddenly had a very. _Very bad feeling_.

"Ichi-nii?" Yuzu asked quite innocently, the plush lion falling soundlessly to the floor from her slack grip.

Isshin felt his smile slide off cold from his mouth and turned back to the window he had neglected.

A few centimeters away, hovering just outside the open pane was his son, staring back at them with very cold, deadened of emotion gold-flecked eyes.

...

The apparition lingered an arm reach away. The metal casing of the window vibrated, rattled slowly then tenaciously, a grating rasping sound. Isshin started up from the windowseat, his lumbering Gigai lacking the grace of a Shinigami's shunpo. He regretted his choice to stay in the temporary body, scooping up the girls, ignoring their mild protests and questions as he went through the door.

They couldn't hear Engetsu hammering at his master's psyche to flee the place where that _thing_ was. "It's gonna be alright." Isshin found himself murmuring, nearly stumbling in haste to spin about the common room. The office was two hallways back through a maze of interconnecting rooms but he fancied after the ominous crash-in of the outer wall...that he caught the sound of footsteps, very light crossing into the first hallway. "Daddy's got you." Damn it! If only he could remember the layout of the plexiglass map he'd looked at prior to entering the townhouse. A glimmer of recollection came to him just then and he made his hurried way around the furniture shifting his grip on the girls so that one was over each shoulder.

"Aww dad!" Yuzu protested immediately, "we _can_ walk!"

"You know how he is, Yuzu." Karin dryly said, glowering balefully. "He don't listen until you -" it was a scene that played out too often in the Kurosaki household. Isshin sweated visibly, feeling the folded collar of his black polo stick uncomfortably to his skin. "Quiet!" he snapped, cutting off Karin's usual knuckle sandwich. Risking a glance back, he thought he saw a brief flicker of movement down the darkened hall. He didn't linger to see the source of the approaching reiatsu.

Once in the gleaming chrome and stainless range and island equipped with center ceiling rack, pots that were motionless clanked together, as if a ripple had passed through them. Isshin stared wildly around, darting for the door set in a shadowy corner. Striding toward it, he with difficulty yanked on the knob, the panel banging forcefully against the side of the counter. Yuzu flinched, grasping as much of his shirt as she could, squeaking helplessly. Karin rolled her eyes but said nothing more for the time being. Isshin was glad of that, hastily sweeping the metal spiral of stairs going three flights more up and two more long flights down to the emergency exit. A few static bulbs lined the turns on the landings, shedding solitary illumination in the otherwise murky stairwell.

Midway down, Yuzu suddenly piped up, alarmed. "We forgot Bostov! Dad, we have to go back!"

"I'll get you another Bostov! Don't you worry, Yuzu-chan! Daddy's got youuu!"

"Yeah." Karin muttered, "that's what I'm worried about." He chuckled forcedly at her wit, praying against hope that the door would be uncoded. At the very bottom, the metal panel loomed with a red button depress - undeniably modern. With some relief, he punched it, waiting impatiently for the portal to unseal, some mechanized lock untriggered shot back and the door opened with a hiss of de-pressurized air - he grabbed it and forced it open farther, diving out into the sunshine of the bustling day.

Few civilians glanced at him. For a few seconds, he breathed in, shooting quick glances up and down the thoroughfare. Already a few were gathering beneath the wrecked wall two stories up. The casement lay twisted on the stones, its frame bent wildly out of shape. Isshin took one glance at it and turned around, nearly coming face to face to a pale-complexioned young woman. Her thin black hair hung straight past her shoulders, at the very top a peach-like gathering was held in place by a gilt hair ornament.

"So this is Kurosaki Isshin, your reincarnation's sire." The woman's malevolent reiatsu was purple with pinpricks of yellow like a bruise. Though not overtly palpable it still wavered like the notes of a silent song, spreading a pestilential charge over his skin. Even as her words hit home, his heavy brow furrowed. _Reincarnation - Ichigo =?_ Isshin stepped back, wavering between a decision to flee or fight with the girls there.

Neither seemed a viable option.

The woman made no move to cover the short distance of his retreat. He soon noticed the abrupt silence of the block, risking taking his eyes off her for a second to sweep the surrounding long street - not a soul moved. Frozen they were from a child holding hands with its mother to a storekeeper sweeping the front end of the cobbled walk in front of the store. A muting of life had descended yet _they_ were unaffected.

"Dad, what's going on?" Yuzu sounded dangerously close to tears, peering over his shoulder. For reassurance, he bounced her a little like he used to when they were very little. The memory of course included Ichigo's sour face and -

There he was.

The suddenness of this thing's reappearance had not fully prepared Isshin as a father or as a Shinigami for that matter. His heart stopped for a single beat, a frightened flutter afterwards that ached as though the organ longed to burst from its mortal coil. He understood now how many felt when confronted by something unknown.

Something entirely alien to their way of life.

Something that should not have existed.

If asked, he couldn't have said what exactly was wrong with the youthful male. Though his clothes being decidedly of an old-fashioned air, vivid locks longer, framing an ovalish with sharp cheekbones countenance, it was not unfamiliar. The horror of it was Isshin could see Ichigo's face if he looked closely.

Yet gut instinct screamed that this was not the precious little boy he and Masaki had brought into the living world. The girls had lapsed into watchful silence, half-turned in the cradle of his arms, twisting practically to see this _other_.

Isshin barely trusted his voice to speak. "Wh-who are you?"

"Your son." The thing said with a half-smile that Ichigo had never worn. It was too malicious-tainted, too false to fit the mouth that formed it."No. No, you're not." how he knew this, he wasn't precisely sure. Shaking his head briskly, he smiled himself at the irony of what he was about to do. Striding casually to the side of the townhouse row, he carefully set each girl down, patting their dark and light heads. Karin stared at him, face pinched by anxiety beneath her impassive coldness. She darted glances to where the thing stood and it took him a few minutes to realize that she _could_ see the thing and the woman with the rotting arms.

A sense of duty came over him strongly.

He was the only one these girls had. To fall would be to admit he had been worthless in preserving Masaki's memory.

"Dad?"

"Shhh."

"Goat-face, what're you-"

"Shhh." More insistently. He smiled fondly down at them, "I want you to run, 'kay? While daddy distracts .._them_." he hesitated for a beat, but continued on as if their twin looks of doubt weren't killing him inside. "I want you to run very fast. Do not look back. Whatever happens do not...go to me or.." this was the hardest. "_Your brother_." He said it so softly in a hiss that only dawning fright glimmered in Yuzu's brown eyes, solemn-faced she was, expression mirrored on Karin's knowing look.

"Dad, don't-"

"It'll be alright." He maintained, finally letting go with trembling hands. Stepping back with a swift almost haste-filled step. The sound of his loafers scuffing the stones sent sharp rapports of noise to bounce up and down the thoroughfare. "I apologize." Isshin said, striding back up to the center line a short distance away from the thing. The woman accompanying it, walked circles around a nearby civilian woman, seeming to be inspecting the Assiahian's clothing. He hadn't an interest in watching her motions save for the idea that he would facing two rather than one.

"The girls were in the way." Isshin tossed off the comment off-handedly. Hearing just then the muted clatter of their sandals - Karin pulling her twin along and Yuzu's soft protests.

"But, dad-"

"Goat-face'll be alright! C'mon!"

"You're a devoted parent." The thing smiled genially. "I appreciate that. It's certainly a pity aneue and I couldn't have had you as our father in the past."

Isshin hadn't any idea what the thing spoke of. Rather didn't want to know who or what it referenced. He suspected - and that was plenty. "Yeah," he drawled, taking time to eye the closest, make sure the girls got as far as possible. "Certainly. What I would've wanted, beasts for children."

A slight tic like the jump of a muscle ruined the perfect smile. "I hadn't a desire to erase you, after all you and Masaki raised my _last card_. I am grateful for that..."

Isshin hadn't been expecting it. The thing called Ichigo - a card. _An object_. No longer human but an instrument to be used. That was the bitterest of all. The thing watched him non-aggressively, no hint of emotion other than surface-lingering apathy in the beautiful inhuman eyes.

"That being said, where is Ichigo's body?"

He didn't expect that either. "What..?"

"I need it." The thing persisted, sounding quite earnest. "If I'm to regain what I've lost, I require our body. Now where have all you bad Shinigami hid it?" The manner of the creature took him aback. It was if the thing were the adult and he the child, being chastised. Isshin corrected his thoughts, taking his time in answering, palming the soul-separator in his pocket.

"No one lives forever." He thought it was immortality, that elusive dream of a fountain of youth attained by the four primal forces of creation: the elements. _But wasn't it only in their true form-?_

The final Element looked unimpressed upon the transformation, nor not so small power increase. Isshin discarded his Gigai for the last time, stepping into the bright sunshine in full black regalia.

"Humans don't. Isn't that what makes their lives tiny bursts of light?" The elemental spoke to the sky. "I have envied them that joy of true death. They have a right to love whomever they will, live their lives in a constant drive to the full extent before the oblivione of death takes them. Is that not a fulfilled existence?"

"I..." _don't know_.

The elemental gave him a pointed stare, losing the dreamy distant look. "What are you doing?"

He had been on the point of unsheathing his sword, tossing off a quick grin to the other's blank stare. "What any good father would do."

"Your meaning is lost on me."

"I would think so. I see now that I have no choice but to destroy the life I gave my son. It's my right as a parent and as a protector to get rid of a threat even if it happens to masquerade as him."

Enlightenment dawned, for once he was glad that a smile did not make an immediate reappearance. "Ah...you are mistaken, Isshin. Ichigo is inside me. He -ah, couldn't handle the stress of our linked souls."

_Linked-?_

The ex Shinigami Taichou was an emotional man. Learned to be in the years of living among humans and raising his family. Kurosaki Isshin realized then, the enormity of what he had helped bring into life. This thing was - _the elemental of Earth_. Without it being spoken- asked- he knew with a plummeting sensation as he took a firm hold on Engetsu. His blade shook once lifting offensively in the Earth element's direction and no more, steeled for death like its master's soul. Briefly Isshin thought of Urahara and wondered if the perverted shopkeeper had gotten what he had wanted. Was Urahara Kisuke laughing now at the state of the world? Or was he fully and completely dead, the laughter and life gone forever from his eyes? Isshin hadn't the strength to ask, taking in one breath and then two.

Neither calmed the race of his heart - the elemental had tilted his chin at him, in a questioning angle, as if attempting to figure out what he was doing. The girls were a little farther now, nothing had stopped them. He prayed silently to the Gods whom had abandoned him, _that they at least survive. His precious girls_..

Isshin lost his lassitude, facing the instrument of destruction - remembering half-whispered stories, bearer of the ancient tales afraid of what listened - might've heard and responded from its exile within Hell.

_Its name was forbidden_.

"So be it." Earth murmured, his gaze narrowing with a flicker of emotion like disappointment on the figure of _his father_ leveling the last of the three moon swords unrepentantly, ready to sacrifice life and limb for a goal he could not possibly achieve. It was waste of soul and blade.

"This has turned out to be very trying on my patience," he sighed, appearing subtly aggrieved in countenance, making no move to release the tip of a spear strapped to his back. "Why won't anyone simply tell me where _my_ body is?"

Isshin wished for one last time that he might see Masaki again.

...

They were huddled beside a metal letterbox. Frozen with fear and the enormity of the reiatsu oozing from the figure who calmly deposited their father in a heap in the road.

Yuzu and Karin.

Alive.

Kei tossed aside Maouen's blazing blade aside and raced forward, reappearing for a split second above, her body in midair, pivoting, foot connecting to his jaw. The Earth element skidded back, tearing a track across the pavement until he caught himself on all fours. Kei landed, straightening, moderately breathless from the move. She had rarely executed the spin-kick in such close quarters. Something twinged white-hot, she grimaced and readied her stance, tossing a quick look over her shoulder to look at the girls. She would never know they had defied Isshin's orders and gone back, screaming futility at their brother - begging their father not to die.

"Are you..." then faltered. They were both on their knees on the hard pavement, panting. Unable to catch their breath. A look of pity crossed her face. _Poor things. They had just seen their father die_. A few minutes was it all it would've taken for their blood to be splashed across the tarmac. Kei pushed aside her emotions, useless as they were, the time for remonstrance and sympathy was not now. She was sure she deserved a greater punishment now for failing someone again.

"Kei-san..?" timid, hesitant. It was Yuzu. Her favorite of the pair, though she despised children. Anyone else would've interpreted it as buried remorse for being unable to _ever_ bear any. She felt no such thing, missing the weight of Maouen in her hand, tilting her glance back to the girls and saw the haunted look in Yuzu's large brown eyes.

"Don't hurt, Ichi-nii, please."

...

They were far enough to unleash Maouen. The sword came readily to her hand, blocking blow after blow from the black spear. Kei ducked sharply down, hearing the whistle of cut air from above. In the narrow space, she rotated Maouen's cutting edge and sliced deeply, thickly into his stomach. She stepped back from the shower of gore, knowing that any under circumstance, a normal opponent would've fallen.

_One who was not an Elemental_.

In that moment, the weight of the last few hours boiled down that moment. She stared at the deep gash she'd carved into his torso, clothing sheared to fraying edges ending in a cut across the base of the throat. He had stumbled back, bleeding profusely then the longer she watched, a bubbling lifted the cut flesh, goopy knobs of it rolled together fusing - _how?_ - and as she stood there, stunned - someone moved out of her field of sight. Kei partially turned, catching the motion. It was an Assiahian civilian - two of them actually. Wearing dark coveralls, faces grimed with coal from a nearby natural refinery.

_Why were they holding pipes?_

Then to her disbelieving eyes, they lifted the trailing leaden grey burdens and as if in a daze, clumsily swung out toward each other. She heard the sickening crunch as the first connected to the ribs of the other, the victim's swing went awry and the pipe flew with a loud clang in the street several feet away. A dumb animalistic howl erupted from the victim's throat - Kei abruptly slid her gaze to the other side, watching the same scene of unrelenting violence erupt in slow motion with a pair of shawl-clad women over long dresses.

_What was_ ...

They were surrounded by battered and dusty civilians.

Kei didn't understand. Bodies started falling all around, victims of brutal violence. She swung her gaze forward then a thought pierced her numbed consciousness. What about- she spun fully around, unheeding of the danger.

And there she saw her negligence

Karin had a rock bigger than the size of her fist, a detritus from the battle. Yuzu had a brick that she almost couldn't lift. The girls both moved sluggishly - as if spell bound - something further on caught her eye. A woman who sat atop a toppled lamplight. She played a flute... but Kei couldn't hear a single note.

"Isn't it wonderful?" A voice whispered softly behind her. "The maddened animals humans become when they abandon constraint?"

She remained frozen in place, a hand grasping the back of her scalp through her hair, vise-like. The remaining free arm snaked around between her breasts obscenely, tightly. Fingers grasping her chin, forcing her look straight ahead. She felt the searing touch of each finger-pad bite into her jaw. As if touched by a red-hot brand, she struggled, uncaring of anything but freeing herself from the noisome hold.

"_Stop_." Kei tried to order. What came out was a low whimper that she didn't recognize as hers. Earth's presence directly behind her was like some malignant tumor crawling beneath her skin. He chuckled lowly. "Look." whispering huskily inches above her ear almost exact in response, a long-suppressed shudder of eroticism stirred in her gut, awakened something like burning in her loins.

_no. no. no. no. no. no_. Her mind repeated frantically, eyes riveted by command - unable to resist, unable to speak as every drop of blood in her body froze. The marionettes of the twins clawed feebly at each other in a mockery of animosity. Rocks dropped, bricks to the way side leaving half-formed bruises already mottling into sickening hues on their pale skin. Doe-eyed Yuzu ignored the rake of her twin's nails down her cheek and calmly placed her hands to the upper sides of the dark-haired girl's face. Karin's short locks were mussed from the brief scrap.

"St-sto-stop it!" Kei choked out, her throat closing up on the simple words. Her voice barely carried in the short distance, dying at the end. Earth's breath and almost painful - caressing grip on her scalp kept her in place. She breathed in short bursts, her heart threatening to explode from its flesh-casing. The victors of the of the civilian massacre turned deaf, dumb eyes to their cohorts and fell upon each other tearing and scratching at one another like wild animals.

Yuzu alone knelt over her twin, hesitating - Kei realized with a new shock and simultaneous burst of hope in her ice cold body, that her words had reached the child. Surging again against her captor, Kei parted her lips to speak only to see why - why - why Yuzu had stopped. The stronger of the two had found Isshin's katana, miraculously unbroken, a living nightmare in itself to her eyes. Karin had angled it upward and driven it through the shoulder-blade awkwardly of her twin. Yuzu felt the pain and gasped before with blind aggression rammed her thumbs into the staring glazed over eyes of Karin, digging them in until the jell had burst, spurting blood and fragmented retinas out over the girl's bruised face and Karin's howl had joined another harsher one echoing and bouncing in the blood-scented air.

It took her a long moment to realize the sound came from her own throat. Kei screamed - piercingly as though her soul were being driven out of her body by hammer blow. As if every inch of her were being ripped apart - in a final frenzied shriek of anguish, she felt him let go. Felt his sick smile burn through her - one of triumph savored.

Kei stumbled forward, her shaking hands crawling up over her face. Her legs couldn't hold her and she collapsed in the middle of the bloodied street, the stones thumping hard into her knees. Choked sounds clawing their way out of her throat, through her splayed fingers she could see the girls frozen together in some sort of sick tableau.

"Why...?" She feel him behind her, not far, not touching, only watching with the same fervor burning in dim gold-flecked eyes that she remembered so bitterly from her first life- from her very beginning of existence. "Weren't they your family?" her voice rose to a piercing shriek, a solitary accusation that bounced and rang sharply in the stilted thick air. A past tense one she chose as the two little girls bodies were torn apart by Chiri-Gui's flawless execution.

Blood flew high in the air, yet more slathered the curbs and rounded stones of the street. Flecks struck Kei's hands, wetly. She ignored it and swallowed and breathed the copper-stench of blood and faint odor of fecal matter lingering. The silent dirge she could not hear played on as the sword spirit she did not recognize, wandered away, playing as if lost in a dystopian daydream.

"They are Ichigo's. And he shall be very happy to see them again. Wouldn't you agree, Kei?" He said at length, dismissing the Dust-eater. "On the joy one feels at seeing long lost loved ones again?"

She listened.

Her hands fell to her lap.

And shook her head once, her lips calling forth Maouen's pure blue fire to burn it all away.

"Incinerate."

The neglected sword flared a sharp ice blue light and the first flames ignited.

Earth smiled at her _agreement_, before flash-stepping with the speed of the deceased Soi Fong, from the conflagration.

...

The city of Arcadia, the largest and most beautiful civilized utopia in the western continent burned. Kei stumbled from the horror, past the razing buildings, feeling embers catch and snare her black shihakusho. Traces of soot darkened her face like tears as she broke through the last line and out into the clear twilight of the flat plain extending in a narrow strip separating the forest wilderness from the Capital.

A few figures stood grouped together at the outskirts of the green verdure. Kagami was the first face she recognized. The Element of Water's expression a drawn up crease of concern breaking into something akin to relief and finally he started forward, a slender form in loose black and grey. The contrast of the somber color and the smoke changing the day to a clouded night framed his vivid blue eyes captivatingly.

"..sorry." she forced out. He had extended an arm to her, perhaps meaning to steady her. In reality, Kei stumbled against him, barely caught by the arm, clinging onto it as though it were a line of salvation. "I'm sorry..."she mumbled again, tasting blood and ash and salt on her tongue. The skies were slowly darkening, filling with the acrid blackness of the fire.

"My God...what happened?" Hitsugaya clearly spoke aloud nearby. Kei had no true answer to give. No pardon that could be bestowed. She had failed - in every damned sense of the word. And still felt to the very core of her being that she had failed the girls. _Was that all it came down to? Was she not the Element of Fire damned for her crimes? Was she really so powerless?_

The frustration boiled up in her throat like acid, scourging her insides. She averted her face from the rest of the small team, which by reiatsu and murmur she identified distantly as Hinamori, Ukitake, Hitsugaya and Kuchiki Rukia. She was only surprised that out of the Juppongatana, only Kagami had come. Now she leaned heavily on him as though he were a brace. A bulwark against the nightmare that was reality.

"I'm...sorry." she inflected, dry-eyed as she had to the bodies of the nine slain Shinteichou when they had lain in state within Tsukikage's scarred hall. The two words explained her plummeting hopelessness as something drearier than a fate resigned to demise. There were worse fates than death - _and she had condemned the Kurosaki family to spend eternity in it_. Kei knew this - bitterly. Kagami as well. Perpetuity seemed to stretch before the Water element lightly and ever so gently curved his arm, resting his palm against the middle of her back - in understanding.

_"It wasn't your fault."_ The gesture said and that spoke a thousand words that no one else could ever speak or hope to understand.

The city burned on.

-TBC

AN: 2-14-2012 This is anti-love-ish I'm thinking. Not even Bad Romance quirky more like Horror of our Love from Ludo or Snow White Queen from Evanescence. ^-^ thanks for reading this chapter on the day of love, lol I slaved over it and yes it nearly killed me to deliver it ^^

2/15/2012 actual post date.

No flames!

Reviews loved :~)


	101. The white tomb

_Sorrow lasts through this night_

ShiKai CH.94: The White Tomb

Soot-streaked, hair falling in wind-blown waves around her face, the Captain of Fourth clung onto the fair-haired man's arm. They didn't embrace for it was unseemly - never touchy-feely but not quite perfect in masking emotions. Jushiro watched the two elementals, feeling not quite a part of the scene.

_That was something meant for private grieving_.

"It was a lie then?" Rukia asked hollowly, speaking the very thing dwelling in the backs of everyone's minds. Ukitake glanced at her, watching as she swung intent - but not quite accusing eyes to the Element of Fire. "You...tried to save them?"

The one addressed didn't stiffen or flinch but there was a flicker of emotion akin to torment in her expression. "Of course." she said softly, barely heard above the roar and whoosh of the terrible fire. "You do me a disservice, Kuchiki-san, to think that I would've harmed _them_."

Though his squad member had been chastised coolly, Rukia showed no apology nor flush of anger, lowering her gaze to the ground as though guilt-filled. "Why would Soi Fong-Taichou lie? What was the purpose?"

"I'd think it was clear, Kuchiki-san. To turn resentment, anger and above all else, to make it seem as though the enemy of the world were before you."

Silence among them.

Even though there was no trace of bitterness he could easily detect, Jushiro was certain no one could take such pain without feeling something shrivel inside. Rukia didn't. 'Shiro-kun spoke up finally too, "could you clarify something for me. Just among us," he said, garnering her attention. 'Murasaki' wasn't crying - her face was the same sedate mask it always was.

"What is it?" when she spoke, it was calmly.

"In a hypothetical situation of sacrifice, would it be possible to simply deal a fatal blow to the heart region and kill ..the fourth Element?"

Little Hinamori looked alarmed at '_sacrifice_' but waited wordlessly for the answer.

"It..would.." she hesitated, frowning, "be a wasted venture, Hitsugaya-Taichou."

"Why? Why would not simply destroying the heart kill it?"

Rukia looked angry at Toshiro's dropping of giving Kurosaki Ichigo his name back. It was as though Kurosaki Ichigo was an animal that required putting down and they were the scared band of hunters.

'Murasaki''s mouth twitched like she fought off a smile.

"Because with all due respect, Hitsugaya-Taichou. I carved his chest open and saw no heart to obliterate."

...

Though it was the truth, that didn't mean she inwardly winced at her own words. Kei pulled away from Kagami and crossed her arms over her chest, to her back was the distant glow of flame and smoke, the sharp pinpoints of illumination snared in the small Taichou's turquoise eyes.

She caught sight of the many different emotions he tried to hide.

The strongest being fear.

"We can stay together." Kei began, "we'll have a better chance of survival. Tsukikage at this point,_ regrettably_ is unavailable." she spoke that part bitterly. "As well as the safehouses we maintained in the city you see before you."

_The townhouses are ash. The life within and out is dead on the streets, charring into unrecognizable piles of smoking detritus_. The image remained solidly in her mind, imprinted like a brand. "There is the city of Lacrimis on the sea coast. I suggest we pull out toward there, once the officers guarding Tsukikage have evacuated and rendezvoused with us."

"When will that be?"

"Soon." this time it was Kagami who answered. "While you were .._gone_, Kei, we patched Toya. He stopped at Arkley to ..pick up some _supplies_." No one seemed to notice his hesitation on the delicate matter. _Uniforms was the missing word_. She nodded slightly, looking pensive. "Did you tell him to go around the south, rather than straight on through the Greylands?"

A troubled flicker in blue eyes. "No. I thought..."

"Well you thought wrong. I'm hoping he won't be an idiot and charge in first."

"So, you're not worried for...?"

She rolled her eyes discreetly. "Of course not. Elbe is intelligent enough to bypass something she knows is dangerous. She does know her own limits."

He gave her a strange look, clearly unconvinced. Finally Hitsugaya interposed, "how many can we expect?"

"Just three. The Lieutenant of Fourth and two seated officers from Kazeatari's Division. We couldn't spare many just to guard the castle while we were gone. On the other hand their combined strength wouldn't be enough."

"I..._gathered_ that."

A moment of silence in which everyone was lost in their own uncomfortable thoughts. Kei felt chilled inwardly though the illusion of fire burned strongly to her back. Then a crackle and the sound of spitting, surprised she turned in time to see a tiny body be forcibly ejected from the conflagration.

"Kon!" Kuchiki was the first to react, starting forward to scoop up the smoking plush lion. The mod soul hacked loudly, struggling at first then as the others crowded around, the lion let out a sob and flew out of her hands to her chest. "Nee-chan! I was so scared I was going to burn to a crisp and never see you again!"

Rukia sighed, rolling her eyes, "you little perv..."

Kei eyed the enthusiastic display and remembered Yuzu carrying the mod soul around. She was saddened at the recollection. "I bet he was hiding when the fighting was going on. I didn't see him at all."

Rukia sighed a little, "that sounds about right."

"I heard that!" snapped the plushy. "Anyway! There's something important I need to tell you!" for emphasis he waved his soot-covered arms. Rukia grimaced at the grime and started to pluck the lion off her chest. "What? Like how many women you've chased after?"

"No! It's about that creepy guy! That one that slew Isshin-otousan!"

"Wha-what do you know about Ichigo?"

"Hmph. That thing wasn't Ichigo."

"Just tell us, Kon." Kei said more reasonably.

The plushy looked ready to leap into her arms, seeing sparkles. Rukia however caught him in time, holding him up by the head in an iron-claw grip, "tell us!"

"O-oh right! He's after Ichigo's body! That's why he came here! I overheard him talking about how he needed it or something with that pretty woman he's with!"

"Was it Orihime?"

"No, sadly my lovely Goddess stayed with Geta-boshi the last I saw-!"

Rukia squeezed Kon's head harder, he squeaked and went on hurriedly, "I-I mean you're prettier, Nee-chan-owww! Why must you treat me so!"

_His...body?_ Then as Kei puzzled over it, she realized the single most important thing missing from the equation. "We're dead."

"What?" Kagami stared at her in turn as if she were crazy.

"We, our material bodies are dead." she said, "his isn't. That means..."

"Means what? How is that going to help our situation?" Hitsugaya pointed out. Kei turned to him fisting her hand lightly, "don't you see? He must be looking for Ichigo's body to destroy it and thereby regain full power."

"Y-you mean, that wasn't..."

"When we die-" she sighed, "oh I'll explain it later. What's important now is keeping Ichigo's body safe and that means getting to it before _him_. Kon, do you know where it is?"

Rukia had clapped her hand over the plush lion's mouth to keep him from interrupting while the Shinigami talked, now she removed her hand for him to fidget and struggle. "Y-yeah! That's what I wanted to tell you too! Geta-boshi entrusted me-"

"Get to the point." Kei muttered.

"It's in...Seireitei."

...Soul Society...

He had never seen her like this.

- Are you crying? - Even Kisuke Urahara knew where to draw the line at rudeness and manners. A fact that would've surprised some people. Therefore he was considerate. He stayed back in the shadows of falling twilight - knowing Yoruichi knew he was there and didn't care.

The sweeping lawn of Kukaku's new place of residence was pocked with burnt grass, scented with burnt grass from explosives going off prematurely. Inside the straw-roofed abode, Kukaku herself was seated alone, smoking a pipe and gazing at the picture of her dead brother.

The last time Kisuke had risked his neck to loiter near the closed door, he'd heard Kukaku's bombastic tones softer, questioning the grainy blue eyes.

"Why, brother?"

It could've been a _why_ for everything.

He thought that now, watching Yoruichi stand in the gathering dusk and cross her arms over her bosom as though cold. _Shivering_.

"I was right there." she said, deep melodic tones dripped with latent venom. Kisuke guessed not necessarily directed toward himself. He sighed and wished his head wasn't bare. One could look at see the emotions swimming in his dull eyes as he went forward to his longtime friend.

"We all were."

"I should've done something."

"You're alive. I'm alive. We have a chance to stop-"

"With what?" and this time Yoruichi turned to face him, her expression flinty, yellow-green eyes accusing. Kisuke stared back at her impassively, wearing a tiny frown on his supposed to be dancing mouth. Wordlessly, he took a hold of her arm and lead her back toward the house.

She followed somewhat reluctantly, aquiline grace next to his bumbling steps made them an incongruous pair. Farther down the main interconnecting hall, Ganju's loud voice was raised in protestation - Kukaku shrieked at him to be quiet and do as she said - somehow the thud that came on the heels of the shouting match wasn't funny anymore.

Kisuke knew it had something to do with securing lodgings _inside_ Seireitei's walls. Some old Shiba clan house that she wanted Ganju to have ready in case of evacuation. Kisuke did think it somewhat amusing that they still thought they could hide behind four giant guardians and a fragile outer barrier.

- no one was safe -

And he still thought it amusing.

Kisuke lead her to a corner guest room. A square of three walls and one with a doorway. On a tatami mat on the floor surrounded at the head and feet with candles - like a memorial for the already dead - Kurosaki Ichigo remained lifeless. He had been dressed in a white T-shirt and ripped jeans. The only one whom Kisuke had told of the plan to remove Ichigo's body from the fake shoten, was Kon. The little perverted mod soul had gone missing not long afterward but Kisuke thought the stuffed toy might've been taken by one of Isshin's daughters.

He doubted their location itself was in any direct harm.

Yoruichi stayed beside him, a solid presence of silence and unhappy eyes.

"This.." he extended his hand like a ringmaster of old, like a charlatan hawking miracles to the masses. "Is our key to survival. We have the ..." here was a guess. One he as a scientist deciphered as the truth.

"The Element of Earth's human body, with it still living he can be killed." _I'm sure of it_.

"And what happens, Kisuke." Yoruichi whispered back, her beautiful caramel-tinted skin somehow pallid in the flickering candlelight. "If we fail and this body dies? What then?"

He smiled easily as he always did and pulled the unresisting woman closer to his side.

"He will be unstoppable." _He will be the most magnificent and powerful creature to ever exist and I want to see that_...The scientist within, burned to see that 'God,' one whom was worthy of the title the deceased Aizen Sosuke had coveted. Kisuke felt the woman pressed so close, shudder and bow her proud head. The loss of Soi Fong had struck her deeply, though her golden-yellow eyes remained dry and her mouth set in a firm uncomfortable line.

"We will be facing the end of the world as we know it."

...Assiah...

"Ugly things." The sword spirit hissed. They had been drawn from the netherworld of Hueco Mundo to the city burning brilliantly on the plain. Whether it was the destruction that lured them or the pervasive scent of reiatsu she did not wish to waste another moment thinking of. The pair of horned fiends lacked intelligence - rationality - they could not understand the stark beauty painted in billowing canvasses of black smoke pouring toward the violet smeared sky.

That was true splendor.

Setsuka snapped out the reed-thin flute from her sleeve, flicking the ends apart to reveal a razor edge wire that snapped with vertical force. She drew her slim wrist back and pivoted her waist to the side, jerking the almost-invisible wires around the nearest Hollow like spider's silk and twisted, decapitating them in a rain of gore.

Delicately her fine features crossed, the aftershock of falling bodies sending tremors and spatters to splash the hem of her gown. Setsuka lowered her hidden blade and used her other hand to grasp folds of her light purple kimono. She scowled distastefully and stepped out of the spreading puddle forming beneath her bare feet, stalking toward the figure of a man gazing out over the land to the south, beyond the last break of trees heralding the forest's edge.

"What are you going to do now?" There was no - _we_. The sword spirit knew enough of the fickle sense he had toward allies went. But he had promised her - and he never broke _his promises_. The elemental of Earth stayed quiet for some time, staring out at the expanse of land spanning to the faraway sea coast, farther in another direction a lightning storm reigned over a frosted plain - the north and to the south he turned at last, heaving his shoulders in a sigh.

"Rest. We'll head directly to Tsukikage castle."

She assented with a brief nod. "Is that wise?"

"You challenge me? I merely feel a passing weariness that I can only identify with Ichigo still living." He covered his mouth with a hand, yawning softly. "It is a strange sensation," he continued after finishing the exhalation. "Unique, I should like to savor it. There will be time enough to advance on Soul Society."

"Hn." The sword murmured noncommittally. "Do what you will. Only...were you really born in Tsukikage? I've never been here at all," she scowled slightly, her eyes darkening. "Ilena never saw much of anyplace other than the horrid living world and Seireitei."

"She was...a seated officer of Thirteenth Division, was she not?" he asked, striding slowly across the plain. The sky above was steadily choked with the pumes of the burning city. The heatless fire charred the closer grasses but made no effort to ensnare he or Setsuka. The Aizo no ken followed at a more leisurely pace, replacing her flute within the flowing trail of her left sleeve.

"The seventh seat."

"Ah." A note of understanding.

She risked a suspicious peek into his expression, glimpsing nothing but polite curiosity. He remained unreadable to her subtle probing. Perhaps that was what made him a formidable opponent. One could simply not tell if he would turn on a moment's notice and lay a blade to the throat, all proverbial of course. He wasn't fond of hand-to-hand combat.

"I wondered why you had chosen a fragile soul to bear you in arms."

"Are you calling my Ilena weak?" she had entirely stopped, her form tautening like a wire, betraying her blade-like form.

He didn't pause and wait, simply placed his back to her and walked on, flattening the grasses around each step in a small radius, crushing the stalks with _power unseen_. Setsuka scowled at the audacity he dared show to her face. It resembled a literal slap barring her temporary flesh being struck. Setsuka's pride stung, her teeth gritted but she remained compelled to follow, animosity radiating in static bursts from her aura.

"In response to you.." a flicker of amusement when she finally caught up, her willowy grace stunted by catching her foot on a rock and almost stumbling. She withheld a curse, deeming it not properly hateful to vent on the inanimate object, instead she found a hand in proximity to her lowered face. Huffing angrily, she righted her balance and sucked her teeth, averting her face from the offering.

"It's filthy." she muttered, meaning the dried blood coating his palm and slender digits.

He shrugged and withdrew. "Shirahime was another who chose to ally herself with a non-being. I only wonder because of the power and capability wasted, Setsuka. Being an ether infused blade I'd have thought that you would seek the seedling of power in a soul to carry you. Instead you chose Ilena Sumeragi and look at where you were left...wielderless."

"You speak of Shirahime, but I know she wasn't among those in the living world. How do you know who her master is?" Setsuka asked testily, her eyes narrowing. She had contrived to change the subject from herself and Ilena, before her fragile patience snapped.

"Genbu tells me that we may we may see her soon. He is...quite looking forward to it." The element finished cryptically, flashing a small smile to her, feigning obliviousness to her glower. Setsuka crossed her arms tighter beneath her bosom, wind gusted her thin dark hair, sending strands to scuttle over her sculpted cheekbones. She joined him at the very edge of the pinnacled ridge, the first of which stretched out over a cavernous land. They had reached the edge of Fire Thorn valley.

"This in my youth was called..._Anian_. Home is not far."

...

Sycophantic, the displaced Shinigami acted - according to Nanao Ise's world reflected from spattered spectacles. No matter how times she surreptitiously cleaned them the spots never came off. _Pity_. She knew she should feel something, other than that gaping emptiness in her heart - for Kami's sake she was right there. She saw Kyoraku-Taichou, old drunkard Kyoraku-Taichou be..._tortured to death_.

But she didn't lose it.

Nanao preferred to be precise, analytical and took stock of the fact that - -well Second Division's purple-haired Lieutenant was making preparations for the coming night. Everywhere bodies were shifting - making room, getting out of the way. An Arrancar that Nanao had initially been wary of seemed to be asleep on his feet and a tiny green-haired girl was smacking him anywhere she could reach with Mahogany sticks.

Some chuckled at it - one frowned, a dark-haired woman with a bronze plaque bearing the symbol of Fifth Division. Sakurai - something or other. Sakurai had her hair down, a severe part to the left let a longer sheaf frame a narrow face. Sakurai had worn glasses before - no, Nanao paused over the memory, realizing she'd seen another woman with glasses.

Nanao shook her head slightly to clear it of the trivial thought and felt the subtle weight of the tiny hairpin Ukitake had given her back. It reminded her of Burke and Hare. _Nineteenth century grave-robbers who stole from the dead_. _What made Kurosaki Ichigo any different? He was...must be, deranged. Yes, that was it. He lost his mind when he believed his family had been killed_ - her opinion on that was mixed.

But no one wanted to hear the opinion of a Taichou-less Fukutaichou. In just a few hours Nanao's safe, sheltered existence - dare she say, comfy. Had been taken away, leaving her floundering for a far distant shore that didn't exist anymore.

"Do you require assistance?" she asked, drawing up behind the purple-haired Lieutenant. Nanao's voice no matter what had a hint of sharpness to it, years of practice in overriding the drunken advances of a man many years her senior. It was done by habit but Shimizu Kimiko didn't seem to notice.

"Yes, _please_." Kimiko was everything but rude. Well-mannered but a perfect mix of commanding.

"Okay." and just as Nanao found the ground leveling out beneath her feet, a woman who looked just like her - was her except for some slight differences in facial shape and expression, stared back, wearing glasses.

"L-Lisa-san?" Nanao whispered, frozen.

And the woman looked exactly as Eighth's former Fukutaichou did, as when Nanao had last seen her.

"Nanao-chan?" Lisa asked, just as stunned.

...

Hana raced off, laughing with Kyou in her wake, wailing for her to give back his sword scabbard. Zoe trailed slower, weary like a traveler at last reaching a familiar place. Her gait at slow languorous took her across a plain of mist, farther ahead she could feel the twins' reiatsus ... then abruptly another.

Her breath caught in her throat. The mist shrouded plain disguised the identity, but she could feel it. _Noisome. Permeating_. Matching her own step, one approached - due east, her mind noted. Clenching sweating palms, she straightened her shoulders, forcing each step to take her closer, knowing she would eventually _see_ the being.

Seconds passed, Zoe's nerves were stretched thin. And then...a figure appeared at the fringes, a male clad in black. His head hung, gaze unaccountably tilted downward, longer strands of strange orange/brown colored hair framed the sides of his face, fringing his forehead, a few tousled strands stuck out in the back.

It was - _Kurosaki_.

At once she thought of hailing - speaking - but an inward sense of Shirahime recoiling, caused her to continue forward. No, perhaps it was better than they part ways. She would see eventually how the battle had fared. She would...Zoe's thoughts were temporarily snared by a peculiar detail - _red_, her eyes processed the color, defining it. _What made it so strange...?_

She trusted me. Trusted me enough to speak of her past.

_Blood - red - evocative of a battlefield. A girl's voice echoed from memory_...

- _"..the ground ran red with blood. Those who weren't torn apart lay dying in the sunlight. He stood among them." The Captain of Fourth had stood in the afternoon-lit confines of the office, the copier whirring in the background. Arms had been crossed over her black-clad breast, she had looked...cold. Veiled misery shadow-like in her violet eyes. Zoe had been transfixed, having never heard a drop spoken about the very grounds they walked on every day. An ounce of bitter history laced with violence_.

- _"Pardon me, but..who? Who was this that you speak of?" - naively she had asked._

They had passed each other.

The memory was clear as day in her mind's eye. _A shadow had passed over Kei's face even though she was wearing a faint, sardonic smile. _- _"My brother."_

For a heartbeat it seemed as though the words were spoken aloud in a soft whisper. Zoe's eyes widened, her hand flew to Shirahime's hilt, her body protesting angrily the sudden twist, she spun about - as the other _stopped_ walking.

Kurosaki was splotched in blood.

...

_Shirahime screamed piercingly, unendingly in the ice castle._

_The noisome thing invaded, befouling the pure white of the crystal world - frozen in abject horror, she stared into the encroaching darkness to see red serpent's eyes staring back at her._

_"RUN!" She screeched._

...

Zoe _wanted_ to run. Force her body to move - but remained stubbornly in place, shock frozen in every line of her features. A thin cylindrical tube protruded from her shoulder. It had pierced her through the bare skin, framed by tattered white cloth, mocha -colored skin steadily darkening with red.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked very calmly, almost serene, Shirahime was still half-mast, a short length of icy silver beneath a fleur-delis guard stuck through her black sash. Zoe felt remarkably cold. Curious in a way of zero understanding. She wanted to understand this thing's purpose. All things had a purpose for what they did. And she wanted to know its.

Gradually the coldness spread until the throbbing pain receded to a dull numbness. The ice like before in Hueco Mundo, spread in patchy thinness around the protrusion, burning her skin dermis with the sheer frigidness of the sub-zero frost. The male several feet away - seven, her calculations measured, did not smile but did not speak either. Very slowly, the rod receded from her shoulder, pulling out with a fresh splatter of blood.

It hovered, a dark grey almost black thing like a narrow 2x4 pipe - it made her think of a well-trained dog that waited at heel for command. She too remained motionless, wincing with each blink as Shirahime spread ice in the concave wound, gapping the flow of blood, numbing the pain racing like wildfire down her left arm. She wished she was ambidextrous.

"I asked you a question. Are you mute? What is your purpose in this land?"

If there had been a note of anger, she missed it. The mist swirled around them, breezeless, it lay thick on her eardrums, muffling all sound. Shirahime too, became silent, caught up it seemed in the throes of some eldritch nightmare.

"Before I speak of it." His voice was cool, defined male by the timbre of it. A slight resonance echoed off the last end, she realized this thing had a very pleasant voice. Not at all like Kurosaki's. "I would prefer to ask you a question as well."

His eyes said she had no choice. Zoe Elbe felt to her very core that she had no option left but to answer and hope that once given she would escape this one-sided battle with her life.

"Go ahead." she said as easily as if this had been inside Fourth's office, as if a lower-seated officer was afraid of sounding foolish for not knowing something about the way things ran.

"What is .." a space of hesitance the length of a heartbeat. "Yamamoto Keiko to you?"

"My superior. She is above me in all aspects." Zoe said honestly.

"You are friends."

"She _is _ my superior.

"She would cry if you died this very second. Wouldn't she?" He said with a _terrible_ child's kind of contemplative curiosity in a tilted chin and blank gaze. Strangely enough it seemed to only heighten the kind of alien beauty she had come to think of as belonging to them - _the erementar_. Especially mirrored in the youthful half of Kurosaki and the element, intertwined.

"N-no." Zoe said, conscious of her fear leveling higher, a sensation she had rarely experienced. She was often called the 'ice queen' by lower-seated officers because of the serenity she maintained in the face of battle. Now she felt sick with it, _deathly fear_ poured rank off her aura; Shirahime rattled in her hand, shaking with palsy.

"Oh, but she would, wouldn't she?"

...

She bound off into the air, gaining an altitude of three stories high before the first flash shot up, she leveraged Shirahime and slashed upward, catching the shadow creeping up behind her threatening to engulf her. _Avoiding Isane Kotetsu's mistake_. As above so below. The adage struck her as horridly appropriate, whispering it to herself as she tossed her head back, and let loose a thundering blast of kido. She was rewarded by a horrid bestial scream and falling chunks withering away at the scorch of electric blue Raikoho.

Then she turned her sights toward the most immediate threat, tackling the white fleshy things - they weren't tentacles so much as vines, a twisted crossing that reflected the nature of the possessor's soul.

-_and she, the Lieutenant of Fourth, was repulsed by this aberration_.

Her mind ever careful of noting the details, every inch the perfect Lieutenant, she thought of the exact words which could describe her downfall.

Written unforgivably in black ink.

_I was distracted...Captain_. She wrote Fourth's reports. Everything seemed to slow in motion, from the spatters flying through the air to the withdraw-stab-twist. It rotated like some horrendous living thing, drilling through her vital organs. Shirahime slipped from her hand, there was no other word for it. The blade fell from her lax, spasming fingers.

Hurtling down.

Like she was, back to earth.

...

There are five elements. She thought of that, remembered when a century ago it hadn't seemed to matter that no one spoke of the missing fourth element, nor the fifth for that matter.

_Fire._

_Earth._

_Wind and Water_. Ether was the last, the bind that fused the threads between the four disparate powers. The unseen made tangible.

"I asked, Elbe-san. You are friends." His voice wavered in sharp and clear then out like a static-radio. "You are close to her. Now it is very bad form to ignore a valid question. _Answer_."

Zoe jerked on her wrists, feeling the corresponding pull rake droplets from her chafed raw skin. Her jaw set into a pleasant smile, refusing to give the monster the pleasure of seeing her pain. "She is nothing like _you_." Fourth's Lieutenant whisper-hissed, catching the strange flash across his face, the glint in his eyes returned. She was trapped - the hunter was prey and had never ever stood a chance in coming out the victor in this twisted contest.

_I learned ...__**that**_.

_You taught me that, Keiko. You're not 'Fire' you're the person - Keiko - _

Her eyes screwed shut, crimson droplets spattered his face looming above her. Dotted the high-cheekbones of a narrow facial structure, mottled the darker strands of hair framing his countenance and unblinking beautiful golden eyes.

_You always be_... only Shirahime heard the last thought.

Then the choking began.

...

The fire flickered slants of blackish-blue light. Kei stared moodily into it. The flame was heatless but gave light. Some didn't want to sleep in the dark after being trapped within it for so long. A white flame tinged blue at the edges gnawed contentedly at a mossy log, a few feet away, Stark reclined against a tree trunk, half-dozing. Curled up like a kitten at his side, Lilinette slept better with the dancing light on her face.

Away from the main circle, brief snatches of conversation reached Kei. Some theories. Some wild guesses that came never close to the truth.

_Why had Kurosaki Ichigo turned on his friends and allies?_

_Had he lost his mind_ - supplied quietly by Hinamori Momo. A Fukutaichou that Takara had apparently met before in Seireitei, the girl had strong ties to Hitsugaya. The Taichou had hardly left her side after their flight to Assiah.

Kei had she chosen to unseal her lips, could've answered both questions. As it was, she stayed silent, staring into the contented black abyss offered by the hell flame. She didn't want to speak now let alone thing - of it - think of anything. Gradually in that state her thoughts wandered. The brush-stroke like crackling flame became a pen flowing black ink lines across a page.

The light became a sunlight stream into a cabin-like building.

More ink.

- a voice.

_"Good morning, Captain." Zoe_.

And farther back . . . so far she could feel the impression of the stick in her hand, drawing a design in the sand. Then taking up the black cloth, the silver of a curved needle flashing in and out. The used, worn quality of the fabric was almost tangible. She remembered the very first moment she had risen from kneeling and was given the black haori. ..slipping it on, feeling the light fabric weigh heavier over her tattered student uniform.

_"I present to you, the new Captain of Fourth." _

_Cheering..._

_I want to go home_, she thought achingly, the vision ending. Missing Tsukikage more than ever before. _I want to wake up tomorrow to find this war had never begun_.

Kei drifted off, her head tilted against the rough bark of the tree sheltering her in the small enclosure. The fire winked, making strange patterns of light over her huddled form. She drifted farther off...

..._running. Her dress was heavy, rustling. The color was bright, a vivid crinkled autumn orange, her sleeves trailed at her sides, gossamer-thin her flesh broke out easily in light bumps from the advanced cold air rushing down the corridor. _

_Running. _

_She was flinging doors open, searching wide-eyed, breathless._

_No one_.

She was alone.

No, not alone. The element of Fire twisted her hands, shaking, digging her nails into her skin. The gouged-crescent marks bled slivers of red, anxiety-ridden she paced up the long corridor of floor to ceiling stone. Her soft slippers echoed solitarily in the great castle.

She was never alone - not truly. In a fit of nervousness, she brought her arms up and to her ears - hearing a clairsentient trace of the dying screams just beyond the castle's thick walls, beyond the ring of faltering kido and the path of green lawn before the bloodbath began.

_Safe. Yes, safe inside_.

Keiki spun around, slowly lowering her hands from the sides of her face - and came face to face with her nightmare.

He held up the bloodied, severed head of her Lieutenant.

_..._

Kei started awake, violently jerking upright from her slouched position on the log. Her back ached and her neck felt stiff from the unnatural position. The flame still burned brightly, a feathery arm of flame protruded out from the blaze, trying to snatch a nearby piece of Mahogany from the pile near her feet. She frowned and picked it up, tossing it into the fire.

_"Wielder?"_ the bird questioned rasped.

"It's...nothing." she murmured, self-consciously rubbing the back of her hand across her face. The pine needles underfoot crunched and she glanced up, seeing Kagami and Kazeatari, flanked behind by Kanzaki, approach. They wore matching expressions of taut grimness.

"Kei," he spoke first, pain swimming in his blue eyes. "You'd better come with us..."

"Hmm? What is it?" and rose, lightly smoothing her haori down. She innately sensed something was wrong - kami...what could it be now? Inwardly she feared the answer. Kagami shook his head slightly, looking more tired than she had ever seen him.

"What...what is it?" her voice rose, more demanding.

Nearby sleepers stirred at the sound of her voice.

She stood just within the circle of her firelight, her eyes wide.

"It's...Zoe. Keiko, I'm sorry but...she's _gone_."

...

She blinked and shuddered, her lips moving but forming no intelligible words.

"Wha...wha...what?"

Kagami took the opportunity to continue on in the same damned calm tones one would use to address a child. "Amakusa reached their location approximately twenty minutes ago..."

_My dream_...

"When he got there, Lieutenant Elbe was already deceased. Fourth and Fifth seats from Fifth Division are alive and...unharmed." His voice rose, in accordance with the fact that everyone was awake now.

"What..." she took one halting step forward and shinsoku'd in a split flash of light, grasping handfuls of his grey kimono and dragging him down to her level. "What did you say?" she shrieked.

Kazeatari flinched, her normally olivine complexion hovering between an ashen grey. Kanzaki looked helplessly on as she shook Kagami. "What did you...say?"

"Keiko." Blue eyes flickered to her face, his hands rose, grasping the backs of hers and thrusting them off. "Get a grip on yourself."

She simply stared at him as if he were crazy. "He..he did it..." the corners of her mouth spasmed in the makings of a crooked smile. "_He_ fucking killed her!" her voice rose on that hysterical note and died to a low whisper. "Didn't he?"

Kagami looked at her sympathetically. "Circumstances point that way, yes. Amakusa hasn't gathered a coherent statement from the twins yet. Most likely that will the case when he does, I'm sure."

She deflated, shrinking into herself.

"We're heading out to bring her body back. It's only fitting that an officer of the Juppongatana have attendants for her passage to Sanzu, would you like to come?"

...

Yuka stared down at the face of the woman whom had guided the officers of Sixth during Kenjutsu training. She blinked back tears, dropping to one knee on the hard-packed earth, tapping the corners of her end of the field necessity. The canvas stretcher shot out with a mechanical loaded spring clang. Sakurai Rizu had the other end.

Together, the two women, stood with military-like dignity and bore the stretcher past the still statue-like postures of the presiding Captains.

"What should we do now?" Kagami asked whisper-soft. The mist hovered coldly, ephemerally around transforming the barren landscape into a dystopian wasteland. Kei felt the outward chill down to her very bones, unable to take her eyes off the patch of ground where Zoe's blood lay in frosted crystals glinting several feet away.

"Stay together this night." Kei murmured, unwilling to break the temporal peace. "In the morning I and whomever else wishes to go will travel down to Quebec. She'll be laid to rest there."

"You're going to bury her in the living world?"

She gave him a cold look, "it's what she would've wanted...to be placed in her father's tomb."

The curls of mist wrapped around their ankles, causing their sandals to disappear.

"A _Kurozuka_.." he said clearly thinking of the burial grounds at the edge of the gardens in Tsukikage.

(lit: Black Tomb)

Kei couldn't hear the sounds of the funeral bearers anymore and strode forward, plucking Shirahime from the ground. The sword felt dull and lifeless in her hand. "No, actually. It's called...the white tomb. The locals believe it's a mysterious, haunted place."

He gazed at her for a moment longer before nodding, "do as you will. What time do you plan on leaving?"

"At the break of dawn. I'll return by nine then I'm hoping to be able to answer you better."

...

They took the roundabout way, taking a pack of spare clothing and other accoutrements from Amakusa, to prepare Zoe Elbe for burial. Edging into the forest glade, Yuka estimated they were roughly ten miles from the camp in the pine wooded area. Her arms ached from carrying the burden and her neck felt clammy from dried sweat.

The passage hadn't been perfectly easy but the other member of their three-person team had gone on ahead, hacking with a wicked-hilted sword at the undergrowth, clearing the way. Aki, third seat of the now Lieutenant-less Division stepped back respectfully, his somber glowing pinpoints of sapphire resting on Elbe's lax form, before he sunk into a low bow.

"Lieutenant Sakurai, Yuka-san."

The two women inclined their heads and waited in silence until the Arrancar's sveltely graceful step had receded into the distance back through the maze of forest. Yuka lightly clasped her hands at her sides, willing her nerves to hold up.

She felt sick inside, looking at the task before her.

"Where should we start?" Sakurai asked, attempting to soften the severity of her tone. The medic pushed her foggy glasses up, the lens smeary from a combination of tears and condensation in the air. She shivered from the latent coldness in the deep forest, silence only broken by the babble of the nearby stream meandering through dirty brown rocks and leaves, some illumination came from the bobbing ball of red kido - _someone had summoned_, she didn't remember who. Yuka was used to training for sixteen hours straight, but this - constant healing - on the run - trauma was a potent mixture to her senses.

She was dead on her feet, for lack of a better term.

"Captain ...Nanatsu requested a post-mortem autopsy," she said softly, unable to actually recall if it had been Kanzaki or Namaiki. The faces and damp leaves all swam before her eyes. The medic stood straighter and took a deep cleansing breath in. "For official records. I must examine Lieutenant Elbe's wounds."

Sakurai merely nodded and stepped back, dropping down to the bottom end of the stretcher. Yuka's hands felt numb but she followed, laying the pack aside, kneeling in the wet mashed verdure of the forest floor. Instantly her knees became soaked, she ignored the discomfort and gently cut away a vertical line across the bloodied white cloth, peeling it away from the mass of goopy ice and smeared red.

"Internal ruptures." Yuka muttered, forcing her mind to concentrate on the mundane. Sakurai shifted back and withdrew a recorder from her own satchel.

"It'll be transcribed later." Sakurai said, flipping the switch. The black device flashed a blinking red light, fading to a solid green. Yuka nodded numbly, and felt her throat close up.

"As I was saying...internal ruptures. It would seem from a cursory point of view that Lieutenant Zoe Elbe was forcibly restrained. There are places on the outer and inner sides of the carpal bones where the skin was rubbed completely away. The under layer of torn muscle is exposed leading me to conclude she may have struggled."

Sakurai closed her eyes.

She could see it in her mind's eye. The swirling mist parting, a white-clad figure lashed in place by narrow thongs, twisting - screaming... Yuka bit the inside of her mouth harshly, forcing the image to fade. She snapped out a pair of plastic gloves, sliding them on carelessly, "moving onto the anterior region," she probed with her fingertips the smooth concave belly, a light of surprise coming into her eyes.

"It appears that the initial force of impact from a blunt force object of cylindrical shape...fractured Elbe's ribcage upon entry. Shards of bone pierced her lungs-"

"What? How can you tell all that?" Sakurai interrupted, looking increasingly sickened.

Yuka prayed for patience, more over for the night to be over. "Lieutenant Sakurai poses...a valid question. From pre-autopsy, one can easily see the flecks of blood dotting the interior of the nasal cavity. She bled from her nose. Meaning...the cause of death was suffocation."

The dark-haired woman paled further and lightly covered her mouth with a shaking hand.

Yuka felt the need to clarify, speaking solemnly. "Lieutenant Elbe died due to aggravated wounds on her torso and of severe Pulmonary edema."

"Why isn't there more blood?" Sakurai demanded suddenly, discreet glimmers of tears swam in onyx eyes. "Where is it?"

The medic slowly drifted her hand up to the lips that were faintly bluish, a shred of cloth wrapped around the head tied the dead Lieutenant's jaw closed. Yuka worked it aside, her fingers numbly applying themselves to the task.

"Because..." the medic murmured, gently prising the jaws apart. "It's still inside." The lips fell open revealing a dark sea of coagulating blood inside the small cavern. "She must've sprayed his face with blood when he approached. Wiping it aside," she noted the slight fingertip smudges on the Lieutenant's dark skin below the line of the jaw. "He clamped her mouth shut and ..."

Sakurai scooted back, all but shoving her body away from the corpse. "Gods. Gods above. What kind of..." she swore and shuddered with revulsion. "...monster would..."

Yuka only half-listened, her head tilting at a slight angle. "Wait...there seems to be something inside."

The horrified Lieutenant of Fifth had back-scrabbled against the nearest tree, now leaned slightly forward, a sheen of sweat glistening on her forehead. "What is it?" Sakurai asked cautiously. Yuka didn't speak at first, her gloved fingers lightly prodding at the insides of Elbe's mouth.

"It's... There's a number burnt onto her tongue."

Sakurai got up to her feet, stumbling toward the undergrowth, hurling the contents of her stomach. Coughing when the bile burned. Yuka looked at her sympathetically, "breathe through your nose, Lieutenant Sakurai. Regulate your breathing please...otherwise you'll simply put yourself in a state of cardiac arrest."

Predictably the woman started to dry heave, half-turning, pointing jerkily back at the body lying on the stretcher. "D-did you see-?"

The medic slipped one glove off, palming her phone. "Yes...I did."

"Shouldn't we-?"

"No, it'll only _hurt_ Captain Yamamoto."

"But-"

"No buts. Now let us continue, Lieutenant."

...

Hours later, the medico and Sakurai returned.

"Captain does the um...number fifteen signify something for you?"

Kei had crossed her arms, in huddled conference with the pair. The western wind was howling this night, Byakko's grief for Shirahime's master. "No. No, I can't think of..." she frowned, sensing the tension in the two women. "Why?" suspiciously.

Yuka twisted her hands and lowered her voice. "Lieutenant Elbe had the number fifteen scorched her tongue."

Kei's eyes widened minutely, she paled as the full import washed over her.

"Captain?" the medic timidly probed.

She shook her head slightly indicating them to rest. "Thank you for telling me. Go get some rest now. The guard is just about to change over." when the pair had shared confused looks but moved on to separate into two separate groups, Yuka to Sixth and Sakurai to Fifth; Kei had clasped her arms close to her body and turned her eyes up to the moon traversing the lilac candy-cloud sky.

"You had to remind me, didn't you. _Nii-san_..of how many you've taken from me."

...

"Rumor is that weird guy killed Lieutenant Elbe, is that true?"

"Not now, Kurenai." Yuka snapped, holding her hand up. The pale faces of Sixth's medical team stared at her wide-eyed. "So it's true..." Hisui Arakawa wondered aloud. The normally bouncy girl turned large almond-shaped eyes to the third seat. "Did you see him, Yuka-chan?"

"Yeah, Yuka-san." The loud-mouthed Kurenai hissed, "everyone says he's some whacked-out version of Kurosaki Ichigo, Captain Yamamoto's boyfriend! She sure knows out to pick-" his waggling eyebrows insinuatingly. "It's really too bad 'cause she's pretty-"

"Shut up! The lot of you! I don't want to hear another word about Captain Yamamoto! She's gone through enough!" at her words the fire snapped out and scorched across the offending brown-haired boy's tabi socks. Said boy yelped and retracted, staring at the snickering flames. "Did you see that! That fire was laughing at me!"

The head medic hid her smirk, turning her shoulder to the boy and positioning her satchel pack up on the tree limb, situated at the right height for her to lay her head on it. "No, Kurenai-kun. It was all in your _stunted_ imagination."

...

The gated city was wreathed in murky shadow. Setsuka felt the strange hum of power embedded in the balustrade posts and ornate metal work. Through the slats a gravel and hard-packed dirt path meandered through the trees. From there, the distant shadow of Tsukikage's single remaining tower spired over the landscape.

She felt a sense of anticipation - one that though annoyed with the thought of 'how crude.' When her companion burned his hand on the latch and with a frown, blasted the gates with such force that they curved in with clangorous ringing, twisting into hunks of metal, leaving a narrow footpath for them to enter.

Setsuka made a distasteful face at his back, gathering the long ends of her kimono gown up over her ankles as she picked her way daintily through. Silently he turned and began striding up through the path, his step softer in the twilight dusk. A light breeze ruffled his hair, snaring the ends of his jacket to splash an inky blackness against the green of the trees and low-hanging leaves. The Earth element trailed through the unfamiliar path, never hurrying, only glancing to the tucked off corners where the offices of Divisions second, fourth and fifth claimed space on the spacious wooded grounds.

"It's changed so much." he said inflectionless, coming to the end of the winding path at the edge of the trees. Setsuka swatted irritably at the undergrowth snaring her kimono. She couldn't see the expression on his face, raising a hand to shield her brow as she gazed out over the moon-bathed lawn.

The grass was sloped, clipped to a soft celadon, sweeping down from the lower basin where they were up the gentle incline to meet the wide expanse of stone where a central set of stairs rose to the veranda level and up to the shadowed doorway. The castle itself rose from the central tower, high up where a large bay window reflected the moon in glassy sheen. That had been once the King's throne room. The pinnacle of his majesty, Reio, the king of Soul Society's court.

"It's so small." she commented without thinking. Surprised when a noise of amusement came.

"It was once...much larger." he stepped out into the moonlight, turning back to her gilded in a sort of radiant luminescence. In that moment she could see why the ancients had called him the sun_. A God among them_.

"What you see here, is a shell of its former grandeur. Its wings once spread along the western and southern walls, wrapping around this central lawn while the gardens were full in bloom of all sorts of exotic flowers and.." he stopped, growing abruptly silent.

"What happened?" She gathered up her skirts and stepped to the side, gazing about the phantom city's silence. "Why did everything change?"

He looked a little surprised at her line of questioning, a shadow passing over his face. "None of it was of my choosing-"

"But it was you who..." she faltered at his expression, her brows drawing into a thin line. "Never mind. It wasn't my intention to pry."

The element's gaze softened deceptively. "Of course it wasn't. You couldn't have known how _she_ was, back then." the underlying note of bitterness remained, he continued on, striding slowly up the grassy lawn. The sword spirit's feet sunk in the tickly blades of grass, padding much slower behind the Elemental.

"Keiki, you mean."

"Aa."

"_What_ was she like?"

"She was warm like the sun. She cared for..the humans and the birds and everything that lived. Mizuna-neesan and Kaze-niisan didn't."

"Oh, I see. You and her shared the task of guarding over the humans."

"No. The living world was my task alone. Ukiyo-sama's Cayo Hueso realm was Keiki's, with its seas of black fire. The Hueco Mundo belonged to Kaze-niisan and Assiah's dewy clime was Mizuna-neesan's."

"C-Cayo Hueso?" it was a name she had never heard before.

"Island of Bones." he translated climbing the steps. "Ukiyo-sama created I and Mizuna. From what Genbu tells me, he slumbers with what's left of the Black army there."

Won't that be a problem?" she pointed out, wincing at the coldness of the worn stone beneath the soles of her feet. She had never gotten used to the feeling of materiality when in a corporeal form not of her blade. The landing leveled out into the long veranda where just the afternoon before, the element of water had stood looking out at the training drill of Sixth Division.

"No, not really. The Black army are few in number though their power was once considered an equivalent to the Thirteen Court Guard Squads," he explained, reaching the door ahead of her. "they were for all intensive purposes, the predecessors of Soul Society."

"Like I said, won't that be a problem? Won't they rally toward the masses Keiki seems to inspire?" she hadn't meant to be sarcastic but found fault in the nonchalance in which he viewed the obvious flaws in _his plan_.

"Setsuka, your concern is touching, however out of all the Shinteichou remaining..only Kotoko poses...ah, _trouble_." he said dryly, blasting the door open. She flinched when the huge oak and metal riveted panel flew inward, the din echoing deeply in the stone confines of the empty castle. He stepped back, gesturing into the murky gloom.

"After you."

She rolled her eyes discreetly, squeezing past him into the great chamber of the main hall.

"How considerate."

"I try to be." He murmured walking in after her, a flick of his wrist mending the door back into its previous state. Setsuka glanced over her shoulder, sneering. "That wasn't meant as a compliment."

"Hn." A tiny oblivious smile tugged on his mouth, his luminescent eyes swept the spacious interior, snapping his fingers

"That's not kido." she remarked, eying the multitude of lights like fireflies surrounding them.

"No. Keiki taught me that trick."

"Oh. Back before..?"

A short silence, the lights swam in happy circles around him, illuminating snatches of patterns on his kimono, glinting a sliver of flesh along his exposed throat. They were mindless little insects, contented with their brief lives.

"She showed me how to make _life_."

A firefly alighted on the edge of her thin fingers folded over her left arm, she felt the warm glow just barely tangible as sensation, saying, "like the Zanpaku-to. Like me."

"You aren't alive. None of the swords are. At least not in the temporal sense of the word. At your core you are grit and ether...you are the very essence of a dying garden."

"Then should I call you...father?" she asked distastefully, the title faint in memory from Ilena.

"That's not necessary."

"I can't keep calling you, _you_. Or _Elemental_."

"I've had many names, not all of them I recall. _Shukuchi_ was one." he mused, glancing around toward the darkened space ahead that was the grand staircase. He seemed to gather his bearings, frowning mildly. "_Alexandre_ another. When I was a pageboy to brother Wind, I was known as _Akira_."

"Oh, did he ever know?"

"I don't think so. I saw another side to him then," a rueful smile. "He taught me how to read, showed me kindness. I was there when he left our Daimyo's camp and went to visit Kanae in the Musashi forest. I kept the horses at the brook when she cried in his arms."

He started forward for the stairs, adding quieter, "I was there when he killed himself. A vile thing pride is. Brother wind always possessed an inordinate amount of it."

Listening to him - watching his varied expressions, anyone who didn't know what was standing before them, would've believed he was something_ else_. Someone kind and only a little_ lonely_.

_He killed that woman - Shirahime's wielder, without a thought. How could that same one be before me, speaking so tenderly of the opposite erementar? _The Aizo no ken thought of the porcelain mask of the fire elemental_ and wondered if it was breaking?_

**_"She would cry if you died this very second. Wouldn't she?"_**

"Why do you...want to make Keiki cry?"

He was on the lowest, shallow first step. "Because I want to be the one to dry her tears."

...

He left the sword spirit on her own and headed up for the northern wing. On the second floor, he climbed the individual set of stairs leading to a wide gallery of paintings. They were of landscapes from Assiah. One was recognizable as the cityscape of Arcadia with its distinctive old-world gates bearing symbols of the four elements.

Another was of Apollonia's ruined cathedral crumbling into the ground.

He glanced at them, sweeping his gaze up toward the other end of the long gallery, partitioned off now by a floor to ceiling metal and glass framework like a glass-fronted office. Beyond the touch of modernity, three desks flanked one side of the lofty room, while on the other side two and a large copier sat silent on the light grey flagstone. A strip of burgundy carpet ran up from the baseline of the door to the last two desks up against the far wall and to the east a wall of windows reflected a violet candy-dream sky.

The scene lingering in his mind's eye overlaid itself over the steel and glass.

_"I do not understand my purpose here." _

_"You are here to serve the King and Lord Ukiyo. You will assist me in keeping the balance in order." isolated, unto herself, the yellow orb of the moon traversed the cloudy sky, a few scant rays crawled across the threshold into the room. He searched her blank peaceful face, questioning._

_"With...you? But what if I can't...what if I don't-" _

_"I'll always be with you to make sure you never falter. The worlds and all their young inhabitants need us to protect them. Never fear, I'll make sure that you never walk down the wrong path.."_

_"I..." and reached out, "a-always?"_

_She smiled - he never forgot that smile. "Because of who we are, we'll live forever_. _Come with me, brother, for eternity_."

The hand he clasped so long ago faded, his fingers closed on emptiness.

"Was the promise you made forgotten?

Underneath the same sky the two siblings far removed, thought of each other.

Kei stared off into the night, cursing his existence.

While he longed only to see her smile for him.

...Quebec 5:45 AM...

The cave was a mountain of ice, the outer facade darkened, thickened by age. Hitsugaya hadn't known what to expect, stepping into to be part of the funeral retinue, but this, this certainly wasn't it. The land around them was vaguely mountainous, hillocks scattered were covered in green carpets interspersed with brown bare rock. The cave before them seemed to have sprung from the water - a small in size glacial lake now.

He glanced down beneath his sandals and saw a fish frozen several plates thick below the surface. The sight made him dizzy, noting the far depths to the bumpy, crusted ice. "What is this place?" he whispered, eyes sharp, darting around noting the perfect stillness of the rest of the small group. Even the stillness to the auburn-haired Arrancar held a note of almost reverent eeriness to it.

"On the fringes of civilization." Keiko Yamamoto said, and entered into the yawning maw of glittering cold darkness.

...

She played music. It was a custom from the living world. Momo heard it, waiting outside in that barren patch of land. A deeper thrum slowly slipping into a tinkle. _She played music_. Curious objectively, Momo ignored the cold brush of icy air, moving closer inside the mouth of the cave. Toshiro glanced at her, but seemed lost in his own thoughts. Momo was glad, Tobiume was pressuring her to seek out the source.

A steps in and her breath came out in larger exhalations. Her eyes wanted to ache from the sheer frigidness of the sub-zero temperatures inside the very core of the inner shell. The notes were harder now, a subtle refinement of searing pain and ...

It was the sound of crying.

It very nearly made her cry, even if the sound came from a plastic square object placed on a lower ice shelf. An item called a 'smart phone' whatever that was. The Juppongatana were 'new-fangled', Momo learned that in a day. Unbidden, Momo's watering eyes slanted to the black-clad figure standing before an ice cairn.

"What is it?" Momo asked delicately, afraid of giving offense. She realized only then that this was the first time she'd been in close alone quarters with the enigmatic Captain of Fourth - spoken to her even. The security blanket Toshiro had become, was not beside her.

The Captain stirred, "Lux aeterna." speaking crisply, perfunctorily. If intrusion was unwelcome, Momo detected no anger trace in the quiet voice. "Eternal Light." Keiko translated, glancing slightly over her shoulder. In this case, Momo judged it safe. She didn't understand then why Shinigami were spoon-fed from academy days that the erementar were beasts. The Captain had not spoken a mean word in the twenty-four hours of being in the JP camp.

If Momo squinted enough, she could see a kind, caring Captain behind the frozen tearless mask. Lux aeterna played on varied in note; maybe that was only her naivety. Momo stepped as near to the silent woman as she dared and gazed on the translucent cairn. A man lay farther inside, on a narrow shelf-bed of ice, his suit a somber color, high white collar unfolded, chin length dark brown locks curled from broad temples framing an interesting if not handsome face. Silver crowned the very edge of his hairline and fine crows feet patterned the soft area beneath closed eyelids. Within arm's reach, closer to them the body of Fourth's Lieutenant had been laid.

Immaculate the dark charcoal grey robes clothed a slim form. Momo could see traces of the man's features softened to the feminine in the dark-skinned Lieutenant. She felt a tremor of shyness return, lightly gesturing to the bodies encased in ice.

"Were they-?"

"He was her father." Keiko said. "She wanted a chance to tell him...how much she loved him."

Oh.

_Oh_. Like with all sad things, Momo wanted to cry. But just scrunched her hands tighter together and looked at the Shinigami and the human - family once more, and whispered fervently, her voice wobbling from what she hoped the Captain would think was the cold.

_Because it was very cold in there_.

"I pray they have met." Then because Momo knew down to her very core that there was no heaven, no haven for the lost other than Soul Society. She bit her lip and flushed, lowering her gaze down quickly lest the Captain see the shame in her face. But Keiko nodded slightly and said nothing more.

The melancholy _requiem_ played on.

...

This was the first time she had spoken to Hinamori. That observation failed to escape her as the strains cut short, a familiar red light flickering on and off warning of low-battery life. She had been expecting for some time now. The magic of a six-hour lithium-ion battery gone. The red light would've flickered six times and then cut abruptly off.

"Damned panels." she muttered, breaking off the stance she'd maintained for half an hour. Icicles didn't snap off her body like she had thought, just a stiffness to her joints reminiscent of rigor mortis setting in. Then as the unearthly silence of shifting, crackling ice flooded the compartment, a step rang in the dull hollow confines.

"I suppose it's redundant to ask the age-old question, what path are we going to choose now?" Hitsugaya's clear, youthful tones rang out. Magnified by compressed aurora borealis captured in the icy sheets and ceiling.

"Toshiro..." Hinamori murmured, probably wanting the answer too.

_I don't know...no, you want me to tell you of a safe place. A hidden place. Away from pain and obliteration_. "There is no such place." she said it, coolly, coldly. Startled that she had spoken her thought aloud, pleased somewhat upon reflection at their faces.

"Captain?" Hinamori prompted first leading Kei to believe the girl was stronger than everyone assumed. Hitsugaya was more thorough, constantly analyzing. "What do you mean?"

"That there is no place you can hide- no place you can call home anymore."

And like usual. Her words always provoked an angry reaction. He slapped her - hard from a skinny boy-hand. He slapped her hard enough so that her hair flew and she stumbled a little back. Hinamori flailed her fists, crying, "Toshiro! What're you-"

"Be quiet, Hinamori." He ordered, though not calmly.

"I understand the emotion which fuels you, but there is little anyone can do to solve your antipathy toward reality." Kei murmured, catching herself, straightening with a haughty flick of the reddened skin.

"Then what can we do? Just sit there and say we're doomed to die? That there isn't a single thing we can do to stop _him_!" he swore and stamped his sandal down. Kei watched his tirade expressionlessly, choosing her next words with care. "No. I would never say that. Rather I think we should look for a few known allies."

"What do you mean?"

"The Shinteichou, more precisely the Black army, Reio-dono's guards. They are the only ones we can turn to now."

-TBC

AN: despite the word count reading over 9thou+ somehow this felt barely transitional. Blah D; somehow it feels like Earth wants suffering for Kei ): (3-5-2012 proofread for 2nd time, errors fixed, a few lines of new text added in.

No flames

Reviews loved


	102. Cayo Hueso: Island of Bones

_Therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them/_

_He that formed them shall show them no favor../_

* * *

ShiKai CH.95: Cayo Hueso Island of Bones

She left his - their numerous questions behind. Who or what didn't matter anymore. She had thought, no believed, Zoe would be safe. This only brought home to her how wrong she was of the entire situation. Her dear friend had had to pay with her life in order for her to realize that this was one battle they couldn't fight alone.

The living world was left behind, the plain outside ruined Arcadia crackled with the speed of the combined Shunpo. She went faster than the others, reaching the clearing first, causing several loitering Shinigami to jump when she appeared through the trees.

"Kagami!" she called, he came at once, hurrying forward. The plan she had comprised so quickly, resurfaced and she began steadily. "I'm going to Cayo Hueso."

The water element's eyes widened, "you've decided to look for aid-? Do you think it will be given?"

Vaguely she was aware that the rest of the funeral party had returned. Kei half-nodded, feeling a desperate longing to run - run far away - and never look back. "I'm sure of it. As for the rest...I want...want you to take the rest of the Shinigami here to Lacrimis."

"But-" he hesitated, a shadow passing over his face. Kei understood its occurrence, wondering why after so long he still blamed himself for the hurricane that had wiped out the village by the sea. She supposed it had something to do with a fight he and Soryu had, one that had led to the Dragon retaliating by causing severe storms five years before. Though their elements all influenced the world they happened to be in at the time, Kagami's was perhaps stronger because he _was_ the guardian of Assiah.

"Take them there." Kei said, reaching out to lay a hand on his upper arm. "Also, send Kazeatari, Takara and Kyou Retsu to Soul Society, I have every reason to think that there's a small window of opportunity that will enable them to recover ..._his body_."

Kagami looked faintly surprised at only two being sent, he spoke his doubt just then. "Kazeatari may be an elemental but there's still-"

"_Yamamoto_, I know." The old man was one negative aspect they would have to face sooner or later. Kei in particular still felt Kei_ko_'s long-buried consciousness stir, the same feelings of hate, mingled with remorse at a chance lost, temporarily clouding her judgment.

"If they open a portal in the Rukongai, it'll be easier to evade any contingent sent to capture them." Kei reasoned; he nodded, not completely convinced. "Besides which, it's likely Urahara sought shelter with the Shibas. With Kyou, they'll be able to track Benihime."

"Is that wise to send him out again?"

"Why not?" she hadn't wanted to sound cold but rather the times were such that the twins were past the age of being coddled. They were seated officers and had been for a time longer than most. Giving way to her orders, Kagami sighed and averted his glance. "Never mind. With Kazeatari there, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Hm."

"And what of yourself?"

"What?"

"Are you-"

"I'm going alone." she said in a tone that brooked no argument, adding in her thoughts where only Touda could hear. _There is one other thing I_...

...

"So it's like that then."

"Kazeatari, please don't do this."

"What? Express an opinion?"

"You know I didn't mean that," Kagami muttered appearing subtly aggrieved, his eyes pleaded with her to understand. "If we don't tread carefully, we'll end up making the same mistakes-"

"Isn't that what we're doing now?" she interjected coldly. "Why don't we stay together and wait for the King's guards to come to us?" she asked reasonably.

"You still have such faith in Reio? When you should realize by now that he's abandoned us!"

"We don't know that!"

"As his child...Kaze_haya_. you should know that." Kagami breathed heavily, his mouth drawn up in a scowl, deeply aware of the listening ears around them. "We _are_ alone."

Her gaze lowered, the effects of being chastised like a slap in the face to the proud wind Element. His eyes darted around noting the movement of the various Shinigami and Juppongatana, a sigh forming in his chest. Like a dutiful officer, Takara had strapped up her Satcom and had refilled bottles of water and stowed a few energy bars in her shoulder pack. Her hair was a little messy from camping outdoors, but she had tied it back in a ponytail and was issuing a few last minute directives to what remained of Third Division.

"Stop acting like a child," he muttered finally, uncomfortable in the ensuing silence. "You're an embarrassment to the Juppongatana."

She flushed scarlet, a horrible ruddy color appearing out of place on her swarthy skin. "I never-"

"Just.._go_." He said inflectionless, closing his eyes briefly. Kazeatari gave him a look of hurt and brushed rudely past, striding to the undergrowth of bushes where Takara waited.

"Let's get this over with." she said coldly.

...

_"Wielder...are you sure?" _

_'I just want to take a look.' _ Kei reiterated, striding along the cavernous precipice drop into a valley of bleak bare rock. Though she had every intention of traveling to Cayo Hueso, there was another place, one Kagami would've called her insane to attempt setting foot in, but she had to see it.

_"The spell's probably long gone. It would've had to have been utterly decimated for the guardian beast to escape! Reconsider, wielder!"_

She glanced down, snorting at the warning. "Then why are you all up in arms about it? If there's no trace then the lowest level of Hell would be safe."

To that, the demon bird couldn't say anything.

...

The flight took little time. During it, she had glimpsed a few Togabito being punished by the monstrous skull-faced guards. Touda was mostly silent, save for commenting, _it was deserved for them trying to escape judgment_. After that, the bird only stirred itself to announce when they had arrived on the lowest level, _Sheol_.

It was a barren place of a heatless reddish sunset, flat bedrock was interspersed with the shimmery scales of fish, tiny bones crunched underfoot as she walked toward the yawning cave mouth in the north. Dimly the place still resonated with traces of the enormous spirit pressure it had once contained. _Two-thousand years_, Kei thought wonderingly. _The seal had held for two-thousand years_.

The cave inside was dark, the lit sky barely flittered away the creeping shadows. She snapped her fingers, adding minute energy to form a cloud of fireflies. The tiny insects created a cheerful yellow glow that failed to dispel the desolation of the Hell plain. Kei shook off any notion of pity and stepped inside the maw of the cavern. Within the difference in temperature was palpable.

Outside was dry, vague warmth from the areas of flame above. In the brackish rock, a chill laced with the odor of damp things, vegetation long rotted filtered around her.

_"You wanted to come here." _ Touda muttered to her discomfort.

"Hush you." She muttered, crossing a spindly outcropping to a wider opening, from there, the energy was more palpable.

The remnants glowed in a concentric band, ancient writing repeating the incantation over and over, reinforcing the core. Kei ran her hand over it, recognizing the sigils of water, wind and at the very heart of the binding, Suzaku's fiery warmth.

"What would it take to cast a spell of this magnitude?" she asked aloud, not expecting the bird to answer.

_"A life. Be it not a permanent solution, the other three guardians were willing to exchange anything in order to seal up Genbu. But..."_

"But, what?" she prompted, edging around the circular depression in the rock, her eyes fixated on the ring of luminescent writing in the fireflies glow.

_"...for one to cast it alone, they'd have to give up their very existence."_

"Hmm...I see. Then that is the very reason why this seal shattered." Kei said after a moment; if the bird had had a spiritual form, it would've blinked at her in surprise.

_"What do you mean?"_

"It's simple. No one gave their life force to the spell. The very constituent of the spell's core decrees that the sacrifice be imprisoned within the binding _with_ the victim."

_"Wielder, you're not-" _ Touda sounded fairly horrified.

"Of course not." she scoffed mildly, finally turning away from the shattered spell. "I'm not selfless enough to imprison myself for eternity with the very thing I despise."

...Seireitei...

The faces were a blur. Some mixed in concern others surreptitiously wiping tears when the commanding officers of the Gotei 13 were found to be in the negative. The minus of the status quo. Sasakibe had relayed the news to the various seated officers still living. Yamamoto had issued a wartime alert for all-seated officers to bear their Zanpaku-tos.

They complied as with the Ryoka threat but none knew now who or what their unseen enemy was. Fear was rampant in the Soul Society. Evening was falling by the time silence had settled over the realm of the dead. A hush before the storm. Alone in the main office, he sat at the large desk, hands resting against temples, listening to the sound of the Cicadas.

The images were hollow, fragile, thin like a glass dream.

_"Mara." A note of surprise crept into his voice. The bloom his fingers had been clasping, flittered away with a breath of wind. His gaze lifted to the woman's face, despite the violet-shading of the twilight kingdom, her skin verily glowed a bronze sheen evocative of the sun. _

_"Ashura is guarding __**him**__." she said crisply, her flowing garments trailed evanescently over the rough stone walkway. She came up to stand beside him, though not touching, her presence soothed the deep-seated anxiety stirring in his soul. Though he was loath to break the comfortable silence, he pressed on, averting his face from the quiet woman._

_"How is...Keiki-sama?"_

_Mara reached for the clustered blossom he had been admiring moments before, slender fingers closing on the fragile stem. A deep sigh welled up in her breast. "As well as can be expected," her eyes held a troubled cast. "Mizuna-san gave her a medicinal potion to calm her nerves and Reio-dono used time magic to restore her body."_

_"Aa." The murmur drifted easily between them. Above the moon was full, traversing the cloudy dream sky. Shigekuni could almost believe it a dream, a distortion of tranquility as he looked out over the high northern wall, below the ground dropped off then evened out to a semi-wild brush of meandering paths of flowers and trees. _

_**That was where**_...

The youth's eyes slid closed in pained memory the same as the old man who sat alone, did.

_**It had happened. **_

_He could see the bright green splotched by red, hear (oh kami) the scion of Fire's desperate little bird cries. Her arms were outstretched, lashed around the wrists, tightly, so tightly red welts suppurated fresh blood. Her legs were splayed, shreds of cloth littering the ground, the remnants of her gown had been pushed up to her waist_ -

_Once she had been unbound, Keiki had done nothing but scream with tears running down her face. As if reliving the same thing, Mara's sapphire eyes turned up and met his, wordlessly she leaned closer, his arm sliding out, curling around her waist. A breeze whistled softly through the jasmine, carrying the sweet scent to the stars_.

"Those are nothing...but needless memories now." The Taichou of First Division said gruffly to himself, awaking from the living vision. The garden bathed in moonlight and the presence of the woman vanished to cold hard reality. Eventually his aged sight turned toward the wide balcony framed by the view of Seireitei and the messenger clad in black whom had alighted there, head bowed, waiting patiently for acknowledgement.

"Speak."

The Ritei-Tai agent began without hesitation, tone terse. "Sir, the report from Research and Development Division states that there is an unidentified party moving through the Dangai precipice world. They will make contact soon. Research and Development wishes to know the course of action to take, sir."

Yamamoto's eyes opened slowly, a twisted lift accentuated his thin mouth. "Let them in."

"Ah, sir-?" The agent seemed mildly taken aback, veneer of perfect fluidity broken.

"Let them come, I said!" he barked, slamming his fist on the desk, scattering the papers like many white flakes. "Open the gates wide for the Ryoka!"

...Assiah...

"What are you doing here?"

"I should think it obvious." The small Taichou said testily, "I'm going with you."

"Hitsu-"

His face took on a stubborn look she was beginning to become very acquainted with. With grudging irritation, Kei said with as much politeness as she could muster, " fine." - as Touda silently left her back as a blade and melted to the grassy slope as a pool of shadow, electrical charges spread upward - a gate, one of arched white stone materializing from the darkness.

"After you." she finished coolly, having the distinct feeling Hitsugaya was only seeking to represent the Shinigami side. To his credit, the Tenth Division Taichou glanced at the glistening white gateway and relaxed his crossed-arm stance and walked through haughtily never once flinching with the sensation all who walked through the gate to the Island of Bones underwent.

_The feeling of being burned alive_.

_"He has guts, that kid."_ Touda muttered appreciatively, beady blue flame eyes forming on either end of the gate posts. Kei only smirked, patting the eyeball as she passed through. Gravelly sand beneath their sandals crackled and crunched, glitters of sharp bottle green flecks glinted with irradiant fire from the volcanic-like soil. The patch of bare rock they had landed on was a tiny flotilla in the midst of a boiling sea.

"What _is_ this..?"

Kei caught the look of blank astonishment on the young Taichou's face, smiling eerily. "Welcome to Cayo Hueso. That is...a sea of acid and black fire you see before you so please refrain from getting into any contact with it." It was almost scary at how little she felt setting foot in the world under her guardianship.

"B-but there must be some mistake. There's nothing-"

"Why do you think there is a boat?" she queried, indicating the curved high bow pulled up to the edge of the sand. A stake and old rope had pinned it down where the fiery water lapped at the edge of the shore. Hitsugaya paled but refused to show anything, "very well." he strode forward, glancing over the old-fashioned interior.

"It seems sturdy enough," he commented, hesitantly reaching out and tapping the top of the hull. If he noticed the intricate symbols carved into the outer hull he said nothing only aiding in pushing the lightweight craft a few feet out into the sea. The sting and hiss of steam meeting the bleached wood made him flinch, he jumped back from the edge as the boat's descent into the acid sent a sloshing wave to splash at the shore edge. Kei bent slightly and unwound the coarse horsehair rope, holding it tightly as she walked the last few feet, gesturing with her free hand.

"Step in, Hitsugaya-Taichou. I'll cast us off from shore."

He eyed the craft bobbing slightly in the first floes of currents and hesitantly clambered over the stern, hopping in and immediately dropping down as the craft rocked precariously. He clutched the top sides of the gunwales, when she pitched the rope in and shinsoku'd inside, her weight causing the boat to spin sharply to the right. He gasped and froze in place, sweating visibly as the spit of volcanic ground grew farther away.

Kei said nothing and settled down on the narrow plank beams stretched like lace work across the interior forming rough benches of cedar. Spotting the curved long oars, she dug them from the bottom sides and slipped one in the hook piece adorning her side of the boat.

"Here," she said, handing the long oar to Hitsugaya. He saw what she had done and cautiously in a hunched over posture crept closer, settling directly across from her. "Now what?" he asked, his voice quieter but no less demanding.

"We row until we sight the shore."

"Do you know the direction?"

"Straight ahead from the landing." she said, sending his last bit of confidence plummeting.

"I-If you're sure..."

"Hitsugaya, I may be the guardian of Cayo Hueso but I haven't set foot here in thousands of years."

"Like I said, thanks for the boost of confidence."

"Start rowing." Kei said tonelessly, rolling her eyes discreetly.

...

The paddles dipped and glided through the swirling blackish-purple flame. The result was monotonous but a steady forward push through the ocean. Being across from her they worked almost in sync.

"You said the remnants of the Shinteichou, but how many really are there?" he began after a while, his arms were starting to feel the slow long-haul of constant motion. Sweat beaded on his brow and he scowled, noting the '_almost_' inhuman way of her lack of exertion. Her face showed only a mild blankness, her thoughts were on other matters, but she refocused back to him with a tilted brow.

"Four." She answered coolly. "There were thirteen at one time, the main body were of Captains class and the strongest...the fourth, came close to being at my current level."

"Will they..recognize you?"

She didn't speak for some time; he was unable to catch her eye as it was distant, her gaze on something far and painful. "They should," she murmured almost inaudibly with a hollow ring. He wasn't reassured but decided not to press the matter anymore. It was only too clear that whatever it was that had happened in the past remained salt in the proverbial wound to her.

For some time it was the sound of the dipping of the oars and forward push breaking soft waves over the black sheets surrounding them. He could almost believe it was endless and they were the only two existing in the slightly sulfuric tinted air. The cloudy sky above was a murky red, a color associated with Hellfire and brimstone and he put his curiosity into words.

"Was it always...like this?"

"Ah, you mean did the sky bleed? Did the ocean once sustain life rather than devour flesh from bone?" It had of course, but finding out the change was only unraveling the first of the tightly bound threads of fate. "You may get your answer soon. Look to the south. We're close."

At her words he looked past her and scrambled around on his knees, scanning the parting effusion of mist and gases arising from the black sea, seeing the strip of volcanic land appear solidly then as the mist rose more, the spindly skeletons of trees dotting the landscape pointing accusing fingers to the angry sky.

For some reason he shuddered at the barrenness of the coastline, Kei's voice coming from behind. The boat wobbled.

"Sit down, Hitsugaya-Taichou." she ordered amusedly, "we'll reach land soon enough."

They did after vigorous rowing for an hour. The edge of their boat was scraping things, encountering what he assumed were rocks at first lining the edge of shallows some thirty feet from the shoreline. He dipped his oar in, gliding it through the gentle current of mellifluous flame. Then, something clung to the bottom of his oar, the encumbrance weighed it down and he strained scowlingly to lift the oar out of the fire water to encounter...a grinning horned skull jammed with its jaw locked around the cedar paddle.

He let out a noise of disgust and caught motion from the corner of his eye, trying to shake off the noisome thing. Other white capped things were bobbing toward the surface, horned protuberances atop the acid-washed pates, others smooth and round definitely human in origin. Still more were animal skulls. A saber tooth tiger, a ram...he lost count staring in newfound horror and fascination at the eyeless skulls.

Kei shook off a foot attached to a long tibial bone, crooking an eye at the Tenth Taichou's frozen silence. "This _is_ the island of Bones, Hitsugaya. It is the resting place of those whom would intrude upon the realm of the God of life."

He turned to her wordlessly, "so many..?"

"They were trying to defeat death, Reio-dono's eventuality of what must come to pass for every living thing on earth. They wished to _live_ eternally."

"Who...is the King of Soul Society ...and-and this other you speak of? Ukiyo? Who - what are they really?" his voice shook a little, unsure now of everything he had ever fought for, every lie he was fed about existing and the balance. The truth about Yamamoto's hypocrisy was sickening.

She paused in rowing, the clink of skulls now a monotonous dull thumping against the hull and sides of their boat. "Reio created Kazeatari. But it was together with Ukiyo that he formed I and the Earth element. He is my..._great father_...perhaps _negligent_ in the end. But that doesn't bear telling right now. Ukiyo is Mizu-Kagami and by proxy, Earth's father, he is the one we will turn eyes to."

Hitsugaya let the conversation lapse, resuming paddling. Eventually the scrape of the hull came as the boat angled and crested over the sandy shore. Kei stood up carefully, her legs protesting after being in a cramped position for several hours. Hitsugaya did the same though more warily, his turquoise eyes lifting and scanning the rise of sandy beach flecked with olivine stones, to the tree line. Up close now, he could easily gauge the height of the nearest fringe of bleached dry trunks, they towered higher than the Repentance tower, perhaps once majestic but now simply hollowed out carcasses of mighty trees. A sulfuric breeze lifted off the water's swirling surface and stirred their white and black haori coats.

Kei glanced at him and nodded, indicating they should go forward. He was less enthused, a prickling nagging sense warning him that something was amiss. It was an island - yes, but where were its inhabitants? If she was aware of his hesitation, she didn't give any sign of it, striding up the sandy bank heading toward the first line of trees up the small incline. The steepness of it surprised him as it hadn't appeared so from the beach. Once leveling out into flat ground, a break line of soft lichen and grass spread out over and around the bases of the monolith dead trees.

The world seemed to be caught between absolute desolation and life.

She angled between the trunks and paused, tilting her head to the side as if listening.

"What? What is it?" Hitsugaya prompted hissing, hurrying up to her side. Her eyes darted around before meeting his, she raised a finger to her lips, "shhh." He scowled at her command and lack of reason for it, seeing as he heard nothing other than the lap of water and occasional rustle of the grass being stirred by the breeze. After a few minutes longer she continued walking, treading lightly through the weave of the trees. He avoided touching the rough dry bark, grimacing once when he did and powdered white ash came off on his hand, he rubbed his hand clean hurriedly, looking ahead to see her stopped again.

Frozen as if hearing something he could not.

"What-"

"Get down!" Kei spun and yelled, in the next second she had vanished from the sea of trees, a clack of a blade being unsheathed followed on the heels of a volley of light flashes exploding all around him. Hitsugaya felt several make contact, searing heat blast through the flimsy Shihakusho, burning his flesh. He shunpo'd up, swiping Hyourin-Maru over his shoulder, he sighted a figure quickly retreating - _a Hollow!?_

He had glimpsed a white mask - the face of a bull, in ragged robes evocative of ancient splendor. The figure darted swiftly into the surrounding shadows of lush woodland fringing the high sheer rock faces above. _Had Keiko lied about the allies? What race were they?!_

-TBC

AN: Short ; - ; but, I cut the rest. I've been sitting on this chapter for months..

No flames!

Reviews appreciated


End file.
